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Psyllium Husk

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  • #32
    rubadub
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,388 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    Found this site with a gallery of what comes out the other end after you eat the husks. Warning the pictures are horrendous!!

    The site itself says
    Please note that some people may find the pictures below disturbing, repulsive or down-right disgusting. All the more reason to start eliminating such build-up from your system TODAY!

    The first guys testimonial says
    This is the first testimonial that I have ever taken the time to write, and it is the least that I can do to repay you for saving my life! I have been using your product since April 1, 2005 and I am absolutely horrified at the results!!!

    Last warning! this is utterly vile. GALLERY


  • #33
    LFC5Times
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,217 ✭✭✭LFC5Times


    Manuel Great Fiddle wrote: »
    Its not like drinking a load of OJ, it kind of keeps things together but moving if you get me ; ) Sorry can someone please put up where they get the flaky stuff, i am not mad on the powder.

    I got my original psyllium husk(powder) in Holland and Barrett(expensive). When I ran out of that I got more from myprotein.co.uk as I also ordered something else from them too.

    http://www.myprotein.co.uk/search.aspx?SearchTerm=psyllium

    On page 2 of this thread I think post 25, the poster mentions getting some in a health shop called Restore on Wexford St - not sure if its capsules or powder.


  • #34
    EileenG
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,775 ✭✭✭EileenG


    rubadub wrote: »
    Found this site with a gallery of what comes out the other end after you eat the husks. Warning the pictures are horrendous!!

    The site itself says


    The first guys testimonial says


    Last warning! this is utterly vile. GALLERY

    I've been pooping for a long time (all my life) with and without psyllum husks, and I've never produced anything like that.


  • #35
    El_Dangeroso
    Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 5,620 ✭✭✭El_Dangeroso


    rubadub wrote: »
    Found this site with a gallery of what comes out the other end after you eat the husks. Warning the pictures are horrendous!!

    The site itself says


    The first guys testimonial says


    Last warning! this is utterly vile. GALLERY

    That, ugh, is not from psyllium husks. That's from those colon cleansing scams:

    From MDA:
    You’ve probably seen the disgusting images of toxic “mucoid plaque” deposits culled from unhealthy colons. If not, give “mucoid plaque” or “colon cleanse” a whirl in Google Image search. You’ll get hundreds of results, images of brown/black, ropy extrusions that look a bit like chewed up Tootsie Rolls. This is “mucoid plaque,” a toxic film that supposedly accumulates on the walls of our colons over the years. No one is safe from the scourge of mucoid plaque, and the only way to rid yourself of this menace is to purchase a special fiber-and-herb cleansing formula, or shoot a high-powered jet of water through your colon to dislodge the toxins.

    It’s strange, then, that physicians have always been unable to locate this mysterious, seemingly ubiquitous colonic plaque, even after “several thousand intestinal biopsies.” Some even suggest that the colon cleansers are creating the problem themselves, and that those ropy extrusions are the product of consuming all that insoluble fiber in the cleansing formulas. Huh? A self-fulfilling marketing ploy that ensures repeated consumption of a product by exacerbating the very condition it purports to relieve? Nah, that would never, ever happen.


  • #36
    Mellor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,406 ✭✭✭✭Mellor


    Temple_Grandin wrote: »
    That, ugh, is not from psyllium husks. That's from those colon cleansing scams:

    He wasn't saying they were from the husks. He was saying it was deposits as per colonic irrigation type removals


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  • #37
    El_Dangeroso
    Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 5,620 ✭✭✭El_Dangeroso


    Mellor wrote: »
    He wasn't saying they were from the husks. He was saying it was deposits as per colonic irrigation type removals

    Wasn't he? I thought he said that's what comes out after eating them no?

    Colonic irrigation would never remove anything like that, it's more likely that the colon cleanse type things actually create deposits like that. Either way tis a scam.


  • #38
    rubadub
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,388 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    Temple_Grandin wrote: »
    I thought he said that's what comes out after eating them no?
    Yes, that is what I meant, I saw the bulk of the product in question was husks, so presumed it was it. I have been looking up those scams, there are plenty on youtube too with most comments saying it is only the product and many saying only the husks. The husks will certainly produce more volume, while the other ingredients seem to be binding agents or something. This seems to say it is figs & senna and the "bulky fibrous ingredients" -husks.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucoid_plaque
    Practicing physicians have dismissed the concept of mucoid plaque as a hoax and a "non-credible concept".[8] A pathologist at the University of Texas School of Medicine addressed Anderson's claims directly, saying that he has "seen several thousand intestinal biopsies and have never seen any 'mucoid plaque.' This is a complete fabrication with no anatomic basis."[1][9] Another pathologist, Edward Friedlander, has noted during his experience that he has never observed anything resembling a "toxic bowel settlement" and that some online photographs actually depict what he recognises as a blood clot.[10] Commenting on claims that waste material can adhere to the colon, Douglas Pleskow, a gastroenterologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, stated "That is the urban legend. In reality, most people clear their GI tract within three days."[14]

    In a review of websites promoting products that claim to remove 'mucoid rope' or plaque from consumers' intestines, Howard Hochster of New York University wrote that these websites are "abundant, quasi-scientific, and unfortunately convincing to a biologically uneducated public." He noted that although such sites are entertaining, they are disturbing in that they promote a belief that has no basis in physiology.[2] Hochster also noted that a preparation marketed to remove mucoid plaque contains laxatives and bulky fibrous ingredients. Thus, the ropy residue expelled from people who consume this product "certainly is a result of the figs and senna in this preparation," rather than any sort of pathologic 'plaque'.[2] Other 'colon cleanser' products contain bentonite clay that, when ingested, would also result in production of bulky stools.


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_cleansing

    I am now left wondering how beneficial things like husks are as sites are saying that you clean yourself out just fine anyway...


  • #39
    El_Dangeroso
    Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 5,620 ✭✭✭El_Dangeroso


    Yep I'm with you on that. I'm very skeptical that taking husks in order to poop regularly is a good thing. Probably ok once in a while but If it's a chronic problem then the husks will be masking a symptom rather than addressing the underlying cause.

    Interestingly the bulk of stools are composed not of waste food and fibre but of gut bacteria and cells of the ever-renewing gut lining. Stikes me that chronic constipation is a sign that the gut critters aren't in good shape (dysbiosis). Doesn't seem to be as simple as taking a probiotic either, that sometimes make constipation even worse.

    My underlying instinct would by that the bad bacteria needs to be starved off before the good bacteria can be replaced.


  • #40
    Adelie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 266 ✭✭Adelie


    Temple_Grandin wrote: »
    My underlying instinct would by that the bad bacteria needs to be starved off before the good bacteria can be replaced.

    I'm curious, how do you think you can encourage the bad bacteria to be starved of?


  • #41
    Mellor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,406 ✭✭✭✭Mellor


    Temple_Grandin wrote: »
    Yep I'm with you on that. I'm very skeptical that taking husks in order to poop regularly is a good thing.

    I have a very low fibre diet, without husk i'd get none at all really. I don't want to go into details here, but loe fibre can cause other problems other than irregular pooping, which is my other reason for taking them.


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  • #42
    El_Dangeroso
    Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 5,620 ✭✭✭El_Dangeroso


    Adelie wrote: »
    I'm curious, how do you think you can encourage the bad bacteria to be starved of?

    I don't know if there is another way, the only way I know is to go on a very severe low carbohydrate diet, similar to the candida diet. Very little in the way of carbs or fibre of any kind for 30 days. That will starve both good and bad bacteria alike, so the next step is to replace good bacteria with a daily probiotic and eat a diet rich in soluble fibre like onions, leeks, mushrooms and artichokes.
    Mellor wrote: »
    I have a very low fibre diet, without husk i'd get none at all really. I don't want to go into details here, but loe fibre can cause other problems other than irregular pooping, which is my other reason for taking them.

    I completely agree that fibre is important for the majority of people (though it can be hell if you're in the throws of severe IBS like I once was). But don't forget that all the documented advantages of a high-fibre diet come from eating fibre in real food, not from taking psyllium husks. I think they are useful for occasions when you need to get things moving, but the long term effects of high-fibre supplements are not established and I feel in certain conditions they might just be masking an underlying issue. My 2c.


  • #43
    Mellor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,406 ✭✭✭✭Mellor


    Temple_Grandin wrote: »
    I don't know if there is another way, the only way I know is to go on a very severe low carbohydrate diet, similar to the candida diet. Very little in the way of carbs or fibre of any kind for 30 days. That will starve both good and bad bacteria alike, so the next step is to replace good bacteria with a daily probiotic and eat a diet rich in soluble fibre like onions, leeks, mushrooms and artichokes.



    I completely agree that fibre is important for the majority of people (though it can be hell if you're in the throws of severe IBS like I once was). But don't forget that all the documented advantages of a high-fibre diet come from eating fibre in real food, not from taking psyllium husks. I think they are useful for occasions when you need to get things moving, but the long term effects of high-fibre supplements are not established and I feel in certain conditions they might just be masking an underlying issue. My 2c.
    If I eat some husk along with 50g protein, 10g carbs, 10g fats over a few hours, i don't really see how it is different to a whole food that has the same breakdown.

    I'd agree with you if we were talking taking husk only for a period of time, 8 hours say


  • #44
    El_Dangeroso
    Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 5,620 ✭✭✭El_Dangeroso


    Mellor wrote: »
    If I eat some husk along with 50g protein, 10g carbs, 10g fats over a few hours, i don't really see how it is different to a whole food that has the same breakdown.

    I'd agree with you if we were talking taking husk only for a period of time, 8 hours say

    If I stuck some protein powder together with some suet, would that be the same thing as eating fillet mignon?

    Nutrition science is entirely in its infancy. We only discovered the last vitamin a few decades ago. We're only slightly beginning to understand eichosanoid metabolism and how omega 3 and 6 interact. The body is used to getting nutrients in certain ratio, many nutrients remain undiscovered. High fibre food may contain a yet-undiscovered nutrient that is essential to the proper metabolism of the fibre by the gut bacteria.

    One thing I've learnt in the last while is that no nutrient operates in a vacuum, there are always dependencies, fibre is no different. Supplements can never ever hope to replicate the benefit of real food.


  • #45
    RobAMerc
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,862 ✭✭✭RobAMerc


    Sorry to drag up an old thread but -

    has anyone else found this to be having the exact opposite effect that they expected ?

    I am finding myself very dehydrated since I started taking this and consequently I'm having issues with my digestive systems lack of water. Since I started using porridge some time back this has not been any sort of issue for me till I've started supplementing my diet with Psyllium ( mostly on days I have a protein rich breakfast or used in cooking to bulk out muffins etc )

    I never drink less than 2 litres of water per day.


  • #46
    ciagr297
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 428 ✭✭ciagr297


    RobAMerc wrote: »
    Sorry to drag up an old thread but -

    has anyone else found this to be having the exact opposite effect that they expected ?

    I am finding myself very dehydrated since I started taking this and consequently I'm having issues with my digestive systems lack of water. Since I started using porridge some time back this has not been any sort of issue for me till I've started supplementing my diet with Psyllium ( mostly on days I have a protein rich breakfast or used in cooking to bulk out muffins etc )

    I never drink less than 2 litres of water per day.
    yep, i tried Psyllium husk a few years back and my stomach was in bits after it.
    i would stay away from Psyllium as it sounds like your digestive system is struggling. there are lots of sources of fiber out there that won't be as harsh.
    as you said yourself, porridge is going well. if you are finding it diffiicult to get some ideas, you can try the site i use for IBS http://www.helpforibs.com/
    i actually got the fiber supplement on it, and it was very easy to take. but you can get a soluable fiber supplement in Boots which is great. i think its Benefiber.
    keep drinking the water though - tea infusions are a good way of getting more fluids and make things more interesting :)


  • #47
    RobAMerc
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,862 ✭✭✭RobAMerc


    thanks ciagr297 -

    yea - gonna stay away from it from now. back to a good healthy bowl of porridge lots of fruit and veg and plenty of water. It's done me the world of good for years, I don't know why I ever tried to change !

    Rob


  • #48
    Sandska
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3 ✭Sandska


    Where in Georges street arcade is this little health food shop? Just Made a really yummy bread using husks as the fibre. Didn't have any culinary ones so just emptied some capsules. Worked grand but the 100g for 1.65 sounds appealing!


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