Fiber – are you eating too much or too little

There is not a day goes by where the question of fibre comes up, either people have way to ouch or way too little. Getting the right balance seems to be difficult, but only you can tell!

When people think of increasing their fibre levels they normally immediately think of brown bread or some kind of fibre rich bread or cereal. While this for sure can be a small part of a varied diet it should not be something you have a few times daily as many do.

When you complain of your irritable bowel or constipation or any kind of bowel problem you are generally told to increase your fibre intake. The truth of the matter is fibre is essential for a daily healthy bowel movement…However, water is even more important as FIBRE cannot work without sufficient water to pass the fibre through.

DO NOT INCREASE YOUR FIBRE INTAKE, without also increasing your water intake. It will only stick in your gut and irritate it further exacerbating the problem, creating bloating, pain, spasms, flatulence, re-absorption of toxic wastes and much more.

There are many other ways of naturally increasing your fibre intake without resorting to just grains, cereals or bread alone. Simply increasing your whole fruit intake including the skin adds cellulose/fibre naturally to your diet. ALWAYS increase fibre slowly over a period of weeks, monitor changes and how you feel as you go along.

Adding soaked nuts such as almonds to your diet, even a small handful daily can make the world of difference to your digestive health. I always recommend you soak the nuts for at least 6 hours or overnight to remove debris/toxicity from the skin and rehydrating them makes them much more digestible. Grind up seeds like sunflower, pumpkin etc. to make them easier to digest. Chia seeds are fabulous at adding bulk and fibre along with essential fatty acids to your system.

Homemade natural fruit and vegetable Juices are a fabulous way of flushing your entire digestive tract. Raw juices are especially great at rejuvenating your liver which stimulates proper bowel function. Some of the insoluble fibre is removed through juicing, but you do not need this much as when juicing you are getting in bulk of various fruits and veg. The soluble fibre is what your body can use and this gently gathers up toxins, bile, cholesterol etc and moves it out of your system.

Eating greens like lettuce, kale, spinach all in their raw state are really great sources of fibre too and you are enriching your body with live enzymes and a multitude of minerals, vitamins and micro-nutrients to promote health and wellness throughout your entire body.

Nourish your body with unprocessed foods and it will respond with increased energy and vitality for you to live a healthier happier life.

Constipation can make you feel grumpy, tired, irritable, unmotivated, uncomfortable, full, bloated, sluggish, headachy and so on. At least 80% of the people I treat suffer from constipation. They feel they have no choice but to live with it or take increasing amounts of laxatives for the rest of their lives.

Think of your bowels or intestines as the bin in your kitchen, what happens when you don’t empty it or clean it regularly? It becomes, stale, mouldy, rotten and STINKING!! Just like the waste in you. Get it moving and keep it moving 😉