TIL 95% of Americans don't get the minimum recommended amount of fiber
26d 6h ago by lemmy.world/u/James_Fortis in til from pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
I have been trying to get fiber for a while now. The internet company tells me it's impossible. /s
Being someone who has to consume high fibre, as part of a medical condition, I cannot stress this enough: DRINK WATER, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD DRINK MORE WATER THAN YOU USUALLY DO!!!
Hydration is badass
In this case hydration can lead to a rather good ass, as well.
Americans don't drink water. They go to Michelin star restaurants and order a cola.
Anyone who needs to be reminded to drink water deserves a Darwin award.
When you consume a high fibre diet, you require more water than usual. Depending on the body type, it can be difficult to ascertain just how much water someone needs to consume.
If you drink a normal amount of water on a constantly high fibre diet, you can tear your anus doing a big poo. There is no nicer way to say it.
This gave me a genuine laugh, thanks haha.
Part of the hijacking of our bodies by processed food and sugar is that many of us literally cannot discern the subtle feeling of dehydration from the more intense feelings of "wanting to eat something high glycemic" plus all that sugar requires more water. So, I can see how today we're struggling with hydration more than in the past, when bodies were more fit and adjusted to whole foods and healthier routines.
What does that accomplish? Selecting for people with higher thirst? Imo, is it really that valuable to push instincts over logic and memory?
Joke's on you, buddy. At least I have an award
SO fucking true. I feel like it's actually impossible to even find foods with enough fiber in them in the first place. I might only get 5% of my daily fiber from a full meal, but at least my Snickers bar has 20g of protein in it for some reason.
We always somehow manage to focus on the wrong things.
Fiber is too hard to explain.
My teen is an athlete and very much into muscle building. He tracks macros, eats more calories than the rest of us (and still lost weight as a freshman with unlimited meal plan), and always looks for more sources of lean protein or omega 3’s.
But when I try to explain the importance of fiber, “I don’t get constipated and don’t need to shit more so why should I care?” Maybe it’s my problem not knowing how to reply to that in a way that communicates the importance
He needs to understand that eating fiber is a workout for the gut. It makes the gut strong, so that it can absorb more nutrients from the meat he eats later. He may be shitting fine, in fact he may be shitting so well that he's not absorbing the full nutrition from his food. Tell him not to be lazy, don't skip gut day.
I like that, “don’t skip gut day”
For a body builder, fiber decreases insulin resistance and decreases inflammation . Food high in fiber have a low glycemic Index allowing for a continuous release of energy .
Oatmeal is one of the best carb sources for bodybuilding .
He should be eating piles of veggies to hit the micro’s needed for loosing fat and building muscle
Fiber feeds your gut bacteria, making your gut health better, making your overall health better. It helps to regulate and slightly inhibit absorption of carbs ensuring a longer lasting feeling of fullness. In nature, carbs and fiber always come packaged together in commensurate amounts... for example potatoes have about 20% carbs and a skin (the fiber) that is thin enough to be edible while sugar cane has so much carbs (about 70%) that the included fiber makes it like a stick.
Whole grains, fruits (I shouldn't have to say it, but not the juice, and if you do drink juice have pulp), beans and lentils, and leafy greens. These are all things Americans don't eat enough of for some reason.
Bean tacos are amazing. Black bean burgers are one of the few vegetarian alternatives that havr gained popularity among meat eaters, and for good reason. Have a spinach salad or snack on kale chips. It's hard to find something more nutritious than lentils though they're hard to cook in a particularly appetizing way. Cabbage and other brassicae can be a challenge but when cooked well is amazing. Whole grain bread takes some getting used to but is excellent once you do.
And if all else fails, pscilium husk fiber supplements.
The problem with fiber in the American diet is that it's satiating and noticeable in ultra processed foods. It's most appetizing in it's natural sources, and the American diet really isn't conducive to cooking with whole plant products.
Lentils need carrots like everything else needs onions/salt, it makes a world of difference (but still use onions and salt)
Also! Try different types of lentils. Red/yellow lentils can get kind of paste-y unless dilluted into soup. But green lentils hold their shape and have a totally different mouthfeel.
Fruit smoothies are delicious and easy to make at home. A large bag of frozen fruits and some bananas at Costco costs like $10 and makes easily a dozen smoothies. The fruits keep in the freezer practically forever - just add blender, water/juice and maybe some milk.
Depending on what you put in it, one smoothie should get you most of the way to your fiber target.
Falafel...
Heavenly and a pain in the ass to make. If I had a home deep fryer though I'd be fat on falafel.
Yeah, I loved being able to get it for a few shekles in Palestine. It's crazy cheap in materials
Yeah it's next to potatoes in the "stupidly cheap, shockingly healthy, and ridiculously delicious" intersection.
I eat a legume at pretty much every meal. Not all of them are high fiber foods, like peanuts or peanut butter, but most have some. Peas have 7g per serving. Peanuts have 2g per serving. Green beans have 3g. The actual beans start running away with it, though, with something like 15g of fiber per serving.
All those go a long way to hit 25g per day.
Basically legumes are how I get affordable protein, too, so it's hitting multiple needs with a cheap and easy ingredient.
Thankfully for myself, I love me some refried beans. I can get over the daily recommendation in one meal.
Just eat peanuts
because fiber tastes like ass.
more fiberous versions of breads, flours, etc exist. but nobody likes how they taste.
just swap all the white flour in your life for whole wheat or whole grain bread and all the sudden you will quadruple your fiber intake
There are brands of high-fiber bread whose taste is barely distinguishable from low-fiber bread. My current favorite is "Aunt Millie's Live Carb Smart" but there are others.
I like white rice, and make bread with 65% white flour. But foods with fiber are delicious.
Beans, so good so many ways.
Fruits - raspberries, dates, apples, peaches, pears, mango, pineapple.
Greens- cooked collards or mustard greens are so tasty, salads can be so good tasting.
Onions and garlic make a good start to many meals and have a specific sort of fiber that is very good for you.
I like oatmeal.
But again - the total fiber needed for health is in two cups of beans. Just throw them in anything. Put them on your white rice, in your white flour tortillas. Garbanzos into sausage soups. Cannelini into pasta dishes. Hummus and falafel with your lamb and white flour pitas.
Are .gov sources still legitimate? Are we sure this wasn't written by rfk's brain worm?
This is nearly a decade old and pretty well documented reference-wise, so I trust it. I definitely understand the healthy skepticism.
Tangentially related, I’ve been buying “carb balance” tortillas instead of regular ones for a while now. They’re not quite as gummy (maybe not the right word but it’s what I can come up with right now) but still pretty damn good and they’re packed with fiber. It’s been a real easy way to work more fiber into my diet. Eating more veggies is still the best source of fiber though, from what I can tell.
Glutinous might be the word you're looking for?
That’s it! Thanks
Hmmm... Tortilla's glutes...
This is a 2016 article from the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. Are you familiar with what PubMed is? Did you click the link?
When giving information that goes against the regime's narrative they can be treated as somewhat trustworthy. RFK Jr is way more into the high meat diet, and animal products don't provide dietary fiber.
Sorry, but they weren't legitimate before anyway. RDA's aren't scientific, just observational. So we have zero idea what anyone actually needs.
There's no way you could say the average person should have a given intake of pretty much anything. Way too much variability in a population. At best you may be able to state a range.
95 % is the range, since it goes from 0 % to 95 %. Only the top 5 % are not in that range.
Beans. I know on Lemmy beans are memes, but beans are how to get enough fiber each day. 2 cups of cooked beans has the total fiber you need for a day, and it's hard to get there without beans.
It takes about 3 -5 cups of cooked veggies to get the fiber that is in one cup of beans. So 1 cup of cooked beans and some greens with supper, a big salad for lunch and oatmeal with raspberries and yogurt for breakfast would get you there. And should leave room calorie wise for some meat and bread or rice or pasta.
My kids make fun of me for making beans for so many meals but delicious, cheap, healthy, they are an ideal food.
what are your two most common bean preps/recipes?
Refried pinto beans we eat with breakfasts or in burritos.
Black beans from cans, reheated with some cumin, salt, pepper, vinegar or jalapeno brine. My family (except for me) prefers black beans above all others.
Bonus easy recipe - get a can of cannelini beans and a can of pureed butternut squash or pumpkin. Heat these together with some olive oil, curry or berbere, salt. When they are hot, hit it with an immersion blender until it's a puree and adjust the consistency to your preference with chicken broth, veg broth, or just water is ok.
Serve with lime slices, pepitas, queso fresco if you have it or a splash of cream or sour cream can also be good.
thank you, I've been meaning to work beans in more often
convenient that I just got an immersion blender
Other fun ideas: fried eggs with lima beams and tumeric. All in the pan together, the beans will merge into the egg whites and get a bit crispy if done right.
Bean curries are always a winner.
And don't forget garbanzo beans (chickpeas) and lentils!
Dump a can of black beans in a pot, unrinsed and undrained. Add adobo seasoning. Serve over rice. I am white.
- Mexican black beans (with tomato paste and chili and onions)
- Hummus
The easiest is just to make a stock periodically with leftover trimmings and then make black beans in the instant pot.
Love me some simple spicy baked beans! But I also eat tons of leafy greens, so I'm probably one of the 5%
This person How not to dies!
Came to say this: BEANS!!!
Just add half a can to every meal you eat while you look for some nice recipes.
Liam on ticktock and YouTube would agree
..out of 10.
K-bye!
Ground flax seed is also a great source of fiber. I put some in my yogurt every morning.
Jackfruit is my weapon of choice.
How tf do you people eat beans so often? The gas tears my intestines apart.
Different gut microbiome. Some people can eat beans all day and never make a toot. Others have one helping and are playing the entire wind section.
I guess just by eating them a lot my body adjusted?
Though I think also, you know how different bodies have different strengths and weaknesses - digestion seems to be my body's strength, the one place I don't usually have issues. Like no trouble eating meat after 20 years of vegetarian food, even. It doesn't care. It's weaknesses lie elsewhere.
Thats a good point. Time to time I muse about what foods are having impacts on me, and then reflect on how sugar heavy my diet is (for different reasons). Would be to my benefit to adjust my diet significantly, tough it out for a week or two of adaptation, and then hopefully reap the benefits without the whirlwind of increasing bean intake. Do those frequent bean eaters have a special source of those legumes? Do i need to make an under the table agreement at the local chinese grocery to get those dank dry beans versus buying Goya out of convenience...
Do you want fancy beans? Rancho Gordo online has fancy beans. They are, as they say, the leguminati.
For canned I use the ones from whole foods or go to specific ethnic markets. Chinese chefs use some crazy preparations I don't usually like - fermented black beans ok in small amounts, but no no to red bean ice cream or any sweet preparation. And big no to Japanese natto, what are they even thinking?
But middle eastern markets have good canned favas, and spanish and italian markets here have lots of brands that aren't Goya.
Beans are protein
That's it? Only protein? Or are they more than meets the eye?
Next you'll tell me they're not a magical fruit!
And fiber
Beans are perfect.
My kids make fun of me for making beans for so many meals but delicious, cheap, healthy, they are an ideal food.
If only I could agree. I cannot atomach the taste or texture of beans. I just cannot. I would love to eat them for the fiber and protein and all the good stuff but I just hate the taste so much.
Have you tried roasted chickpeas (garbanzos)? Also there is a chickpea flour that is used in Indian food. Not that this would be enough to get you the 2 cups or anything, but they are some much different tasting/feeling preparations that you might like ok or enjoy. Also the pumpkin soup I posted - the puree hides in that soup, nobody thinks it's beans, the pumpkin is so strong of flavor the beans just cut that so it's good not ungodly sweet.
I can imagine not liking beans, they do have a specific, really lovely to me, smooth and thick texture. The flavor I can't really imagine not liking all of them, they are pretty different from each other.
Plenty of other foods have fiber just not as efficient as beans, you would have to eat a lot more to hit that health target.
Have you tried roasted chickpeas (garbanzos)?
Better than beans still not the biggest fan.
Also the pumpkin soup I posted - the puree hides in that soup, nobody thinks it's beans, the pumpkin is so strong of flavor the beans just cut that so it's good not ungodly sweet.
Is that soup post somewhere in your other posts or comments? But I have a feeling I won't like that either since I have never liked pumpkin soup.
Call me picky whatever but it seems hard to get fiber unless it's stuff I don't like. Would love to find a fiber rich food that tastes good or barely has taste.
Enjoyment is an important part of healthy eating, and I believe simply not overeating is at least 75% of healthy eating, so wouldn't really worry about it that much.
The soup is in this thread higher up, hardly a recipe it's so easy - I don't really like squash or sweet potatoes but love that soup, all the toppings.
Oh! I remembered this one too, might be more tasty to you if you are into cooking, my family keeps asking for it, but it's not a weeknight thing, have to pull out the blender. Sopa Tarasca, at the bottom of this link. I have made it with canned beans and tomatoes and it's just as good.
https://www.npr.org/2009/11/04/120062592/foods-of-michoacan-are-forever
The last soup looks good. Might have to try making it once.
that sounds like it tastes gross.
Everything they described sounds pretty tasty to me, to be fair. Each to their own! They're right about beans, too.
That's what spices and seasonings are meant to alleviate.
We also don't get the adequate minimum amount of sleep, free-time, healthcare, etc.
.... Wages??
On average, we earn enough that everyone should have healthcare and 4 -week vacations every summer
On average.
Food companies " yeah we know you fuckers don't get enough fiber, but processing food removes it. So even though yall get like twice the protein ya need HOW ABOUT SOME MORE PROTEIN!!!!!"
Americans "yeah I guess that'll do." fart noises
They took it out so they could sell it to us later as a supplement.
Fiber? Why not try 800% of your daily sodium intake in each serving?
You have to add the salt so that it will survive the days of truck travel and the time on the shelf.
No shit!
Wow this Doctor is so efficient with words!
Absolute cinema!
In Taiwan, almost all restaurants will be veggie heavy. At home, it's always 1 veggie dish and 1 meat dish.
Every time I go back to visit the US, I'm constantly constipated.
Restaurants like to serve vegetables because they are cheap, easy to prepare (mostly), fast to cook, and filling. Far more profitable to sell than a steak. That those same vegetables are high in fiber, is an accident to them.
As a person who needs to take supplemental iron pills every day, constipation is an old friend and I'm always eating as much fibre as possible to combat it.
Peasant dishes make the best cuisine.
Shouldn't the same things be the case for people at home then?
Frozen or canned vegetables are cheap and readily available. Cheap beans, either canned or dried. All common items in any restaurants. And in 40 minutes I can have a loaf of oatmeal bread to go with it all. And that includes making the oat flour from scratch with cardboard box of oat meal breakfast cereal.
You want more fiber than that, I will need to fall a dead maple tree I didn't get dropped this past summer.
They're a bit more work to prepare
Idk, but here in the Netherlands I wonder why restaurants often have so little vegetables. I tend to easily reach the 200 grams of vegetables a day when cooking myself. I'm always surprised how little I get at a restaurant here.
What are some easy fiber foods you enjoy? I'm doing a diet change due to exercise and hadn't considered fiber.
Anything from soups to salads.
It being winter right now, I tend to make soups and chilis. In fact, my Wife made a big slow cooker full of chili. We ate that for 2 days and froze the leftovers, (chili freezes very well). A few days before that, I made chicken soup. In addition to the onions and celery, (for god's sake don't throw out the leaves! They taste more like celery than the stalks). I added a whole bag of frozen mixed vegetables and 2 small potatoes, (peeled and cubed and an awesome source of vitamins and soluble fiber), that needed to go. And for meat, all I needed was 2 chicken thighs cut up into spoon sized pieces. Vegetable curries are awesome. Stir fries are easy, cheap, and fast. (If you don't own a wok, get you a carbon steel wok. Next to a good cast iron dutch oven, a wok is the most versatile cooking pot you can own). And don't forget root vegetables, rutabagas, parsnips, turnips, and beets. They not only can be tossed into soups, well maybe not the beets, but all of the are awesome roasted too. You can look up recipes online, but you really don't need a recipe for chicken soup. Just some basic spices and seasonings.
I will leave you with my recipe for oatmeal bread. And for god's sake, don't buy expensive oat flour from the store instead make your own in a blender in a minute or less from dirt cheap rolled oats. You want this quick bread 'rustic'.
Ingredients for Oatmeal Bread Recipe: 2 eggs. 150 g yogurt/5 oz. half a teaspoon of salt. 2 cups + 0.5 cups/275-280 grams of rolled oats. 9.8 oz. grind in a blender. 1 tbsp baking powder. Add any nuts and seeds to taste-- or not. Dealer's Choice
Grease you bread pan well. I use silicone bread pans now Bake in a preheated oven at 180C/360F for 25 minutes.
The yogurt can be either plain or a flavored yogurt. I like either yogurt with honey or vanilla myself. This make a stiff dough, so have a sturdy spoon.
Holy shit thank you! Interesting I never knew about the celery leaves but, but then again most recipes that call from celery it's being used with onion and carrot as a base. Again thank you for the extensive type up and the recipe!
Enjoy eating again!
Apples. Lots of fiber.
Per person: I cook a head of cabbage, carrots, onions in butter+stock, and one sliced sausage. Several meals worth of tasty vegetables + a small, but sufficient, amount of protein.
Slice zucchini, sauté in butter til tender, then grate Swiss cheese in cream, mix everything in casserole dish. Bake til golden.
Halve a spaghetti squash, remove seeds, fill with small goat cheese mixed with plenty of precooked leafy greens. Top with nuts (I like sunflower, but anything goes) for a bit of crunch. Bake til tender.
But I think I'm missing something here. Just eat vegetables, you'll get plenty of fiber.
Oh man I LOVE spaghetti squash. I usually bake it half side down, brown up some medium Italian sausage, then use a pepper tomato sauce. It's like spaghetti but better! Thanks for the other recipe suggestions!
Per person
Yikes. Not only would that cause me terrible bloating, and inflammation aggravating autoimmune conditions, it'd make me bleed from my ass. No joke.
Sunflower's not a nut. And it's what's in that that'd make me bleed from my ass.
Per person
Not this person. *Runs away* n_n
Oats are great. Actually any whole grain, fruit and veg will be great. Fruits are good to keep low because they have a lot of sugar, but an apple or pear a day are great fiber sources. All greens are your friends as well, artichokes, anything with leaves and stems...
'the only reason people do things is because they are cynical and trying to make a buck' followed by an admission of constipation being an old friend is the kind deeply ironic statement only an American could make. people in other places do things for ulterior reasons beyond profit and efficiency but your captured rat brain will never understand such elations
Not until Kelloggs finally releases Flaming Hot Bran Flakes ^(tm) ^
What's the minimum recommend amount, like 500 megabits?
When comparing it to the average US diet, it is crazy. They recommend around 32g for Adult Males, for reference, a serving of Metamucil (popular fiber supplement) has 2.4g of Fiber.
Arright so I'll just pop a dozen of those a day, done
LOL I just pictured someone surrounded by wrappers of Metamucil and not a veggie in sight. “I’m getting all the fiber”.
You might want to watch the Chubby Emu vid on Metamucil before you start overindulging.
I bet there's a six-word summary that would save me twenty-four minutes of my life
I looked it up out of curiosity, basically someone ate (as in it was soo much that it wasn't drinkable) a ton of drink powder metamucil that it caused an impacted bowel.
While taking additional fiber without talking to a doctor may not be the best plan, that's a large step away from chugging fiber and taking well over the recommended dose.
They describe it as being so thick he had to chew it. 30 "scoops", and 2 liters of water. And he still had to chew it, it was that thick.
And then even more in a peanut butter sandwich.
Yeah, I think this one falls squarely on the guy literally eating pounds of fiber.
Thanks, I guessed about as much. Good thing I was joking and just planning to buy some normal supplements and think about beans and vegetables more.
Yeah, vegetables and fruits are the way to go. Fiber is complex and is attached to a host of other non essential nutrients condusive to good health. Fiber supplements simply don't have it.
Eat a fruit with everymeal, add a bigger portion of veggies. Snack on dried fruits. Use beans/lentils. Go for whole grains.
Do it slowly, introduce small changes over time.
I wish the vast majority of fruits didn't just taste plain gross to me. Or that vegetables were tastier and more filling. But I suppose it's time to get creative.
Vegetables can be very tasty, it all depends how they are cooked and also how your taste buds have adapted over time. If you've eaten mostly highly palatable processed foods, fruits and vegetables will taste bland for a while until your taste buds adapt. But the good news is that they can adapt :)
The cubby emu vids are usually worth 24 minutes of your life.
I don't believe you.
It’s sad that my first reaction was “are we sure we’re posting “scientific” results from the us govt?”, and my second reaction was was “phew, 15 years old so it should be true”
But it is old data and I’d like to know if anything has changed.
- Maybe there’s trends: I eat more vegetables than I did back then although still nowhere near enough.
- Marketing has generated a lot more fiber claims for things like breads and cereals. Is that real? Enough to make a difference?
So for me personally I eat more veggies although still not enough and the bread and cereal I eat talks a lot about fiber. Are there any such trends and are they enough to make any difference?
This logic applies to all information, since generative AI
Good source of information here: https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/fiber/
You can tell when you go out to eat at lots of cheaper places. Order a plate with barely any veggies on it. No, an iceberg lettuce with a fatty dressing on it does not count!
Bruh it's 19 to 38 GRAMS of fiber. Like an ounce. We aren't getting an OUNCE of fiber a day.
Don't fucking gatekeep fiber. If it's a green vegetable literally swimming in ranch it's better than eating fries or whatever protein bullshit they're pairing everything with these days.
except they aren't gatekeeping fiber, iceberg lettuce doesn't have a significant amount of fiber in it at all. In fact, it has a similar amount of fiber as french fries. To meet fiber goals you really need to be eating beans and whole grains.
Jesus I thought you were wrong, and you are, but only because it has about half the fiber of like, McDonald's French fries.
What good is lettuce?!
Fresh lettuce adds crunch to a salad and has lots of water. But yeah, by itself it does not bring a lot of value.
I eat overnight oats with chia seeds for lunch daily and beans with a lot of meals. When I first started doing it....HOLY SHIT the gas was massively disgusting. It gets better though.
I’ve been eating “fiber one” breakfast bars for years as an easy way to boost my fiber. The gas never stops for me. It doesn’t even smell, but there’s a lot of it.
I definitely feel the difference in my body when I stop. The gas is unfortunate, but it’s preferable to no fiber.
i can't eat oats for the same reason, but it doesn't get better - i've cut them out of my diet and eat more veggies instead. Although I'm gonna live alone in a few months, and i think my cats don't care, so i might treat myself sometimes in the future.
I haven't seen anyone here mention Psyllium husk. I bought 450 capsules on Amazon (ew I know) and it's been a game changer for me. Seriously. I take two a day and that's been enough for me to be comfortable throughout the day, especially while traveling.
https://www.amazon.de/Organic-psyllium-capsules-serving-cultivation/dp/B0D3F62D9M
Sure, but you really should be getting it through your normal daily food intake. If you need to take pills for it then it is a sign that your diet is lacking.
Not everyone can get it via diet due to dietary or health concerns (or just straight up cost). I'm a T2 diabetic and a lot of things I would eat that have fiber (like oatmeal, or various beans) can spike the crap out of my blood sugar. I'm even limited in what fruits I can eat and how much. I supplement metamucil / psylium husk in my diet, add it to shakes or just drink it with water or chamomile tea.
Beans beans the musical fruit
I get powder from Costco. They have Kirky brand that is not only about half the price of Metanucil, but the dosage is also about a third, so in reality you're getting like 4-6 times as much, depending on your definition of "rounded." Kirky is also sugar free, using stevia I think, although I'm sitting in a car right now so this is all from memory, and my memory ain't the best.
I had the pills, but I take so many pills I usually forget. Switched to the gummies and they were much easier l don't buy the metamucil ones, they taste great but are way overpriced. One day I woke up in the middle of the night and was peckish, and had a bunch. Ohhhh boy did I pay for that mistake.
Those capsules have barely any fiber. You need way more than that. That's like... < 10% of your recommended intake.
You can get the same stuff in powder form in Dm for less than half the price.
Can't you become dependent on that? It shouldn't be a daily supplement.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone; we already knew Americans were full of shit!
Ba-dum, pssh!
Yeah but lot's of them are getting fiber optic which must count for something, right?
That goes in the wrong hole
Gnawing on those cables on the ocean floor is such a chore though.
Uff, I ate a potato and 2 cups of carrots last night and I still didn't get enough fiber to meet the daily need.
Had a co-worker who would eat at their desk so they could use their whole actual lunch break to take a shit lol. The only thing I regularly saw him eat was butter chicken.
In the hell scape of corporate America, I imagine that might be the only time some people get truly alone and able to unwind. So I guess I get it.
They're obsessed with protein and don't realise fibre is more important.
I think the bigger problem is the number of people who have never consumed a properly cooked vegetable, and as such they think they hate vegetables.
Nuked in the microwave canned green beans and boiled Brussel sprouts don’t create vegetable eaters.
Canned green beans are disgusting. The frozen or fresh versions are like a completely different thing in both taste and texture.
It's also that in America food defaults to ultra processed and often hyper palatable. Fiber is perfectly tasty in an apple or berries, but it's often unpleasant in ultra processed foods and it's bulk that doesn't add to flavor, which reduces the palatability.
I do think though that the obsession with protein and fear of plant fat is currently making the problem worse. Had people been focused on beans as a protein source we'd likely be getting increased fiber, but people think protein == animal products and some are even encouraging complete elimination of plant and fungus from one's diet. I've even seen one of those people on lemmy claim that fiber is bad for you.
Don’t forget our fascination with peanut butter. It’s on my top 3 foods list, provided it’s pure peanuts without the gross Crisco. Technically that’s jarred legume paste.
I didn't realize peanuts were high fiber. I guess I don't think of fiber as crunchy
No. You were talking about American failure re plant based protein.
Beans: Why not both?
I can't eat fiber without getting really sick. I just get really tired and in a lot of pain. Butt scope was all clear. I see the rheumatologist in a few months. I suspect it's pinching a blood vessel somewhere.
Does this connect with the American thing about coffee making them shit?
That isn’t a fiber effect. The coffee is stimulating peristalsis.
But is peristalsis not being stimulated enough normally due to lack of fibre?
Probably more that people drink coffee first thing in the morning and also shit shortly after getting up.
PDF Link: Closing America’s Fiber Intake Gap: Communication Strategies From a Food and Fiber Summit https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6124841/pdf/10.1177_1559827615588079.pdf
"Fiber intake recommendations from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) range from 19 grams to 38 grams per day, depending on gender and age." 9. Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board. Dietary Reference Intakes: Energy, Carbohydrates, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein and Amino Acids. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2005.
Lol and my doc said I'm getting too much fiber. Had to stop eating broccoli like everyday, tho my butt has thanked me lol
Who needs fiber when you've got coffee and a stretched out anus?
After some medical issues relating to not enough fiber, I eat 5 prunes a day, plus increased my veggies and fruit intake
If you read the guidelines this paper is referencing : https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/10490/chapter/9 You will see that fibre is not a essential nutrient, rather it ameliorates the effects of poor food/nutrition. I highly recommend reading the guideline directly, it is fascinating, especially the physiological effects section
The guideline is based heavily on epidemiology, in fact the only RCT on fibre consumption I'm aware of shows fibre is a causal factor in constipation : https://doi.org/10.3748/wjg.v18.i33.4593
If your eating whole foods, adding fibre isn't going to do much for you because your food is nutritious. If your eating food that is bad for you, fibre is going to help because it reduces the amount of bad food you absorb... but my take away from this would be to avoid eating the bad food entirely
The one compelling benefit i've seen argued is that fibre is broken down into SCAs in intestines which is good for health, but this can also be achieved by eating low carb, intermittent fasting, etc.
Seems like the minimum might be wrong then.
Nah
Massive constipation, explains the current politics.
I thought it was on about fibre as in internet
I ate a whole box of fiber one bars in one go 20 years ago and I've been regular ever since.
Yeah, I know, TV commercials tell me that all the time.
they can't eat the minimum recommended amount of fiber, because their toilet pipes are smaller in diameter than other regions. it would clog every time, if it's not soft enough, instead of just a bit more than other regions.
We need a fibre pill. A little capsule that contains an extremely-compressed/folded length of fibre. Once the capsule melts in your gut juices, the fibre inside springs to full size like a cumming cattail, providing 6-8 weeks' worth of fibre. Then we'd never again have to miserably work through a brick of carpenter's floor sweepings, or whatever the fuck muesli is, just to have a half-normal fuckin' turd. Fuck-ass fuckin' ass.
Or you know, eat vegetables, whole grains and fruits everyday.
It surprised me when I went keto-carn (zero fiber diet), my stools moved easier, than when I was on a high fiber diet.
Butyrate? Is that why it's called butyrate? Manages the rate it comes out of your butt?
I'll bet something near 95% of Americans don't get enough butyrate in their guts, be it from butter or microbes eating fiber.
Butter...? Is that why it's called butter?
Maybe high fiber dose would work good, if the gut's in a healed state, not scarred from extra spiky gluten and lectins and phytates and oxylates and salicylates etc, indigestible proteins, coarse insoluble roughage fibers, not to mention the glyphosate and other herbicides and pesticides and fungicides, and franken-sugars and dyes and preservatives and rancid pufa imbalanced oils and chemical processing residues etc etc etc.
Heh. Why's that getting voted down? The butyrate?
Or...
Maybe some folk are deep in an opposing groupthink, and felt threatened, identifying with ideas that challenges. Maybe because they've yet to encounter a few other tidbits of info to build their picture... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m24rS5Xt9N8 (<- mentions a challenge to fiber ideas, half way through.)
And another set of ideas to consider, challenging the prevailing dogma we're all indoctrinated with about fiber, from Dr Boz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlKCcCpjH2M "The Fiber Lie We All Believed (until now)".
Carnivore gets rid of that. Fiber can cause some issues in some, especially to those who are on a carnivore diet. I did it for a while, and I was healthier than when I had fiber (my body isn't really designed for fiber anyway).
This is actually the reality behind the, really racist, mindset that "taco bell gives you the shits, ha ha ha". Since Taco Bell (and a lot of mexican inspired food) is very high in fiber.
I don't think that the stereotype that Taco Bell gives you diarrhea is related to the fact that it's high in fibre (which should not give you diarrhea), or racism.
Trying my best not to imitate the "wellll acktualllyyy" meme - I agree with your comment lol - but just to spread a little knowledge, if your body is not used to fiber and you intake a large amount, diarrhea is often the body's way of coping.
It's actually not. American colons are so used to low fiber diets anything with a slight amount of fiber gives them the shits.
Taco Bell is moslty meat cheese and corn -none of that is actually high fiber.
McDonalds "food" actually has no fiber.
Beans.
Beans
The musical fruit
The more you eat,
Taco Bell is “Mexican food” in the same way that French fries are “French food”. Which is to say: it’s not.
And Taco Bell gives you the shits because it’s fairly poor quality, not because of any ethnic lean that its offerings are marketed with
Homie... you aren't really doing yourself any favors with the "racist" allegations. But let's break this down a bit.
"French fries", at least in their most "traditional" form ARE "French"... in the sense that they are frenched. It is a loaded term that mostly relates to making food more aesthetically pleasing. But, with regards to vegetables, it is commonly used to refer to cutting food into long strips. Sound familiar? Julienne cuts/matchsticks are related but folk have Thoughts on the differences.
So yes, "french fries" are "French" in the sense that they are "frenched potatoes that are subsequently fried". Steak Fries break this but Steak Fries are a war crime 99/100 times (but holy shit are they amazing when cooked properly).
And Taco Bell gives you the shits because it’s fairly poor quality,
Sorry, what do you mean by that? Well, let's face it, we all know what you mean by that. But let's move on.
Tacos and burritos do indeed have a lot of legacy with "poor people food" since they are essentially Mexican(-ish) sandwiches. It is protein, maybe some veg, and filler wrapped in something you can hold in your hand. And, the "filler" is the key there. Since the common protein has, historically, been beans of some form. Because they are dirt cheap, store really well, and are an AMAZING vessel for flavor (as detailed in the other branch).
Which gets back to... beans are high in fiber. Fiber really helps to regulate bodily functions. And people don't realize just how irregular their bodily functions are.
And to roll back to the start: Taco Bell IS actually "Mexican" food in the same sense that Chinese restaraunts are "Chinese fod". No, they are not 100% authentic but they are instead taking a cultural food and adapting it to available ingredients and regional preferences. And American Chinese or British Chinese (shockingly awesome) are just as "Chinese" as Cantonese or Yunnan Chinese food. They are regional variants based on available ingredients. Okay, Canadian Chinese food can suck a butt but I will never turn down that styrofoam plate of nonsense.
But hey, keep on showing dat ass. It makes for a good learning experience for the rest of us.
Do you… seriously think you’ve found a “gotcha” moment…? What even is this diatribe? You’re jumping to conclusions that are in a different goddamn timezone.
I mean that Taco Bell is ass-tier Mexican, and it’s very easy to find better quality Mexican food. And solid Mexican food is delicious. Excellent Mexican food (and Chinese, and… well, seriously, name any cuisine) is one of the few things I miss about living in Los Angeles.
I'm constipated right now and really like actual Mexican food, what would you recommend?
I'm going to assume you are American/European(+UK) where we bastardize the hell out of actual Mexican food.
But the general rule of thumb? Anything with beans. Beans are ridiculously high in fiber AND a really good price to nutrients ratio. And in most fast food (and even restaurant) settings, beans are used as a filler for that reason. But also? Beans (especially "refried") is GOOD since they tend to get spiced like month old beef (like a lot of "poor people food") so you just have massive amounts of flavor in every single bite.
Do they not bastardize Mexican food in Asia, Australia or Canada? Seems more likely I'd get something more Authentic in California.
But yeah, I was suspecting it was beans. I have a massive sack of beans in the pantry, because I love beans and my wife loves beans and we love beans. So maybe I'll go make some beans later.
... ooh, looks like split peas have even more fiber and I've got a container of that in the fridge. Gonna have bigger bowls of that this week.
Can't speak to Asian or Australian "mexican" food (although now I desperately want to eat at a Japanese Taco Bell...). And I THINK I have had Canadian Mexican once or twice but any time I am up there I tend to gravitate towards "Canadian Fried Chicken" and the like since they got the message from the Filipinos and just add a shit ton of gravy (and sometimes "cajun poutine") to that which... is the correct way to eat Fried Chicken.
But mentioned it in the other branch: "Authentic" is a very loaded term. Taking Chinese food for example (since that is near and dear to both my heart and colon), it is all about adapting cultural recipes and styles of eating to available ingredients and regional preferences. American Chinese tends to be a LOT sweeter. My experience is that Briths Chinese tends to be more spicy and incorporate aspects of Indian cooking (so... a very roundabout way of being similar to Nepalese food). Even within China you have very big differences between what you would eat in Hong Kong versus Yunnan, let alone if you go more North.
That said, a good way to think of Mexican (especially Taco Bell Mexican) is that they are taking sandwiches (that is what tacos and burritos are) an stuffing them massively to the point of ONLY serving open faced sandwiches. It is still a sandwich with a lot of the same flavor profiles, but... it is hard to get too cranky at people insisting that it is different.
One more thing. Don't sleep on supplements. No, not the kind that the good grocery store keeps encouraging you to buy. Stuff like metamucil is great for increasing fiber in your diet in weeks where you might not want to eat split pea or beans or whatever.
And... vitamins in general are good to have. We redefine "the food pyramid" and so forth every few years but anyone who actually puts some thought in realizes that it is nigh impossible to get THAT much vitamins and nutrients into a daily diet without some REAL expensive shenanigans. In theory you get that over the course of a week or even two weeks. In practice? We all live very busy lives but most of us also don't engage in the level of physical activity where you are going to be eating 3-4 hearty meals a day to stay functional. But taking a multivitamin daily and some fiber powder a few times a week goes a long way towards evening out the more hectic/less healthy weeks.
Japanese Taco Bell is nothing uniquely special. Though I only have Australian Taco Bell as a comparison.
I’m constipated right now ... what would you recommend?
High dose Magnesium supplements with water or juice (e.g. prune juice), massaging belly clockwise, and, if already addicted or unconcerned, a smoke and a coffee (with butter).
Speaking as a survivor of life threatening constipation.
You don't need any fiber in the human diet. It was a marketing thing that everyone bought into for some reason and now it's dogma.
There are certain, very limited diets where you can be relatively healthy without fiber. Most notable is carnivore (although people dispute that it's healthy), but there are a few others.
However, the VAST majority of diets, including all of the common ones, need (and often contain) fiber. However, the amount you need is also going to vary from person to person. If you completely avoid processed foods, you're probably getting enough already.
going to guess you're probably in your late-20s to mid-30s and haven't had to shit for a week without shitting.
wait til you're in your 40s or 50s. that opinion you have is going to test you.
I imagine since you're talking about bowel movement that you think that constipation is alleviated by the consumption of fiber, but there are no RCTs that prove that that is the case. It is in fact rather the opposite:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22969234/
I personally do not experience constipation.
Sixty-three cases of idiopathic constipation presenting between May 2008 and May 2010 were enrolled into the study after colonoscopy excluded an organic cause of the constipation.
first of all, you cited a clinical, not a medical study.
second it only had 63 cases.
this trial is bullshit.
just because you cite from pubmed doesn't mean you know wtf you're talking about.
thirdly the author is Kok-Sun Ho, a colorectal surgeon from Singapore. you know what Singapore is well known for in the medical/pharmaceutical community? it's a bake shop. big pharma buys doctors in Singapore to site these clinical trials as a way to discredit legitimate medical studies so they can force open a market for their new "wonder drug".
go eat some fiber, you're full of shit.
this trial is bullshit.
Please provide the randomized trail showing the benefit of fibre with hard end points, where they also included a zero fibre arm
I don't have to, I'm not the one that's attempting to circumvent decades of medical advice based on a flimsy trial that only targeted 63 people.
in a real study, there would be thousands of subjects in order to get any real results.
if there was any evidence that increasing fiber intake does not result in loosening stool, it would be a widely distributed paper with multiple peer reviews.
actually a study found that in a random blind test of 1000+ people 66% of the subjects had constipation symptoms lessen while 44% of the placebo group also saw symptoms reduced. this means fiber had an increased chance of relieving constipation.
so yeah, a fiber rich diet can improve your constipation but it's different on a case-by-case basis.
What is the decades of advice based on?
actually a study found that in a random blind test of 1000+ people 66% of the subjects had constipation symptoms lessen while 44% of the placebo group also saw symptoms reduced. this means fiber had an increased chance of relieving constipation.
Can you please give me the name of this study? Id like to actually read it
What drug ensues from fixing idiopathic constipation? Perhaps you have better studies you could share?
I'm not sure it's marketing in the commercial sense, but it is yet another example of a emergent trend surfaced by poorly controlled epidemiology
https://hackertalks.com/post/20462821/12889208
Yes you do, fiber is essential for health.
But, and it's a big but (wink wink), fiber should come from whole plant foods, not supplements.
Some good info here if you want to know more: https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/fiber/