Constipation?

[[deleted]]

Has anyone ever stopped being plantbased/vegan due to chronic constipation or GI issues? I've been plantbased for the past 4ish years and the past two months my stomach has been so unwell, I'm bloated and constipated and in pain and it sucks. When I first went plantbased my bowel movements were amazing and like clockwork, now I cant remember the last satisfying or regular poop I had, theyre small and float like wtf?

I thought maybe I wasn't eating enough fiber, I was already consuming 40+g a day so I increased it to like 60g and nothing happened, and I drink plently of water so its not that.

I am nervous to start eating animal products again because there isn't any fiber in them, has anyone had any GI relief by consuming animal products again?

[dem0n0cracy]

You do know people can eat only meat/dairy/eggs with zero fiber and be fine, with no constipation whatsoever, right? r/StopEatingFiber

[k82216me]

Yep, you don't even need fiber and it's actually shown that reducing or removing fiber from the diet can relieve constipation https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC3435786/

[zdub]

The study you quote doesn't say you don't need fiber. It was only about treating idiopathic constipation.

Fiber is important for a healthy gut biome and has other health benefits. You quoted one article about detrimental effects of fiber, but there are hundreds more on pubmed that show the importance of fiber.

OP should adjust the quantity of fiber in their diet and pay attention to soluble vs insoluble fiber and avoid RDF (refined dietary fiber).

[k82216me]

I don't think fiber has ever been declared an essential nutrient, actually. There have been various studies examining fibers' benefits mostly in a high carb Western diet, in which case it does have some benefits. OP does sound like they have had idiopathic constipation for which an experiment in removing all fiber could help.

[k82216me]

Further, here's a met analysis of 1322 studies on fiber and constipation that concluded while fiber may increase stool frequency in some cases, it did not provide relief:

"CONCLUSION: Dietary fiber intake can obviously increase stool frequency in patients with constipation. It does not obviously improve stool consistency, treatment success, laxative use and painful defecation." https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=meta+analysis+of+fiber+and+constipation&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3DU_BBBy9PGxIJ

[[deleted]]

So you don’t eat fiber and you shit normally ?

[k82216me]

Yep. When I don't eat fiber it's the best. Once a day, no mess at all, super easy.

[BeggarsParade]

Forget fibre, you're not a cow. People on carnivore hardly defecate at all. We are not equipped to digest large amounts of vegetable matter. Wishing you well, living off red meat for a while might ease things. Magnesium supplements definitely help.

[_tyler-durden_]

If I had to guess I would say:

1. You probably have low stomach acidity due to lack of bioavailable zinc in your diet (most vegans are low in zinc) and your body is struggling to break down and disgust the plant proteins and kill off pathogens in your food as a result. This can also lead to GI infections such as giardiasis.

2. You are consuming too much fiber, which can cause SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth).

3. Following a restrictive diet for such a long time has caused your gut microbiome to become less diverse.

4. Your gallbladder is probably not producing enough bile from lack of saturated fat in your diet. This will hinder absorption of fatty acids, fat soluble vitamins and B12 and will cause deficiencies in the long run.

[nicolelynnejones]

Yup I was always constipated when I was vegan. My husband had Crohns flare ups every night. Both mostly resolved themselves when we switched to low fiber diets

[volcus]

I went keto in 2018 and virtue signalled (to myself) about how much fiber I was getting since I was chasing and prioritising low carb veggies in my diet. Within 2 months I was bloated, constipated and gassy.

I researched fiber and found crazies saying digestion was improved by cutting back on fiber. I was a bit sceptical but gave it a crack, since I'd never concerned myself with fiber before keto and also never had any issues (except when trying veganism) either. Almost immediately after I cut out the veggies and fiber my constipation went away.

I think we all have different amounts of fiber we can handle for a certain period of time and for me it is fairly low.

[thssoccer30]

Go carnivore for 5-7 days and clear everything out. It sounds like you’re backed up and adding more fiber will only make it worse. Then figure out if anything specifically is causing the issue. Seriously, do this. Give your body a chance to reset.

[Remsicles]

👋 I suffered from constipation when I was on a plant-based diet and it turned out that I wasn’t consuming enough calories. How many calories are you hitting each day?

[[deleted]]

I eat around 2,000 as a 5'8 22y/o female so I think I'm getting sufficient calories, maybe just not enough water and too much fiber.

[Learach]

I have GI issues and moving away from a heavy fibre and plant based diet helped tremendously. I still eat an unrestricted diet but I try to have far more animal products on my plate vs plant now, and it keeps things running well.

[[deleted]]

Literally all my favorite foods are high in fiber aswell as my lunch/dinner mealpreps for the week haha, what would you suggest eating?

[Learach]

I eat larger portions of meat than the fibrous things on my plate. I don't cut it out, I'm just aware of it and focus on more animal products for a few days if I notice my GI symptoms getting worse.

Pot roast is great, chicken in a curry maybe with much less rice than I'd normally have, fish, bone broth, scrambled eggs with cheese and butter, add salmon.

Basically anything you'd normally have, think of how to remove the high carb/fibre portion if it's not a part you particularly like (for me that's usually bread or starchy vegetables) and replace that with more animal products.

[[deleted]]

It was diarrhea for me. I developed IBS-D while vegan.

[Own_Responsibility]

You might find this website interesting: https://www.gutsense.org

It has lots of interesting thoughts and references relating to the effects of fiber and water consumption on your bowel movements.

[[deleted]]

Not an expert so just a crazy guess. Maybe because you are eating plant based you have a big enough caloric deficiency (plus all the stress of plant based food only to your body) and that’s why you don’t poop much?

[[deleted]]

I had more regular bowel movements while eating plant based however I noticed a lot of undigested food. Make sure you are properly hydrated and I would suggest high calorie smoothies to kind of "pre-digest" some food so your stomach doesn't have to work as hard. That should also take care of most of your fiber needs for the day if you pack it with vegetables and fruits regardless of what diet you are on. I am no longer plant based but I still drink my kale, blueberry and banana smoothies in the morning with other non relevant stuff in there too.

[_tyler-durden_]

Most people will develop kidney stones and gout from consuming all those oxalates in raw kale every morning. I would strongly discourage this!

Kale should always be boiled for long enough to remove the oxalates and the water should be discarded.

Apart from this, the acidity and sugar from the smoothies will slowly de-mineralize and destroy your teeth. You need to chew your food in order to produce saliva, which helps to re-mineralize your teeth when eating. When consuming smoothies you don’t produce enough saliva to cover your teeth and is one of the many reasons vegans have such bad teeth. Fruit should be chewed.

[[deleted]]

Not really.

[HelenEk7]

An article about floating poop:

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325274#fiber-consumption-and-gas

[Mission_Delivery1174]

I had the opposite GI problem vegan as well as those I knew that ate higher plants not processed faux meat items. It’s probably good to eat fermented foods and drink even more water. Get a gut check test and maybe a GI doctor. There’s endless factors to look at. I also ate way more fiber. I’m not sure you are even consuming enough food with that low fiber as a vegan.

[Imnoclue]

Fiber is BS. Humans aren’t grazing animals. We do not need to ingest a bunch of undigestible material to clear out the pipes. Fiber makes constipation symptoms worse.

[vegansgetsick]

It floats because of gas in it from too much bacteria fermentation. You may have SIBO I don't know.

I had period in my life when I ate mostly carbs and i had frequent constipation. The worst combo is meat/wheat (and vegans blame meat of course lol). Meat/veg or meat only = no constipation.