The Constipation is Caused by Lack of Fiber Myth

Dr. Berg’s Healthy Keto and Intermittent Fasting Podcast

Dr. Eric Berg

Health & Fitness

4.7 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2023

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today I’m going to cover the worst mistake people make when dealing with constipation and what to do for constipation.

Constipation is congestion in your gut—you have too much stool. Fiber increases stool volume.

Fiber also causes your microbes to create fermentation, which leads to gas and bloating. Some studies suggest that consuming fiber can even worsen conditions like chronic constipation or SIBO.

The biggest mistake people make when dealing with constipation is consuming more fiber.

How to deal with constipation naturally:

1. Reduce your fiber

2. Talk to your doctor about whether or not it’s a side effect of a medication (and what to do if it is)

3. Consume vitamin B1

4. Lower your stress

5. Take bile salts

6. Take a probiotic

7. Do intermittent fasting

8. Consume a moderate amount of protein

9. Consume betaine hydrochloride and apple cider vinegar

10. Consume magnesium and potassium

DATA:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3435786/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16815488/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15654804/

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Now, we all know for a fact that if you have constipation, you just need to add more fiber,
0:06.1	okay? I mean, it's the general consensus of the medical community that a lack of fiber is really
0:11.8	what's behind constipation. Well, today, let's just talk about what the number one mistake is
0:18.6	with constipation and then some additional things that you need to know if you have constipation.
0:23.2	Let's just take a look at constipation for a second. It's a traffic jam in your gut, right? It's
0:28.4	congestion. You have too much stool. Now, fiber increases bulk, okay? It increases stool,
0:39.8	it increases volume. So just by looking at that, why would you ever want to increase more volume or
0:47.8	mass or bulk into a tube or plumbing that's already congested? That does not make sense to me.
0:57.1	Also, think about what fiber does. It causes your microbes to create fermentation with fermentation
1:05.9	comes gas and bloating. Usually, people that have constipation don't need any more gas or bloating.
1:12.6	The other point about people that are chronically constipated is that they're already doing a lot of
1:17.7	fiber, but it's not working. So to add more fiber, it's not a good idea. There's some fascinating
1:24.8	studies with people who have both chronic constipation and people who have constipation with
1:32.8	irritable bowel syndrome or some other type of inflammatory condition that adding more fiber will
1:37.2	make it worse. That's right. If you have SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth,
1:46.0	which is your microbes are in the wrong place. They're in the small intestine, okay? They should be
1:51.2	in the large intestine so they're higher up and you consume more fiber. Oh my goodness,
1:57.8	you're going to get bloating. It's going to make things really, really bad. So the biggest mistake
2:02.0	that people make for constipation is adding more fiber. In fact, I used to have very, very bad
2:08.8	constipation and by accident, I got rid of it. It was at the time when I kind of stumbled on
2:15.9	cutting out carbs and so I was doing a lot of grain carbs as my fiber for cereal and things
2:22.0	like that. When I switched to eating more like meats, like a buffalo burger, even fish for breakfast,
	...

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