To much fiber?

[MAYNARDSMOM]

Is it possible to get to much fiber? I usually get in the upper 30's daily. There are some days, like the past two days that I have hit upper 40's even into low 50's!!.
Needless to say I am pretty regular!

 

[MAYNARDSMOM]

Bumping.....anyone????

 

[Boingo1]

I think your body will tell you when you've had too much fiber.

I generally eat LOTS of fiberous foods every day (oatmeal (3 bowls!), fresh fruit, veggies, whole grain pasta/grain for dinner). On Sunday , my "cheat" day, I decided to try healthier snacks. I had a Fiber One bar AND 2 Fiber One Poptarts.... my stomach basically exploded all night, to put it mildly and not too descriptively. That was TOO much fiber!

 

[kathryn]

I think it would be hard to get 'too much' fiber from natural sources (if you are taking supplements, then it's more likely). I think the 25-30 grams recommendation is a MINIMUM.

It is important to make sure you are getting enough fluids when eating high fiber.

I eat a primarily whole foods vegan diet, and I naturally usually get more than 30 grams of fiber per day. I have no idea how much, but I'd say at least 40 per day. As you say, it keeps things moving smoothly!

(From what people posted a while ago, Fiber One bars have lots of not-too-great ingredients, so the "results" of eating them could be partly due to other ingredients besides fiber).

 

[Stebby]

I generally have between 40 and 50 grams of fiber per day, sometimes going up to 60 (although that usually means I ate too much on days I go that high). I don't have any problems from that amount of fiber and I've been eating that way for awhile.

This is one of the things I've learned from logging my food on Cathe's nutrition site!

 

[Boingo1]

(From what people posted a while ago, Fiber One bars have lots of not-too-great ingredients, so the "results" of eating them could be partly due to other ingredients besides fiber).

Interesting! What kind of ingredients would blow up your belly like that I wonder...

 

[jennifermaria]

I thought I read somewhere that if one gets too much fiber (I think the number was around 60 grams?) that it may result in food passing too quickly through your system and it could impede absorption of nutrients. I remember this freaked me out a little because I easily get 60 grams or more in a day--I really try to eat whole grains when I eat grains and get lots of fruit and veggies, so it adds up.

I have a sports nutrition book from Nancy Clark and she recommends shooting for 50% of the grain intake can come from whole grains, but the rest can come from more refined sources--that as long as that didn't dip below 50%, it should be fine. I wonder if she naturally built in that "watch out for too much fiber" thing into her recommendation.

As with everything, it seems too much of anything--even if it has lots of benefits--can be bad as well, so it all comes back to trying for balance and moderation, rather than trying to be 100% "good" .