Food Freedom Friday Edition 347 - The Need For Fiber

Fiber is unique to plant food and it follows that on a carnivore diet your fiber intake is zero. The recommended daily intake for fiber is from 22g to 34g depending on age group and gender. This begs the question: Do you really need fiber on the carnivore diet?

Simply stated, there is no need for fiber on a carnivore diet because fiber has absolutely no nutritional value. Based on available evidence, fiber does not improve bowel function or provide any proven health benefits. In contrast, eliminating fiber has actually been found to be beneficial to gut health.

Fiber is the edible parts of plants that are resistant to digestion and absorption in the human small intestine with complete or partial fermentation in the large intestine”.

In simple terms, fiber is the indigestible part of the foods that you eat. Think wheat bran, cinnamon bark, tomato skin, and celery stalk skin.

Fiber can be categorized as:

 Soluble Fiber & Insoluble Fiber. Soluble fiber dissolves in water and can be found in many foods such as oatmeal, nuts, beans, lentils, apples, and blueberries. Insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water and can be found in foods such as wheat, whole wheat bread, whole grain couscous, brown rice, legumes, carrots, cucumbers, and tomatoes.

Fermentable Fiber & Non-Fermentable Fiber. Fermentable fiber can be readily metabolized by the gut bacteria in the large intestine, resulting in the formation of short-chain fatty acids (acetate, propionate, and butyrate) and gases. Non-fermentable fiber is resistant to fermentation, and not broken down by gut bacteria.

Endogenous & Added’ Fiber. Endogenous fiber is present in food as opposed to added fiber which is obtained from an extraction process and then added to a food product.[3] Due to the perceived health benefit of fiber, it has been added to processed foods or sold as a supplement (e.g. psyllium).

The Need For Fiber

May people believe that fiber is essential for a healthy gut. It has been purported as being good for gut health and can reduce heart diseases, stroke, cancer, and type 2 diabetes. However, too much fiber in the diet can lead to several health problems including as bloating, cramping, and intestinal gas. 

Furthermore, recent studies claim fiber is not necessary for healthy digestion. In fact, fiber may interrupt the functionality of the colon. The colon’s main function is to absorb water; when eating a diet high in fiber, it does the work of the colon. Fiber absorbs the water, creates bulk and determines consistency of stool. In response, the colon becomes less functional, and the colon muscle weaken.

Studies have suggested that fiber is supportive of healthy intestinal bacteria - it helps grow gut bacteria and releases unwanted gas. Meat. On the other hand, is enriched with micronutrients such as iron, selenium, vitamin A, B12, and folic acid. These nutrients are absent in plant foods. Meat is rich in proteins and has low carbs; hence, the absorption rate of meat is good, and no nutrients are wasted. Furthermore, meat provides all the essentials for creating short chain fatty acids. In a high fiber diet, the gut microbes are responsible for creating these for you!

A review of available evidence shows that there is zero need for fiber because there is no evidence of its health benefits. In particular:

No Nutritional Value

Fiber comes from the plant cell walls that provide shapes and architectural supports for the plants. It is unique to plants and doesn’t exist in the human body. Fiber has zero protein, fat, vitamin or mineral that your body needs. It can’t be digested by your body and is ultimately excreted.

Researchers have referred to fiber as “the ultimate junk food. It is neither digestible nor absorbable and therefore devoid of nutrition. People who ingest fiber are ingesting them to make faeces only“.

Fails To Improve Bowel Function

A higher fiber intake will logically result in an increased frequency of bowel movements. This creates the fallacy that fiber helps with bowel movement. However, in reality, dietary fiber is not found to improve bowel function. In contrast, evidence shows that constipation is actually resolved with the reduction of fiber intake.

Higher plant food intake increases stool frequency

A higher plant food intake generally corresponds with higher fiber intake, higher fecal mass, and higher stool frequency. Vegan and vegetarian diets can contain 3 – 4 times the amount of fiber as those a high meat diet.

It follows logically that the more indigestible matter you consume, the more it needs to be removed.

However, this perhaps leads to the subsequent misleading assumption that fiber increases stool frequency, therefore fiber must help with bowel function.  Research proves not to be the case. Increased stool frequency does not mean improved bowel function

Lack Of Evidence

In a number of controlled trials, fiber is not found to provide protective benefits.

Fiber does not protect against colon cancer.

One study concluded that “neither fiber intake from a wheat bran supplement nor total fiber intake affects the recurrence of colorectal adenomas, thus lending further evidence to the body of literature indicating that consumption of a high-fiber diet, especially one rich in cereal fiber, does not reduce the risk of colorectal adenoma recurrence.”

Further research supports the statement that dietary supplement of wheat-bran fiber does not protect against recurrent colorectal adenomas.

Fiber does not lower cholesterol

Studies have reported that there is no support for the hypothesis that water-soluble fiber intake from oat bran reduces total and LDL-cholesterol in study participants with a normal serum cholesterol level.

Fiber does not lower blood pressure

A randomized control trial found that there was no consistent effect of change in dietary fiber intake on average systolic or diastolic blood pressures“.

Fiber does not support hormone production

Research has concluded that plasma concentrations of total and sex-hormone-binding-globulin testosterone were 13% and 15% higher respectively, on the high-fat, low-fiber diet.

Eliminating Fiber Can Be Beneficial

In a remarkable study, patients with idiopathic constipation were put on a no fiber diet for two weeks. After this timer, the patients were asked to increase the amount of dietary fiber intake to a level that they found acceptable.

At six months, the patients who remained on a no fiber diet no longer suffered from constipation, bloating, straining, pain and bleeding.

In contrast, the few patients who chose to stay on a high fiber diet still had all of their symptoms.

The patients who chose to follow a reduced fiber diet experienced some improvements accordingly.

This finding strongly contradicts the general recommendation of many medical professionals to include fiber in one’s diet. This dogma has been heavily promoted over the last few decades.

Conclusion

Based on currently available evidence, it is clear that there is no need for fiber, especially on a diet as rich in bioavailable nutrients as the carnivore diet.

What we have all been made to believe about fiber needs to be carefully reviewed. Sadly, people often choose to believe a lie, as a lie repeated often enough by enough people becomes accepted as the truth.

Having fewer and smaller bowel movements on a carnivore diet is normal. Animal meats and fats are completely digestible and produce less waste than a diet filled with plant fibers. 

The above are facts and myths about fiber. To fiber or not to fiber, it’s your choice.