Low carb = low fiber = problem!

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DBeverly
DBeverly Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
Every time I go on a diet... I mean lifestyle change, it requires cutting out a lot of carbs. I try to eat fruit and veggies, including a lot of salads. But it never fails, constipation is always the result! When I'm not counting carbs I eat oatmeal, whole wheat breads, pastas,homemade pancakes with whole grains & flax. I would prefer to eat that and not eat a lot of meat. But with all that fiber, comes calories. If I were to do that now, it would leave me with very little to eat on my diet, and I would also get hungry, because I use up all my calories in carbs and have very little left over for proteins & fat which curb hunger. Colon cancer runs in my family. The doctor has told me to eat plenty of fiber. How do I get the fiber I need, not be hungry all the time, lose weight and not have to take something over the counter to do it!

Replies

  • healthygreek
    healthygreek Posts: 2,137 Member
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    First of all you don't "go" on a lifestyle change! You only need to change your lifestyle once and continue on the rest of your days. One only goes "on" and eventually "off" a "diet".
    That being said, I eat a slice of whole grain bread a day or Smartbran cereal in the morning. Other than that, I eat tons of veggies, some fruit, protein such as peanut butter, eggs, chicken, fish, beans and steak about 1-2x a month. Sometimes I have oatmeal w/flax, chia seeds, nuts and fruit. I measure out each carefully. I drink 4 oz of prune juice each morning and 2 huge glasses of water about 1/2 hour before breakfast. At night I take a 400 mg capsule of magnesium citrate. That is very calming and great for constipation.
    I eat this way and eat back my exercise calories and still lose. I also have chocolate every day;-))
  • lattarulol
    lattarulol Posts: 123 Member
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    There are some great low carb high fiber tortilla/wraps out there. Tortilla Factory makes a few different ones, as does the FlatOut company for wraps. Check them out.
  • ecdce
    ecdce Posts: 129 Member
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    So, there are different kinds of fibre, right? Fibre you can digest (soluble fibre) and fibre you can't digest (insoluble fibre). Soluble fibre slows things down and will help with diarrhea. Insoluble fibre speeds things up and will help with constipation. Soluble fibre is great for making you feel full, helping your body absorb nutrients (remember, it's slowing things down), and is found in things like oatmeal, flax, apples, nuts, etc. Insoluble fibre is what most people think of as fibre -- roughage. Both are healthy and good for you and you need a balance of them. There's also fermentable fibre, which is fibre that ferments while it's in your colon. Gross sounding, I know. Soluble fibre generally ferments, but especially the fibre in berries, apples, and oats. This is the fibre that's considered especially good for reducing your risk of colon cancer. But in general, it's all good.

    What you may want to do is start focusing your carb allotment on making sure you get a good balance of different fibre. If all of your fibre right now is going towards soluble fibre, it's not surprising that you end up constipated. I don't know how many carbs you're trying to stay under, but it may be helpful to you to start counting 'net' carbs, so that you're more inclined to eat fibre instead of just low carb. To get net carbs, you basically subtract the fibre in a given food from the total number of carbs. Assuming you're in the US. I think the UK lists fibre and carbs separately on their food labels, so the total carbs on a UK label is the US version of 'net carbs' I think . I wouldn't bet my life on any of that.

    If you don't want to mess with calculating net carbs, or someone much wiser than me comes along to explain why net carbs are bull, then I would suggest you focus on insoluble fibre to help with the constipation and drinking more water. You always want to drink lots of water, but especially when you're constipated.
  • haymancm
    haymancm Posts: 280 Member
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    http://naturallaxatives.blogspot.com/2011/08/natural-laxatives-best-foods-and.html

    Just found a listing of natural laxatives to help w/ constipation, and spinach is the top to help w/ that.
  • DBeverly
    DBeverly Posts: 4
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    So, there are different kinds of fibre, right? Fibre you can digest (soluble fibre) and fibre you can't digest (insoluble fibre). Soluble fibre slows things down and will help with diarrhea. Insoluble fibre speeds things up and will help with constipation. Soluble fibre is great for making you feel full, helping your body absorb nutrients (remember, it's slowing things down), and is found in things like oatmeal, flax, apples, nuts, etc. Insoluble fibre is what most people think of as fibre -- roughage. Both are healthy and good for you and you need a balance of them. There's also fermentable fibre, which is fibre that ferments while it's in your colon. Gross sounding, I know. Soluble fibre generally ferments, but especially the fibre in berries, apples, and oats. This is the fibre that's considered especially good for reducing your risk of colon cancer. But in general, it's all good.

    What you may want to do is start focusing your carb allotment on making sure you get a good balance of different fibre. If all of your fibre right now is going towards soluble fibre, it's not surprising that you end up constipated. I don't know how many carbs you're trying to stay under, but it may be helpful to you to start counting 'net' carbs, so that you're more inclined to eat fibre instead of just low carb. To get net carbs, you basically subtract the fibre in a given food from the total number of carbs. Assuming you're in the US. I think the UK lists fibre and carbs separately on their food labels, so the total carbs on a UK label is the US version of 'net carbs' I think . I wouldn't bet my life on any of that.

    If you don't want to mess with calculating net carbs, or someone much wiser than me comes along to explain why net carbs are bull, then I would suggest you focus on insoluble fibre to help with the constipation and drinking more water. You always want to drink lots of water, but especially when you're constipated.
  • DBeverly
    DBeverly Posts: 4
    Options
    So, there are different kinds of fibre, right? Fibre you can digest (soluble fibre) and fibre you can't digest (insoluble fibre). Soluble fibre slows things down and will help with diarrhea. Insoluble fibre speeds things up and will help with constipation. Soluble fibre is great for making you feel full, helping your body absorb nutrients (remember, it's slowing things down), and is found in things like oatmeal, flax, apples, nuts, etc. Insoluble fibre is what most people think of as fibre -- roughage. Both are healthy and good for you and you need a balance of them. There's also fermentable fibre, which is fibre that ferments while it's in your colon. Gross sounding, I know. Soluble fibre generally ferments, but especially the fibre in berries, apples, and oats. This is the fibre that's considered especially good for reducing your risk of colon cancer. But in general, it's all good.

    What you may want to do is start focusing your carb allotment on making sure you get a good balance of different fibre. If all of your fibre right now is going towards soluble fibre, it's not surprising that you end up constipated. I don't know how many carbs you're trying to stay under, but it may be helpful to you to start counting 'net' carbs, so that you're more inclined to eat fibre instead of just low carb. To get net carbs, you basically subtract the fibre in a given food from the total number of carbs. Assuming you're in the US. I think the UK lists fibre and carbs separately on their food labels, so the total carbs on a UK label is the US version of 'net carbs' I think . I wouldn't bet my life on any of that.

    If you don't want to mess with calculating net carbs, or someone much wiser than me comes along to explain why net carbs are bull, then I would suggest you focus on insoluble fibre to help with the constipation and drinking more water. You always want to drink lots of water, but especially when you're constipated.

    Thank you so much! This was very helpful. And makes sense! Does counting net carbs work on myfitnesspal? It just says "carbs" Ive heard of subtracting fiber from carb count, but didn't know what it was called. Will I still lose weight doing this?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Every time I go on a diet... it requires cutting out a lot of carbs.

    You're doing it wrong
  • ngyoung
    ngyoung Posts: 311 Member
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    Eating proper amounts of veggies and low glycemic, high fiber fruits are where I get most of my fiber. Cereal fibers and bran have been shown to inhibit essential nutrient absorption.

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