Eat More Fiber They Say

I am and it’s killing me!

Image by Aline Ponce from Pixabay

Yeah, yeah I know I’ve heard it for years. We need to have more fiber in our daily diets. I’ve attempted several times to add more fiber to my diet on and off for years, but I eventually abandoned the idea after a short time. Last week I had the third colonoscopy of my life and for the third time, I had benign polyps removed. Even though polyps or adenomas are benign they can become cancerous. Since my father died of colon cancer at 72 I am starting to take my diet more seriously. I’m now 71. My doctor told me to schedule the procedure every 3 years and he also said to increase the fiber in my diet.

The day after my colonoscopy I started planning my new relationship with fiber. The American Heart Association recommends that women under 50 eat 21 to 25 grams per day, while men under 50 eat 30 to 38 grams per day. For seniors, it’s a bit different. The recommended daily fiber intake for people over 50 is 21 grams for women and 30 grams for men. That doesn’t seem too bad, except for one thing. Unless you’re eating something like a half a cup of fiber cereal that’s a hell of a lot of food to eat.

Okay now, how do I figure out how to eat at least 30 grams of fiber a day? Fiber cereal has the most grams of fiber per serving so I’ll start adding this for my breakfast. I’ve eaten fiber cereal before and it’s like eating hardened sawdust, texturewise and tastewise. Eating fiber cereal is disgusting, but it’s not as bad as the after-effects. Once you eat it, it expands. And once it starts expanding you get that bloated feeling along with stomach cramps. Shortly after that, the final insult comes into play. Copious amounts of toxic gas! I guess fiber cereal is a quick and efficient way to increase fiber, but I’ll have to eat it only when I expect to be alone for most of the day. Luckily my dogs don’t mind.

Image by Alexander Antropov from Pixabay

After a few days of feeling like an over-inflated human blowtorch, I decided that fiber cereal was not going to be my largest single source of fiber. I decided to buy some fiber supplements to help add up the grams of fiber. I soon realized that fiber capsules, gummies, and even Metamucil only provide 2 to 6grams of fiber per recommended daily servings. I decided they’re okay to take when I wasn’t eating many fruits or vegetables on some days.

I realized the best way to fulfill my fiber requirements was through food. Unfortunately, the majority of fruits and vegetables only contain 2 -4 grams of fiber per cup. so that means I’m going to have to eat a hell of a lot of fruits and vegetables. Beans and other legumes, on the other hand, contain 10 to17 grams of fiber per cup, which is not an overly large serving for a meal. This is great, but there is a problem for me eating beans and legumes. They are extremely gassy and as I have IBS they’ll produce even more gas!

Now for the good news. Popcorn has 14.5 grams of fiber per 100 grams. That’s great as long as it’s not drenched in butter. Even dark chocolate has 3.1 grams of fiber per 1 ounce piece. And two of my favorite foods are high in fiber, almonds, and oats. Almonds have 3.4 grams per ounce, while oats have 16.5 grams per cup of dry oats. So things are looking better for me in attaining a higher fiber diet. I can eat what I enjoy and still remain healthy.

While maintaining a high fiber diet may be inconvenient, difficult, painful, and even embarrassing at times, nutritionists say people eventually get used to the side effects. I am sure that I too will get used to the fiber. I have even discovered that if I mix the fiber cereal with chocolate Cheerios it tastes pretty good. Regardless, the side effects can never be as bad as suffering from colon cancer or heart disease. I don’t want to take a chance with my life so I have to stay on this diet. It took me many years to make this decision, so I can understand how others will ignore the benefits of high fiber diets. I don’t mean to be preachy, but please make your decision before it’s too late.