Fiber Is Extremely Misunderstood.
Both soluble and insoluble forms of fiber are vital for the lower intestine, colon, and therefore, overall health.
Humans have hybrid acid/fermenting digestive systems to support omnivorous living anywhere on earth.
Once you get dysbiosis (unbalanced and weak microbiome with overgrowths of unwanted bacteria), fiber exacerbates symptoms by fermenting into the wrong output, like alcohol instead of butyrate. This causes gas, pain, constipation, or diahrrea. Naturally, people avoid fiber more and more as they connect the dots.
Paradoxically, fiber is part of the solution, but it's reputation has been tarnished due to the rapidly depreciating quality of industrial foods (western wheat, cereals, etc) and the poor products promoted by "doctors" (metamucil, psyllium husk, etc).
One way people avoid there dysbiotic symptoms is to eliminate all fiber, like with #Carnivore, but the long term repercussions of starving your colonocytes of butyrate are serious, not to mention the cost of living in your emergency, ketogenic metabolism for decades.
Another approach is to sterilize the gut with various forms of antimicrobials, and then lean heavily into insoluble fiber (raw carrot, antiseptic mushrooms) while minimizing soluble fiber, sticking to juices and milks, for example. This is fairly common within the Ray Peat community for people who have a history of serious gut issues. But this method is also dangerous to the colon long term if dysbiosis of the lower intestine hasn't been corrected.
Colonocytes will actually harvest the colon lining for fuel in the absence of natural butyrate. You can imagine how that ends up if allowed to go on for decades.
The proper, balanced solution liberates one from fiber hell.
1. Provide a good mix of insoluble fiber (carrots,s) AND soluble fiber (sunfiber, kiwis, bananas, apples, grapes, sprouted oats, slow fermented sourdough), being careful to select and move slowly on the latter to establish a white list of what is tolerable. Sunfiber is the right starting place, IMHO.
2. Ensure sufficiently broad microbiome in lower intestine via periodic raw kefir, raw milk, raw cheese, krout, kimchi, l reuteri yogurt, and even broad spectrum probiotics (Ruscio's Triple Therapy Probiotic Powder Sticks).
3. Evaluate stool (Vibrant Labs Gut Zoomer, Candida Zoomer) and sterilize upper intestine and/or remodel microbiome in lower intestine as necessary with antimicrobials or select probiotics.
Instead of ignoring the problem, living in fear of fiber, and potentially dying from colon cancer, pay down the debt and enjoy simple, omnivorous living again.
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