> There are sooo many holes in the Fiber Menace thing that I don't know
> where to start.
I would love to hear your thoughts about this... I'm gullible, and
bought what he was saying, hook, line, and sinker. Some perspective
would be awesome.
Since he is getting some popularity, it would be good if someone did a comprehensive review of what he is saying. It is difficult though. A coworker asked me once to review Bob Barefoot's Calcium book and it just drove me nuts ... for 4 pages of his text I had 5 pages of notes! There was so much truthiness mixed with so much misdirection, it was like watching a stage magician. In that case, the basic facts are: Yes, calcium is good stuff, and it's critical to every cell in the body. But the misdirection is: coral calcium isn't a great source of calcium, and Bob Barefoot was basically going after your money.
In the case of "The Fiber Menace" the truth part is:
1. Your gut is supposed to have trillions of bacteria,
2. They need to be the right kind of bacteria,
3. Grain fibers (the ones touted in the 70's) are problematic in that they are rather irritating and also block nutrients.
The parts about bacteria that he doesn't mention, and maybe doesn't know about, are:
1. The bacteria in your lower intestine eat mainly semi-indigestible polysaccharides, which are basically a kind of fiber. They don't get fed UNLESS you feed them fiber, because everything else you eat gets absorbed before it gets there.
2. Those bacteria are the main source of butyrate. If you eat butyrate, then it gets absorbed before it reaches the colon.
3. Butyrate is the preferred food of your gut cells. It also kills colon cancer cells.
So not eating fiber is very bad for your gut! It is possible that eating a lot of fat might feed those butyrate-producing cells, but you would have to eat more fat than your body will absorb in the upper gut, which is a LOT of fat. Usually when people stop eating polysaccharides though, they stop producing the good bacteria.
Now, the other thing is that he is putting all fiber into the same bucket. A lot of the "fiber" that has been touted as "good" is grain fiber, esp. wheat germ and whole wheat. Anyone who knows me knows I think that if there is such a thing as a "bad" food, wheat is it! The gluten in wheat gloms on to the villi in the gut and temporarily prevents them from working correctly, or, if you are celiac, permanently damages them. Wheat is likely at the root for a *whole lot* of the gut problems in the West. The idea that you can write a book about gut damage and not mention gluten is just weird.
But the husk of wheat is also very bad. It's really, really rough: like sandpaper. Also it contains antinutrients that are good at glomming on to nutrients and getting them out of your system. I do think that people who eat that kind of fiber show some better health in one way though: wheat bran blocks absorption of iron, and we absorb too much iron from our diets. The Japanese though, drink tea with their meals, which does the same thing.
The idea that the Japanese don't eat much "fiber" is hogwash. They might peel their eggplant, but they eat a LOT of vegetables, and also some incredibly good fibers like seaweed, konjac, daikon and sata-imo yams. It is true they are smart enough to not eat brown rice. Basically they are noted for eating lots of "gooey vegetables" ... the kind that are full of the right polysaccharides.
Some of the research done on butyrate concentrates on wheat bran, which is why I think it might have gained popularity:
But in that study, they used oats, guar, or wheat bran ... none of them are an ideal fiber, and there is no cuisine that uses guar much at all (it's a new thing). Konjac yam works better, I think, with fewer effects:
As for the fermentation and bloating ... yes, that is what you get when you have bacteria in your gut! Once you get the right bacteria, there isn't so much bloating or gas ... part of that is just getting used to eating the right foods. A lot of the "gas producers" though aren't bacteria, they are yeast, and they thrive off quickly-digesting foods, esp. stuff like baked goods. They tend to go away though, if you eat the polysaccharides with them (konjac is especially good in that regard, probably pectin too).
I also think Fast-5 helps in this regard, and it was one of my initial reasons for doing it. It is VERY IMPORTANT to have your gut bacteria properly regulated. I think having the gut be EMPTY for some hours lets the gut do housecleaning. Kind of like what happens when you take off your shoes every night to let them air out. If you wear the same shoes all the time they stink worse and worse ... because they get too many of the wrong kind of bacteria in them. I think something similar happens when you fast between meals. The worse kinds of bacteria and yeast die back, and the ones you need (like boulardii) can take over.
Anyway, the information I got was from his website, not his book, so maybe he has some incredible insight there. Mostly what I've gotten though is that it's another "demonize this food" book. We really, really like to demonize one food or another, and we do it without much nuance: we've gone from "sugar is evil" to "fat is evil" to "meat is evil" to now, "fiber is evil". The people who fight against this usually do the insipid "moderation in all things!" response, which really doesn't mean anything (moderate amounts of toxic mushrooms are still very toxic). Fact is though, your brain runs mainly on sugar, protein is essential to your body, and your gut likes fiber, esp. certain kinds of fiber.
The fact is, food is complicated. Human beings have managed for thousands of years to simplify it by means of "cuisines" and "food traditions" ... some cuisines work better than others at keeping people healthy. Turning a cuisine into a chemistry experiment using "macronutrients" as ingredients just doesn't work very well, because there are many kinds of fats, proteins, sugars, and fibers ... and the SOURCE of each is important, as is the freshness and quality.
The thing is ... YOU have a really good chemistry set built into your brain. You might not be able to say the exact number of grams of fiber or fat in your dinner, but in fact is, if your appestat is working and you are allowing it to work, your body does calculate exactly how much of each nutrient you need right now, and will regulate your intake with incredible accuracy. Your nose and tongue are also very good at detecting fresh food, and when fat is rancid. In order for this system to work, you have to unlearn the "clean your plate!" attitude many of us grew up with. Also the "eat what you are served" attitude. And the "the advertisement looks so good!" attitude. I really and truly think a lot of what I used to eat I ate just because I was "supposed to", either because "everyone else thinks it is great" (donuts!) or "it is good for you, you should eat it".
You need to get some of that "food snobbery" kind of attitude ... don't eat it if it doesn't taste good. Don't eat stuff that makes you feel lousy 2 hours later or the next day. If you have gut issues: keep a food log, see how your gut feels after eating certain foods.
Then: pursue foods that DO make you feel good. I mean, when you get a dinner that just makes you feel great, that tastes great ...write it down. It's a winner! Find really amazing recipes. Explore new fruits (mangoes are awesome!).
Then you can ignore the "food experts" for a bit, and listen to the chefs. Really GOOD cuisine also happens to be really good for you, oddly enough**. And fast to make too.
**(Ok, I make the caveat that I substitute other stuff for "wheat" when I cook ... wheat is one food I will demonize ... but part of why I do it is that it's so ubiquitous in our food chain that people don't think about it as a possible problem).
Sorry that got kind of long. It IS a complicated subject!
-- Heather T.
