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Ben Greenfield Life

Constipation, Fecal Transplants, Fiber Myths, Resistant Starch, Probiotics & More With Konstantin Monastyrsky.

Ben Greenfield Life

Ben Greenfield

Education, Fitness, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness

4.65.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2016

⏱️ 72 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Several podcast episodes ago, I tackled a very tricky and often confusing topic with a doctor named Konstantin Monastyrsky.
In that episode, entitled "How Much Fiber To Eat, Where To Get Your Fiber, And Is Fiber *Really* Killing Your Insides?", Konstantin covered several topics, including:
-Why it is that doctors tell us to eat plenty of fiber…and what doctors don’t know…
-How much fiber is “too much”, and how much it varies from person to person… -The difference between just eating lots of fruits and vegetables vs. using a high fiber “cleanse”... -The truth behind dangerous “laxatives”… -What someone with constipation can do if high fiber and laxatives is not the solution… -And much more... That particular episode generated so many dozens and dozens of questions that I decided to bring Konstantin back, and in this episode, I ask him:
-In the article "Is Fiber Bad For You", you discuss how you don't endorse eating the skins of vegetables and fruits. But what about the insoluble fiber you're missing out on, and also the other benefits listed here?
-Isn't there a "hormetic" effect to eating the type of components in the skin of foods like potatoes and tomatoes and eggplants?
-The study "Stopping or reducing dietary fiber intake reduces constipation and its associated symptoms"...and I know that sometimes, especially when acute or inflamed or infected, lower fiber can be helpful. This is why lower fiber is recommended for acute IBD and for many cases of SIBO. But, once the GI is healed, wouldn't a higher fiber intake is generally well tolerated and health promoting?
-You say: “Fiber intake has also been linked with the metabolic syndrome, a constellation of factors that increases the chances of developing heart disease and diabetes.” But that study you quoted in full says:
"Fiber intake has also been linked with the metabolic syndrome, a constellation of factors that increases the chances of developing heart disease and diabetes. These factors include high blood pressure, high insulin levels, excess weight (especially around the abdomen), high levels of triglycerides, the body’s main fat-carrying particle, and low levels of HDL (good) cholesterol. Several studies suggest that higher intake of cereal fiber and whole grains may somehow ward off this increasingly common syndrome."
How would you reply?
-How do you address this association between fiber intake and lowering of coronary disease?
"Our results suggest an inverse association between fiber intake and MI. These results support current national dietary guidelines to increase dietary fiber intake and suggest that fiber, independent of fat intake, is an important dietary component for the prevention of coronary disease."
and this:
"The greatest impact on lowering total and LDL cholesterol is derived from reduced intakes of saturated fat and cholesterol as well as weight reduction in obese persons. Diets high in complex carbohydrates and fiber are associated with reduced mortality rates from CHD and other chronic diseases. Fiber found in oats, barley, and pectin-rich fruits and vegetables provides adjunctive lipid-lowering benefits beyond those achieved by reductions in total and saturated fat alone. The AHA recommends a total dietary fiber intake of 25 to 30 g/d from foods, not supplements, to ensure nutrient adequacy and maximize the cholesterol-lowering impact of a fat-modified diet. Current dietary fiber intakes among adults in the United States average about 15 g, or half the recommended amount."
-How do you feel about resistant starch and the current "resistant starch" interest in the dietary industry? Is that a form of fiber that also causes issues, or not? Would you recommend this diet in certain cases?
-How does one specifically "fix" a colon that has lack of bacteria. Does a probiotic work? OR would you need more of an enema approach? The reason I ask is I have seen many folks endorse the use of probiotic and/or butyrate enemas for colonic health.
-How about fecal transplants. How do you feel about those for restoring colonic health?
-When it comes to constipation, what is your #1 solution, in terms of specific ingredients or protocols that can help with it?
-And finally, the million dollar question, do you use a Squatty Potty?

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello, this has been Greenfield and in today's podcast episode, we're going to talk all about poop in fiber and some very controversial topics regarding the skin of your vegetables.

0:14.0

But before we do, I want to tell you about today's sponsors.

0:18.0

First of all, when I shave, it doesn't feel like I shave. I'm not kidding. I was shaving yesterday and I had to keep checking to make sure that the razor was actually indeed removing the hair from my face because I couldn't feel a thing.

0:33.0

Why is that? Because my razor has fricking five blades and it was made in this German engineered factory.

0:40.0

I don't just talk about this stuff because they sponsor the podcast. I talk about it because I use it.

0:45.0

And this particular blade is made by a company called Harries. You can check them out at Harries.com. That's H-A-R-R-Y-S.

0:54.0

They make these blades that are ergonomic so you don't get, I don't know, carpal tunnel syndrome when you shave.

1:01.0

I don't know if that's a thing, but if it is, it's not going to happen to you.

1:05.0

But more importantly, you really do get the hair removed from your face in a very efficient way. Like you really can't tell that it's coming off. It's weird. It's freaky.

1:15.0

So you can use code Ben when you go to Harries.com. Let's code Ben to save five bucks. H-A-R-R-Y-S.com, whether you're a guy or a girl, and use discount code Ben.

1:28.0

This podcast is also brought to you by the one place that I have used to outfit pretty much the entire gym in my house.

1:37.0

One of the things that I use three times a week is a battle rope. I stand there with the battle rope. And the way that I like to use it, as I've got it hooked around a little like a bracket that I put on my wall.

1:49.0

So I use this little magnetic stud finder. And then I bolted this bracket into my wall. I passed this thing called a battle rope through it.

1:58.0

And it's this heavy rope that I can whip up and down. I can whip it with one hat at a time or with both hands.

2:04.0

And it's like a mix of catharsis and working out. It's good cross training for swimming, good cross training for fighting you name it.

2:11.0

So I'll do like five, 60 second intervals with the rope. I'll walk away for about 10 seconds in between each one.

2:18.0

Usually I wear an elevation training mask when I do this. But battle ropes are amazing for conditioning.

2:24.0

There are some really interesting studies on battle ropes and found them to be as effective as sprinting.

2:29.0

So you can get a battle rope, kettlebells, maces, all sorts of the same stuff I use in my gym on it.

2:36.0

So how do you do that? You go to o-n-n-i-t dot com. That's on it dot com.

2:42.0

If you go to on it dot com slash Ben Greenfield, you're going to save 10% off of all their supplements like alpha brain and they're delicious, peanut butter, oat mega bars, and then 5% off of any fitness equipment like the mighty, mighty battle rope.

3:00.0

So check that out on it dot com slash Ben Greenfield. This podcast is also brought to you by dried organic mangoes just because I got tired of saying nuts.

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