Too much Fiber. Good or Bad?

Fiber is good - great actually! Drink water of course and remember that it will impact your weigh-ins if you are scale obsessed! I weigh in every day and have started to realize that my fiber intake gives me a couple extra pounds of weight NOT fat - just water and fiber in my very happy and healthy gut system.

There actually is such a thing as too much protein. If you go over on protein regularly you will cause a lot of damage to your kidneys...

MFP has the fibre set on the 'low' side. I aim for something between 30-40 grams of fibre a day.

Actually if you eat too much fiber for a long period of time it can actually do the opposite of what you expect fiber to do. To be indelicate.... It will constipate you. Not sure if you're having enough for that - it's just something to keep in mind.

There actually is such a thing as too much protein. If you go over on protein regularly you will cause a lot of damage to your kidneys...

The protein levels given my MFP are pretty low. You can very safely go over them (assuming you have healthy kidneys in the first place) by quite a lot. It's not unsafe for otherwise healthy people to eat enough protein to count for 30% or more of their calories (MFP is set at 15% I believe).

With that said, the fiber amounts given by MFP are also very low (because they're based on the number of calories you are given). As a general rule, women should aim for 25g and men for 30g. If you're eating more than that, just increase your water intake so your body has a way to keep that fiber a'movin'.

GOOD

In the beginning I was eating way too much fiber and I had bathroom problems as well as the fact that I wasn't losing weight. What I read is that if you get too much fiber, it can draw in the water that you drink and just sit in your belly. It can weigh as much as 5-10 pounds. I do better on 20-25 grams per day. I don't have the issues or the bloating feeling anymore and I started losing when I cut back on the fiber a little bit.

Too much of anything is bad for you, including fiber --- how much is too much depends what doctor you believe, check this website for more info..http://www.medpedia.com/questions/702-is-it-possible-to-eat-too-much-fiber

As for Protein:

Most research has found that the average person needs about 0.8 grams of protein per kg of body weight. To figure out your daily needs, follow this simple formula:

Divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 – this is your weight in kilograms.
Example: if you weigh 150 pounds,

150 / 2.2 = 68.2

Multiply this number by 0.8 – this is the number of grams of protein you need each day.
Example: 68.2 * 0.8g = 54.6;

You would need about 55 grams of protein per day.

Your protein needs will also depend on your activity level. If you are sedentary, you will likely need only 0.4 grams of protein per kg of body weight, whereas recreational exercisers will need 0.5 – 0.8 grams of protein per kg of body weight. If you are very active and work out at a moderate to intense level for 30-60 minutes more than 4 days per week, you may need up to 1.0 gram of protein per kg of body weight. In the above example, this means that this person would need somewhere between 55 and 68 grams of protein per day based on the activity level (assuming this person is at least moderately active).

Research on body builders has shown that they may require up to 1.2 to 1.5 grams of protein per kg of body weight. However, it is important to realize that body builders have very unique nutritional needs based on the strain they are placing on their bodies and muscle tissue. There tends to be a faulty assumption in our society that because protein’s function in the body is to build and repair muscles and that body builders consume larger quantities of protein, then eating like they do will produce in greater muscle gain. This link is faulty; body builders build the muscle mass that they do because of their genetics and their workouts and not just because they consume extra protein. If you regularly consume more protein than your body needs and are not getting enough carbohydrates and other critical nutrients, there can be detrimental effects on your health.

If your body does not have enough carbohydrates and has too much protein, it enters into a state known as ketosis. Ketosis is the accumulation in the blood of ketones (byproducts of fat oxidation) and represents the body’s adaptation to fasting or starvation. The theory behind low-carbohydrate diets is that inducing a constant state of ketosis cause people to lose weight regardless of how many calories from protein and fat are consumed because it causes the body to eventually burn fat for energy. Ketosis increases insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. Insulin resistance is a major risk factor for the development of coronary artery disease, and glucose intolerance has been linked to hypertension and dyslipidemia. Maintaining a state of ketosis can also result in mild dehydration because the kidneys are burdened by having to rid the body of excess nitrogen. This can cause dizziness, headaches, confusion, nausea, fatigue, sleep problems, and worsening of kidney problems.

If you are eating too much protein and not enough carbohydrates, it is likely you are not eating enough fiber. Low intake of fiber can cause constipation, and may contribute to the development of hemorrhoids, diverticulosis, polyps, colon cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

High protein intake is also associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis due to calcium loss. When protein is digested, amino acids break apart and pass into the blood making the blood slightly acidic. Since your body needs to have a balanced pH level, calcium is pulled from the bones to neutralize acidity. Therefore, the more protein you have in your diet, the more acidic your blood will be and the more calcium that will be needed. Animal proteins (i.e. meats) are the main culprit of this cycle; grains, beans, vegetables, and fruits act as calcium savers.

In addition to calcium loss, maintaining a low-carbohydrate intake may be associated with an increase in blood pressure with age due to deficiencies of high-carbohydrate, high-fiber foods that protect against hypertension.

Consuming too much protein and not enough carbohydrates also results in poor athletic performance and impaired ability to have an effective workout due to depletion of glycogen stores, which the body burns for energy during exercise; carbohydrates are the body’s main source of glycogen. This is counter-productive, since most people either eat excessive protein under the assumption of either losing weight or building muscle mass and size; however these goals cannot be achieved without a proper exercise program.

Source: Blackburn et al. (2001), Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine

On any given day - I have 50-60 in fiber... I've found that as long as I drink a lot of water... I'm fine.