Fibre in a Paleo/Primal diet

Kimia

hi all,

If you nutritionally live a Paleo/Primal lifestyle, how do you make sure you are getting enough fibre? I have been taking Pysllium Husks (and i've read the previous threads on it) but is it unhealthy to be taking supplements long term? I know the ideal would be to eat more veg but sometimes there is just only so much veg I can eat!

What does everyone else do?

Adelie

To be honest I don't think about fibre at all because my digestion is never a problem anyway. Looking at Fitday my fibre intake is certainly lower than recommended, but I suspect that the government recommendations about fibre probably aren't any more sensible than the ones about carbs, saturated fat etc. Or at least they don't apply to someone eating paleo (i.e. we're eating natural food that our bodies can deal with fine, we don't need our systems brillo-cleaned to get rid of junk).

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has looked into the science of this though.

Kimia

OMG I checked my tracker (previously didn't have the fibre tracker turned on) - I am only getting about 5-8 MAX a day! That is awful considering that the daily recommended is 30g!

Would everyone reach this daily allowance? I'm slightly worried now, looks like I'll have to keep on the oul husks.

Red Cortina

Adelie wrote: »

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has looked into the science of this though.

Stephen Guyenet from the Whole Health Source has written a bit about fibre here http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/12/butyric-acid-ancient-controller-of.html which I think is interesting.

Also Melissa McEwan was at the WAPF conference called Wise Traditions this weekend gone by and said here http://huntgatherlove.com/content/wise-traditions-recap that herself and Stephen Guyenet talked a bit about how he believes fiber really is important and that maybe he might be blogging on this in the future.

Red Cortina

Kimia wrote: »

OMG I checked my tracker (previously didn't have the fibre tracker turned on) - I am only getting about 5-8 MAX a day! That is awful considering that the daily recommended is 30g!

Would everyone reach this daily allowance? I'm slightly worried now, looks like I'll have to keep on the oul husks.

I dunno about taking those husks as part of a healthy diet:(
I'd have a read over this thread again if I were you http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055948201

El_Dangeroso

Fibre from veggies is great, fibre from grains is abrasive and full of antinutrients. Psyllium husks contain phytic acid so I'd avoid them tbh. Much better supplement would be erythritol, which is a potent prebiotic and has been shown to increase weight loss by a small amount in a short term trial.

I tread carefully with fibre cos of my IBS, but if your looking to ratchet up the intake you can pretty much count all carbs from non-starchy veggies as fibre, the gut bacteria usually snap them up before you ever get to them, cheeky feckers! You (everyone really) should really be eating 200g non-starchy veg a day.

Kimia

200g a day! That's so much, I'm going to find that very difficult. I eat about 100g for dinner but lunch/breakfast is where I fall down.

Adelie

Do you cook veg or eat it as salad? I can't eat more than 150g a day raw, but I've no problems eating 200g+ if it's cooked and is in something tasty.

Frozen veg is super handy if the preperation time is a problem.

Torakx

Damn i dont want to be counting grams and calories:(
I ussually try to eat about 6+ brussel sprouts a day with a large carrot and a handfull of green string beans.Maybe one or two spuds too.
Im also wondering what other ways i can get more fibre to go with my meals which is ussually chcken or beef or eggs and wild boar sausage.
Making a chile bolognese sauce now but im gonna throw some basmati rice on there.I dont know if thats ideal fibre though.Might be more carbs than anything.
Oh i also eat porridge in the morning and try dosome exercise The pack says 100g 40g 10% daily fibre whatever that means.
Its hard enough trying to buy and cook regular meals each day without having to be counting.

Sapsorrow

I don't have a problem getting fibre at all, never been constipated or anything near it once since going primal and I eat a big serving of meat or fish 3 times a day. If anything things have improved greatly in that regard ironically. There's plenty of fibre in fruit, veg and nuts you don't need cereals or legumes in that respect or any other.

Kimia

I made a huge batch of veg soup so that'll do me for a few days for lunch anyway.

How much fibre is enough fibre do you think?

Sapsorrow

Well if you've got the runs you're eating too much, if you're constipated you're not eating enough and/or drinking enough water. Other than that it's not worth fussing about imo.

Sapsorrow

Just eat plenty of veg and/or veg with every meal and you'll be grand honestly.

Renn

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Fibre from veggies is great, fibre from grains is abrasive and full of antinutrients. Psyllium husks contain phytic acid so I'd avoid them tbh. Much better supplement would be erythritol, which is a potent prebiotic and has been shown to increase weight loss by a small amount in a short term trial.

I tread carefully with fibre cos of my IBS, but if your looking to ratchet up the intake you can pretty much count all carbs from non-starchy veggies as fibre, the gut bacteria usually snap them up before you ever get to them, cheeky feckers! You (everyone really) should really be eating 200g non-starchy veg a day.

I have one of those 1kg frozen bags per day typically

Renn

Sapsorrow wrote: »

Well if you've got the runs you're eating too much

Hmmm, I did some IF recently and ate a normal sized meal afterwards but my body didn't take too kindly to it. Still trying to figure out why...

moonage

Kimia wrote: »

How much fibre is enough fibre do you think?

Close to zero, probably.

El_Dangeroso

moonage wrote: »

Close to zero, probably.

Still on with the zero carb then? Can I give you a book recommendation?

'Plants that we eat' by Anore Jones

Plants That We Eat is a handy, easy-to-use guide to the abundant edible plant life of Alaska. Drawing on centuries of knowledge that have kept the Inupiat people healthy, the book uses photographs and descriptions to teach newcomers to the north how to recognize which plants are safe to eat. Organized by seasons, from spring greens through summer berries to autumn roots, the book also features an appendix identifying poisonous plants.

She lived with an Inuit tribe and observed all the food they ate, they prized plant food and ate it whenever they could.

moonage

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Still on with the zero carb then?

No, I'm not zero carb. I probably have between 50 and 100 grams a day.

I was referring to the amount of fibre we need. There seems to be a lot of hype about the benefits of fibre and not much evidence to back it up.

El_Dangeroso

Apologies, I was confusing you with someone else.

Most research in fibre is on horrible bran, and so has been at best useless and at worst harmful in controlled trials.

But veg fibre is a different matter, it feeds bacteria that in turn transform fibre into a short chain fatty acid called butyrate. This is the same way that cows get energy from grass, except in cows it's on a much bigger scale as the cows have an incredibly long gut. So cows live on a high saturated fat diet. :pac:

Butyrate is highly anti-inflammatory and helps prevent colon cancer. It also encourages the proliferation of good gut flora, which is essential to a healthy digestion.

metamorphosis

You are a fountain of knowledge for the most random, yet really useful facts.:pac:

Sapsorrow

ULstudent wrote: »

You are a fountain of knowledge for the most random, yet really useful facts.:pac:

It's a bit scary isn't it! Frankenbrain....