Your new favorite f-word: fiber. Fiber plays an essential role in our digestive health as it takes care of our gut and makes our poops glorious. Fiber also helps boost immunity, help beat constipation, regulates our blood sugar levels,and much more. AND fiber also helps with diarrhea, seriously what can’t fiber do? Read on to learn how fiber can help you stop the liquid toilet drip.
Fiber: Your Indigestible Carbohydrate Friend
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Most carbohydrates are broken down into glucose (sugar molecules). But dietary fiber is something our bodies just cannot digest. Fiber is then able to travel through our digestive system cleaning out our colon and improve our poops along the way.
How Fiber Helps with Diarrhea
Wait, fiber helps with constipation and diarrhea? We know what you’re thinking: those two are exactly the opposite of each other! Yet, fiber helps with both. Let’s talk about what diarrhea actually means.
If you have loose, watery poops, and can't stop going to the bathroom, you are most likely experiencing diarrhea. Diarrhea is usually short-lived and a common problem that can sometimes be accompanied by other symptoms like abdominal pain, nausea, or weight loss.
Diarrhea happens when undigested food moves too fast through the body. Our intestines don't have a chance to absorb the water, resulting in loose watery stools. Fiber slows down digestion allowing the large intestine a chance to absorb additional water. Go fiber!
When diarrhea lasts from days to weeks, it could be an indicator of an underlying medical illness especially when accompanied by fever, bloody stools, and frequent vomiting. Talk to your doctor!
Fiber Absorbs Water
Fiber can help with digestive problems like diarrhea but the key is to eat the type of fiber that helps with diarrhea. Fiber comes in two types: soluble and insoluble. (Hint: the answer is soluble, water-loving fiber).
Soluble fiber binds with water in our gastrointestinal tract to create a gel-like substance and helps promote the regularity of bowel movements and manage diarrhea. Thinkof fiber as a magnet for water, by attracting water, soluble fiber removes excess fluid from the stool which helps decrease diarrhea. Put another way: our friend fiber absorbs water so you don't have liquid toilet drip. Also because fiber isn't digested by the body and slows digestion, it helps out the large intestine by giving it more time to absorb additional water.
The other type of fiber is insoluble fiber that attracts water to the stool. Insoluble fiber’s job is to bulk up and promote the movement of stool through the digestive system but it's claim to fame is helping with constipation rather than diarrhea.
How to Get More Soluble Fiber
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Soluble fiber can be found in fruits, nuts, seeds and beans, vegetables, and whole grains.
The USDA recommends that we get an adequate amount of daily fiber with 25 grams of fiber for women while 38 grams for men. Sadly, the current numbers in the US only show that we’re only getting around 15 grams. In this case, fiber supplements together with fiber-rich foods are a great combination to hit the target numbers.
Taking Fiber Supplements
There are a lot of fiber supplements on the market, but it is important to know which fiber supplements have ingredients that help treat diarrhea. When shopping for fiber supplements, look for ingredients like psyllium husk and inulin.
Psyllium is made from the husks of the Plantago ovata plant’s seeds. It is a dietary fiber that can relieve digestive symptoms like diarrhea and constipation. Psyllium husk absorbs extra water in the digestive tract and slows down digestion.
Inulin, found in many plants, is an soluble fiber and fructan. Fructans are chains of fructose molecules that travel to the lower gut, where they serve as food for gut bacteria. In short, fructans are prebiotics that keep our gut healthy.
It’s important to check with your doctor if you experience persistent diarrhea that doesn’t improve over time, taking other medications, or if you have any underlying health conditions.
Bonny Helps With Diarrhea
Bonny is a prebiotic fiber powder with psyllium husk and inulin, both soluble fibers that help deal with diarrhea.
Bonny's ingredients are research-backed, plant-based, gluten-free, and all-natural. Our amazing fiber comes in amazing flavors like Apple Pie, Mixed Ripe Berries, and Super Strawberry.
Add a tablespoon of Bonny powder to 8 ounces of cool water and stir.
Fiber may benefit our digestive health and at the same time manage diarrhea, but it’s important to increase your intake slowly over time. If you are new to taking fiber supplements, we recommend taking it slow to allow your body to adjust. It’s important to keep yourself hydrated by drinking plenty of water.
Stay hydrated and as always, we wish you pleasant poops.
