Vitamin F: Time to give a shit

This post is for my newsletter subscribers, which is why it lacks pictures and context.

Only three percent of Americans reach the recommended minimum daily intake of fibre, making it the most wide-spread deficiency in the States, and probably here in Australia too. When I was going through the biofeedback program at my local hospital I was the only participant not on fibre supplements.

Why does that matter? For a lot of reasons. Our bodies dump toxins in the bowel so we can shit them out, but if we’re not getting enough fibre those toxins sit in there for ages making us sick. You might think you’re doing okay because you poop every morning, but if your diet is low in fibre today’s poop might be last week’s meal. An easy way to test how long things are taking to get from top to bottom is by having a meal high in beetroot and seeing how long it takes for your pink poo to emerge. If it’s longer than two days, you might need to look at your diet and reassess.

Aside from avoiding things like colon cancer and hernias, low fibre and the resulting constipation is linked to depression. If that’s not enough, straining to poop puts huge pressure on your pelvic floor and one day you might find yourself pooping out half your bowel, or a bulge appearing inside your vag. Prolapse is not fun, and there’s no cure. The best surgery will last you about ten years before you need to have another repair done, so make sure you’ve got at least one serve (a cup, roughly)  of whole plant food with every meal.

To love my body (particularly my bowel) I have a big fruit smoothie every day. I make mine more watery than is standard because half the point of drinking it every morning is to up my water intake. Water binds fibre in the bowel and stops you from being a human trumpet, aside from being necessary to survive. Generally, my family can’t afford to buy fresh berries, and Dr Greger’s daily dozen says you should be eating 60 grams a day, so I get them frozen. They go in my smoothie along with two serves of other fruit, usually banana, but sometimes mango, avocado, or pineapple.

To go with my smoothie I have a big bowl of either porridge or hot weetbix. Nothing makes a person go like hot Weetbix. I used this trick on my babies many times to help along their immature little colons. In this meal alone I’m 1/3 of the way to meeting my RDI for fibre.

If you want to up your fibre intake without changing your diet, put a cup of salad greens with every meal. That’s about one big handful. Takes twenty seconds to get it out of the fridge, zero effort. Do this for two weeks, you’ll notice the difference.

If you’re happy for a small change, begin including one serve of legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas) or whole grains with each meal. I do this to lower my cancer risk, but that’s a different topic.

Lastly, I “take” two kiwi fruit before bedtime. I do this to help me sleep; there’s a science to it but it also helps with fibre and just makes everything function more comfortably. I tend to save all my garbage foods to eat while the kids are in bed, so the kiwis ensure a blockage doesn’t form.

So, that’s it. It’s ridiculously easy to lower your risk of rectal prolapse, constipation, depression, bowel cancer, anal fissures, and a whole list of other things that can kill you. ( Or make you poop yourself, or otherwise provide embarrassment.) Why wouldn’t you?

As a fun way to conclude, here’s a short excerpt from Dr. Greger’s How Not To Die. He’s not-for-profit and you can stay up-to-date on current nutrition science at his website nutritionfacts.org

Stool Size Matters

The bigger and more frequent your bowel movements are, the healthier you may be. Based on a study of twenty-three populations across a dozen countries, the incidence of colon cancer appears to skyrocket as the average daily stool weight drops below about half a pound. Populations dropping quarter pounders appear to have three times the rate of colon cancer. You can measure the weight of your stools with a simple bathroom scale. No, not that way–by weighing yourself before and after you “go.”

Michael Greger, MD