Soluble And Insoluble Fiber

[FruitEnthusiast]

Well, yet another piece of the puzzle solved… on my road to wellness!

 

It's amazing how the process of recovering from the effects of gluten can be like peeling away the layers of an onion - this concerns fiber - I don't know about you, but soluble vs. insoluble has always confused me. I tend toward C, but I think it's relevant to anyone who suffers from D as well.

 

A month ago I became sensitive to more foods, and had to switch almost everything I was eating. Since then I have been suffering sooo much from C, I was starting to feel like I wanted to die - at some point anything seems better than the splitting headaches I was getting.

 

Everyone knows fiber is important. Most of what I was eating was high in fiber so no problem right? Wrong! I wish any one of the many doctors I've seen in the last 12 years since I've battled severe C could have explained it to me as simply as this:

 

A: If you tend toward C you need more insoluble fiber, which is everything on the outside of the food we eat: such as the peel, the skin, the bran… it speeds up digestion. That part I knew.

 

B: What I didn't know is that soluble fiber is everything on the inside, such as the part of the apple without the peel on it…. and that soluble fiber actually slows digestion! So if you tend toward C be careful not to overdo soluble fiber!!!!!

 

Everything I was eating for the last month was filled with soluble fiber, and little insoluble fiber. Today I added a new food loaded with insoluble fiber that I can tolerate (yay!) and I feel better already.

 

I would imagine anyone with D would want to do the opposite: eat more soluble fiber and avoid the insoluble, but I don't know, I've never had that tendency.

 

I never had to think about all of this so carefully before I developed a problem with gluten. I had been eating a healthy balanced diet. But you know how it is when you are temporarily forced to stick within fewer and fewer foods while you recover, so you're focused on tiny details, and the big picture can become fuzzy.

 

It's easy to miss the forest while examining the trees with a freakin microscope!

 

For anyone reading this who is frustrated by the amount of time it can take to get well… take comfort - the time it takes is not a sign that you won't get there - it's only a sign that the process can be really complicated and multi-layered for some of us!!!

 

Don't be discouraged by the twists and turns in the road, it straightens out, just keep going!