For My Tummy

Following a Soluble Fiber Trail across the Net

Background
For more information on the importance of soluble fiber in the dietary approach to IBS, see these earlier posts:

Fiber Glossary, and
Fiber 101a, as well as
Fiber 101b.

Today’s web adventure:
Today, as I placed a regular supplement order with Vitacost.com, I somehow saw a long list of products. From idle curiosity, I scrolled down the page. I noticed that they listed guar gum, the main ingredient in the old form of Benefiber ™. Of course I clicked on the listing, and got two listings, for Source Naturals ™ versions of the same product.

Because I knew Amazon sells Source Naturals, and VitaCost had a shipment delay on one size of the Guar Gum product, I checked price and shipment information on Amazon.com, using “guar gum” for the search term. Yes, they have the same product, but you have to buy three at a time. Yes, it’s shipped directly from Amazon.com, so (especially if you are an Amazon Prime member) the ship time is very fast and accurate. Just to see what else there is, I checked their whole listing for guar gum. You can do the same — just avoid Bob’s Red Mill ™ or Barry Farm guar gum, which are intended for baking, and very hard to use as a supplement.

Believe me, I’ve tried.

At the bottom of the Amazon list of guar gum products, they had an allied ad from HerbalRemedies.com.
Poking around that web site, I found the following information on acacia fiber, the basis for Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™.

Acacia General Information
Ancient Hebrews considered Acacia to be the Shittah tree of the Bible which supplied the sacred wood. The Ark of the Covenant and the sacred Tabernacle were made from Acacia wood. As a spiritual icon it is also one of the most powerful “symbols” in Freemasonry representing the eternal soul and purity of the soul. The ancient Egyptians used the gum of the tree on loose teeth because its thick mucilaginous (thick and sticky) properties supported the tooth while the astringent qualities tightened up the gum tissue surrounding the loose tooth. The Egyptians also used the material as a glue and as a pain reliever base. The gum of the Acacia tree was applied to open wounds as an antiseptic. The Aztecs used it as a food and dye, and ate the seedpods as an aphrodisiac.

Where The Acacia Tree is Found Today
The acacia tree (Acacia Senegal) is a thorny, scraggly tree that grows to heights of about 15 feeet. It grows most prolifically in regions of Africa, in particlular in the Republic of Sudan. During times of drought, the bark of the tree splits, exuding a sap that dries in small droplets or “tears”. In the past, these hardened sap tears served as the major source of acacia gum, but today commercial acacia gum is derived by tapping trees periodically and collecting the resin semi-mechanically. At least three grades of acacia gum are available commercially and their quality is distinguished by the coloor and character in the collected tears. There is considerable variation in the gum quality depending on whether it is obtained by natural flow secondary to extreme drought, obtained by tapping of induced by the boring of beetles at sites of branch injury. Gums derived from Combretum are readily available at low prices in East and West Africa and are often offered for sale as “gum arabic”.

Acacia Uses & Scientific Evidence For
Today Gum Arabic is used to provide a soothing coating over inflammations in the respiratory, alimentary, and urinary tracts. It is also helpful for coughs, sore throat, and catarrh, eyewash, diarrhea, and dysentery. Acacia is sometimes used for typhoid fever as well. Acacia is highly soluble, with low viscosity and a high soluble dietary fiber content, and therefore, used in meal replacement products, nutritional beverages, and weight-loss products. Acacia gum has been used in food as a stabilizer and in pharmaceuticals as a demulcent. It is used topically for healing wounds and has been shown to inhibit the growth of periodontal bacteria and the early deposition of plaque.

Post Summary
That’s comprehensive information on acacia fiber, when I started out looking for guar gum supplements — especially to replace Benefiber ™, which is now made with wheat dextrin. So in the next post, I’ll deal more specifically with guar gum as a soluble fiber, not just where to get the supplement.

August 22nd, 2008 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, VitaCost, FiberSure (tm), Heather's Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber (tm), Benefiber (tm), Prebiotics, IBS Diet | no comments

Irritable Bowel Syndrome: 7 Diet Principles

Introduction
I would like to clarify the underlying principles to the IBS food recommendations that I make on ForMyTummy (FMT). When I first started ForMyTummy.com, over a year ago, I thought the principles were the same as, or similar to, those of Heather Van Vorous, of the HelpforIBS.com web site. Upon reflection, after a year of writing tips and recipes and articles, there are some specific features to my approach which can be stated as, ta-da!, the following Principles.

Principle 1

NEVER EAT ON AN EMPTY STOMACH

This means that when you wake up, the first thing you put into your mouth is a soluble fiber, such as Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™ or FiberSure ™. Later in the day, the first thing into your mouth will be either a small amount of gentle starch like rice or soy crackers, or another part of your daily dose of a Soluble Fiber Supplement (SFS).

Principle 2

GET ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN FOOD SHOPPING

This is because you are in a learning process yourself. To try to tell someone else who is buying or preparing your food what it is that you want/need, and what has to be or not be on the food label is to create more interpersonal stress than you really need. Negotiate to be part of shopping trips, or change your food service (lunch place, wherever) to “vegan,” or ask for gift certificates to Amazon and lay in your own stock of oatmeal or soy noodle soup or something else that you like.

Principle 3

READ ALL FOOD LABELS IN THE STORE!

The list of ingredients, and
The nutrition information, particularly carbohydrate and fiber content

Principles 4 and 5 are to be applied in sequence.

Principle 4

START WITH AN ELIMINATION DIET

List of IBS Triggers

This also means that you will have to switch to available foods that are based on soy beans or rice. Rice is both binding and calming to the tummy; that means that if you have IBS-C, base your NEW diet on soy, and add small amounts of rice.

“Irritable Bowel Syndrome and the Food Diary.”

Principle 5

EMPHASIZE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES FOR ADDED FOODS

New Food Pyramid

Principle 6

MOVE AND GROW

Get off your duff and do something about your IBS, or
Include physical exercise, or
Grow thinner or fatter, whichever you need to do, or
Move through the process of self-help for IBS and grow as a person.

Principle 7

ADD THESE TO YOUR NEW DIET

Enough soluble fiber supplement (SFS)- See the Fiber 101 posts, starting with Fiber 101a, and the articles in the category “Prebiotics.”
A good probiotic, Digestive Advantage-IBS ™ caplets or Align ™ caplets are ones that supply the probiotic in effective amounts; they are reviewed in the category “Probiotics.”

Principle 8

VARIATIONS

This means that you can pick from these principles according to the extent of your IBS “damage” in the slang sense. Principle 1, 2, and 3 apply to everyone, with 2 and 3 being ones you can take on gradually. The Principles 4 and 5 involve radical dietary change for most of us. You need to be really committed to change, really miserable with aspects of IBS, to take this on. Principles 6 and 7 should be added to Principles 1, 2, and 3 as well as used with the full dietary changes of 4 and 5.

COMMENTS?

How would you use these principles? Are there any others that you would want to express? Please comment using the Link below, that says “No Comments” if you are the first to write in–otherwise the linke says “1 Comment” or “2 Comments,” and so forth.

October 11th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, Probiotics, Soy Products, Prebiotics, IBS Diet | 2 comments

Irritable Bowel Syndrome - What to Use Every Day?

In reviewing the questions that people ask search engines, and then get direct to this site, I am seeing a lot of “is it ok to take xyz every day.” The answers are sprinkled through this site, so I wonder whether people find what they are looking for.

In this post I review some of the queries and try out some answers. Feel free to comment by clicking on the “no comment” link, which opens the comment box:

a. By laxative do you mean anything in the laxative aisle of the drugstore? Then read beyond this question for information on Soluble Fiber Supplements, also called “prebiotics.”
b. Generally it is not good practice to do this. Over a long space of time you become dependent on laxatives, and you need a larger and larger dose to get the same effect. A diet that avoids IBS triggers, and the simultaneous building up of your intake of soluble fiber supplements (SFS) to the recommended levels will relieve constipation over time. You do not need to have a bowel movement every day; fewer than three per week is a cause for concern. “Cause for concern” is code for “talk to your doctor about this.”

When the major ingredient of Benefiber was guar gum, it was okay. At that point Benefiber was a Soluble Fiber Supplement (SFS), which is the kind that helps IBS. Now it is not an SFS, because the makers (Novartis, makers of Zelnorm) changed the main ingredient to maltodextrin.

Fibersure is an SFS, made from chicory root fiber, also called “inulin.” Anything similar that is all inulin–for example, a Walmart store brand, or a Canadian, Indian, Australian, or British product–would act similarly. This is the kind of product in the “laxatives” aisle that you should take every day. In fact, you should take several doses throughout the day to build up to 20 to 30 grams of soluble fiber every day.
I don’t receive the queries about Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™, which is the other brand name Soluble Fiber Supplement (SFS). Like FiberSure, it should be taken every day. Like FiberSure, unlike senokot and similar laxatives, you should gradually build up to a base level of 20 to 30 grams of SFS per day.

There are two answers here. First, unless you have a free year’s supply of Metamucil ™ without any additives, don’t take Metamucil ™ for IBS. It has several ways of irritating a sensitive tummy. Second, if you have an otherwise nice doctor who insists that you take a psyllium fiber supplement (PFS), try bargaining with her to take Original Konsyl ™, which is a PFS with absolutely no sugar, sugar substitute, orange coloring, orange flavoring, etc–no additives at all.
So the short answer? Don’t take Metamucil ™ every day; don’t take Metamucil ™ at all! If you take Original Konsyl ™ every day, preferably add it to a base of 20 to 30 grams of SFS.

Look for a further post on “every day IBS care.”

September 30th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, general, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS-D, FiberSure (tm), Heather's Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber (tm), Benefiber (tm), Prebiotics | 4 comments

Window Shopping for IBS Products–Now Available

For some time there has been a Page Title — in the upper right hand corner of the header menu — called “Window Shopping.” If you clicked on it, you would see a browser window that goes directly to the Best Life International website, and their “Soy Amazing” ™ Meal Replacement shake.

That was it. No blurb, no explanation, just the browser window.

I have now added several more browser windows, for products mentioned here that are not available at Amazon.com. The full list of products:

Soy Amazing Meal Replacement Shake, ™ from BestLife International–high soluble fiber content, high protein
Revival Soy ™ Chocolate Daydream Shake — no fiber content, high protein.

Ganeden Digestive Advantage - IBS ™: currently serializing a review.
Align. ™ Series of reviews, completed.

Use the Google site search, or the Category listings, for more information.

September 25th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | Breakfast, fiber, Chocolate, Revival Soy, Probiotics, Food for IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS food, Align, Soy Products, Soy Amazing, Online sources, BestLifeInternational, Digestive Advantage - IBS, IBS Diet | 2 comments

Align for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Review: Weeks 7 and 8

Agony of August–NOT
I finished the month of August without my annual bout of extreme IBS, either D or C, and credit the combination of IBS diet and the fact that I was taking the probiotic Align ™ for this amazing difference from the past “agony of August.”

Then, in the beginning of September, I had some C, the result of missing a dose of Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™. Just goes to show you that all elements need to be in place for your tummy or mine to be on its best behavior.

Elements of IBS Therapy
So, to remind readers of these reviews, to use a probiotic for best effect on IBS, you also need the following daily elements:

An IBS diet that avoids all triggers, and
A daily routine that includes increasing amounts of a Soluble Fiber Supplement, up to your stabilization point
A suitable probiotic

For me, a year ago in July and August 2006 those things were not in place yet, and the probiotics I tried did not work for me. This year, I had both elements in place, and the Align ™ probiotic I reviewed worked great throughout August.

Conclusion of Align ™ Review
Align works as promised, at least on a well-prepared tummy. During the period I took Align ™ I also began to sample some fruits and vegetables, with good success except for broccoli.

The distribution system for Align ™ does not appear to be in place yet, and that affects the credibility of the main source of information, the Align ™web site. For example, the web site has a “sticker” update that says “Now available in pharmacies,” which is not true. There *may* be limited availability in warehouses, if a pharmacist knows to ask and is willing to order it. There is no distribution that has hit the shelves of a large chain pharmacy near me (CVS), in contrast to Digestive Advantage - IBS ™.

Promo Code for Align ™
The promo code to use for a $5 discount when ordering Align from the aligngi.com web site is AlignWOM. Look for a place on the web site called “promo code” and enter it there.

September 6th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | Probiotics, IBS, IBS therapy, IBS Triggers, Align, Heather's Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber (tm), Adjuncts, Digestive Advantage - IBS | 4 comments

Fiber 101b - Fiber for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

The following material is designed specifically for people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). It may be useful to people who have occasional constipation or diarrhea or non-specific tummy pain. As usual, this is not medical advice. It will be helpful to read the Fiber in IBS Glossary, posted two days ago, and you might want to reread the post titled Fiber for IBS 101a.

There are three points in this follow-up post. I will be talking about how the role of fiber in establishing a real comfort level with your tummy. The three points, as questions, are:

What does fiber do in your body?
What kind of fiber do you need to have that beneficial effect?
How much of the right kind of fiber do you need each day?

What Does Fiber Do in Your Body?
As your background reading indicates, there are two kinds of fiber, soluble and insoluble.

First,

Second,

Soluble Fiber

(SF)

The gel that’s formed in your large bowel has somewhat the consistency of a tube of toothpaste, and your large bowel squeezes it along until the gel-like stool is eliminated. This is the result of taking a Soluble Fiber Supplement (SFS).

The effect of taking adequate amounts of SFS is very easy passage of formed stools, not too loose and not too hard, dry, or painful. The gel-forming effect of SFS works with the loose and watery stools of diarrhea (IBS-D) as well as with those of IBS-C.

What Kind of Fiber Do You Need to Have that Beneficial Effect?

In order to have the help of fiber to change the nature of the stools you pass, you need adequate amounts of a soluble fiber supplement (SFS) for your IBS-D or IBS-C. Right now in the U.S. the available supplements are FiberSure ™ and Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™, and perhaps some store brands.

FiberSure is pure powderedinulin, made from chicory root. It is also FDA approved for use in treating constipation.
Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber is pure powdered acacia. It may be classed by the FDA as a “medical food.”
Store brands that are still in place that mimic the old form of Benefiber, ™ and have guar gum as their active ingredient. (I have tried to check out a report that Wal-Mart has such a store brand SFS, with no success.)

How much of the right kind of fiber do you need each day?

How much SFS do you need, and how do you get there? How do you change over from Metamucil ™ or FiberCon ™ or Konsyl ™? Do you also need Metamucil ™?

To my way of thinking, you need to gradually add an SFS to your daily routine, while also gradually reducing the amount of any IFS you have been taking. Carrots and apples and other vegetables and fruits that are sources of SF should be switched to steamed or blended forms, with no sugar added.

Basically, you are going for a daily intake of 30 to 45 grams of soluble fiber. That varies from individual to indivual according to size, weight, and age. To find the right amount, you gradually increase your SFS intake until your stools are the kind of softened and formed “gel” that I described above.

If you reach 40 or 45 grams of SF per day, without getting these results, please consult your doctor.

Bottom Line
The bottom line is that in taking an SFS you take it every day, and build up until the amount is adequate for a comfortable, formed stool.

August 23rd, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS-C, IBS-D, FiberSure (tm), Heather's Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber (tm), Benefiber (tm), Digesting Information | 2 comments

Glossary of Fiber Terms Used in Writing about Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Terminology Problems
The discussion about appropriate types of fiber in the therapy of Irritable Bowel Syndrome is hampered by a number of misconceptions about fiber. What has been holding me up in writing a simple Fiber 101b post, the second part of the primer on fiber, has been the need to explain several distinctions among types of fiber, that is so much of what I mean when I say fiber.

These are some the terms used on this and other sites:

Dietary Fiber
Insoluble Fiber (IF)
Soluble Fiber (SF)
Soluble Fiber Supplement (SFS)
TV ads for “Fiber”

Putting the explanation of terms into an article, I think, will make your eyes glaze over. That will happen if what I say is in conflict with what you know. So, this is the fiber glossary, the words and terms for talking about fiber. Some of what is on this page will be new to your understanding of fiber.

Glossary

Fiber

Not a specific term. It doesn’t describe the food, or the supplements, that supply fiber. It may be used to describe a daily amount of fiber.

Dietary Fiber

¹

Soluble Fiber (SF)

Eating for IBS

Soluble Fiber Supplements (SFS)

Supplements

old

Insoluble Fiber (IF)

not

TV Ads for “Fiber”

In the United States there is an ad for FiberCon caplets, ™ which are “Calcium polycarbophil 625 mg equivalent to 500 mg polycarbophil.” Their labeling suggests that the caplets should not be used more than 7 days without a doctor’s approval. The ingredient is the same as that in Equalactin ™. The interesting point is the way the ads play on the popular conception of a “high fiber diet,” and suggest that such a diet is impossible to follow because we’d be eating fiber all day. So, why not take their caplets? Well, because polycarbophil is a “bulk-forming” laxative–roughage, or IF–and may give some problems to people with IBS.

NOTE
In the past, in the archived posts on this blog, I have used SF and SFS interchangeably, meaning supplements. Heather’s site also has used the terms interchangeably in the past, in the meaning of both supplements and the soluble element of starches such as rice and potatoes, and bananas.
Neither of us is technically wrong, just different. SF, including both starches and SFS, is PREbiotic, a growing medium for the good bacteria that we call PRObiotics.

1 Shirley S. Lorenzani, “Dietary Fiber: Its Surprising Range of Therapeutic and Protective Health Benefits,” Good Health Guides (New Canaan, Connecticut: Keats Publishing) 1988. [↩]

August 21st, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, IBS therapy, FiberSure (tm), Heather's Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber (tm), Prebiotics, IBS Diet, IBS Symptoms | one comment

False and True Conceptions about Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Treatment

The following paragraph on Heather’s web site caught my eye:

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Supplements
Supplements for the dietary management of IBS can be unbelievably helpful for stabilizing digestion. This is particularly true when they’re used as one of the five key strategies for controlling Irritable Bowel Syndrome (proper diet, stress management, alternative therapies, and prescription medications are the other four).

Soluble fiber supplements, herbs that have medicinal effects on the gastrointestinal tract, heat therapy, probiotics, calcium and/or magnesium, and digestive enzymes are all of proven benefit. Best of all, results are usually felt very quickly - sometimes even immediately (emphasis mine). ((1 from the Help for IBS Website
http://www.helpforibs.com/supplements/))

Not to throw a wet blanket on your hopes of instant relief–well, yes, I’ll throw that wet blanket after all.

Starting diet change, discovering that indeed there are more triggers than you thought, finding the right supplements, all take time. It took me at least three months. Then, too, probiotics take at least three weeks before they begin to give relief. So IBS treatment in full does not produce rapid results. Yes, parts of a treatment regimen do, such as putting a heating pad on a painful tummy, or drinking fennel tea for gas and bloating. Getting IBS under control, though, takes time.

August 19th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, Probiotics, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS therapy, IBS Triggers, Digesting Information, Prebiotics, Adjuncts, IBS Symptoms | no comments

Lost Post - Warmup to Fiber 101b, Fiber for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Warmup
In this warmup for the second part of the series on Fiber for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), I want to talk about daily fiber intake. Isn’t that dull! There is almost nothing in the world that will convince me that I should keep a daily record of what I eat and its fiber content.

Daily Record of Fiber Intake
Twice in my life I have kept a daily record of what food intake. It wasn’t easy. Once I did it for the doctor, who thought I was overeating until that daily record convinced her that I wasn’t, and once for you, the reader of this blog, when I listed my day’s intake of various foods that help me control IBS.

What I’m suggesting here is not quite so tedious as the record of everything eaten. Rather, for many people it is helpful to put a number to the amount of fiber you are actually taking in every day.

Tasty Example
For example, you may be curious, as I was, about a bottled berry smoothie from Bolthouse Farms. To check it out, you take home one bottle, and like the taste of it so much (even though there’s no added sugar) that you drink two servings, without realizing that your fiber intake for that much berry smoothie is 16 grams, over and above what your daily average intake may be. You regularly get the recommended amount of fiber–30 grams per day. But for the day you indulge in that wonderful blueberry smoothie your fiber total is over 150 per cent of normal, at 46 grams/day!

Oops!
If you don’t have a fairly standard daily fiber intake, you may fluctuate from 3 grams of fiber on Monday, to 19 grams of fiber on Tuesday, to 8 or 9 grams of fiber on Wednesday. And all without knowing that’s what you are doing. When these fluctuations are less than the soluble fiber your body needs, you may not notice them.

Managing Fiber Intake
Getting control of IBS symptoms is a complicated dance, to be sure. Fiber intake, however, is something that is under your control, that you can manage, and that you can regulate so that you are taking in a consistent amount.

Do you have the habit of checking the fiber content of everything you eat? I thought I did, but that blueberry smoothie (from Bolthouse Farms) surprised me. Checking the label, I see that the smoothie has fresh berries, and no sugar. And, the smoothie also has “dextrin (as dietary fiber), inulin (as dietary fiber),” and “xanthan gum (as dietary fiber).” These are all soluble fibers; in fact the 8 grams of fiber total are also 8 grams of soluble fibers, in an 8 oz. serving.

So if you could afford to drink this product four times a day, you could get your 32 grams of soluble fiber this way. As well as 680 calories!

If you overindulged, though, a lot of additional fiber would flood your system and produce or worsen diarrhea.

Are wild swings in fiber intake what is causing IBS? Not so far as I have ever read anyone say. The role of “cause” is the impact trigger foodsthat set into motion / lack of motion, a great many different events that affect gastric motility–gut motion.

Major Role of Fiber
Fiber, though, has a major role in the play–a gram of fiber is the star, the prima donna. When she goes off stage, when she isn’t there to play her part, the drama suffers.

The Stage Manager
So I’m asking you to be a stage manager. Your job is to keep track of where the star is ( = how much fiber) and whether she is making her entrances and exits on cue, or has left the theater. She has to make 30 entrances and exits every day the play is running, and she has to dissolve the emotions of the audience when she does.

On the Clipboard
So you have a notebook, or a notepad, and you track whether your gram of fiber is making her entrances every day on time, every time.

What that means is that you read the labels of the food you eat, and note down the fiber (or fibre) count. Track that prima donna, who has the starring role in the drama of your gut!

August 14th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Prebiotics | no comments

Benefiber for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Benefiber in the Past
In reviewing the statistics for this growing blog, I notice that one of the most frequently used keywords is Benefiber. I imagine that people are checking out whether Benefiber is a good choice for a soluble fiber. Indeed, there used to be three soluble fibers on the market that I could recommend; Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™, FiberSure ™, and Benefiber ™. I have used Benefiber myself, and my doctor recommended it at one time.

BUT
At the time I could make these positive statements, Benefiber ™ consisted entirely of processed Guar Gum, one of the group of PREbiotics that shared the benefits of soluble fiber. I searched for ingredients of Benefiber on the web and every listing said the main ingredient was Guar Gum. I know that the Benefiber I have seen on the shelf at my local–across the street, easy to do research–CVS has maltodextrin as its main ingredient. Have I gone crazy? No. I checked with Amazon.com for an up-to-date listing. The ingredients are “Wheat Dextrin. Gluten Free (Less than 10 ppm Gluten).” Hmm. So maybe it’s okay. But is it the product for which Novartis — who brought us Zelnorm ™ — got FDA approval. That FDA approval figured large in my doctor’s recommendation for Benefiber.

Novartis
Novartis simply has not updated any of its own or others’ listings of ingredients for Benefiber. I want to be sarcastic here, but won’t. To read more about the switch, see this review at IBS Tales, http://www.irritable-bowel-syndrome.ws/benefiber.htm. .

This Blog Withdraws Approval
Based on the unannounced switch and the negative customer review on IBS Tales, I am withdrawing approval for Benefiber of the Wheat Dextrin kind. As much as possible, when I can, I’ll go back and change earlier posts to reflect the change in the product.

Feedback
What is your feeling about Benefiber? Do you like and use the new, wheat-dextrin product? Did you notice the change?

August 10th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, Amazon, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Benefiber (tm), Prebiotics | no comments

Summer Travel with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Summer Travel has a number of hazards for a person with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

Traveler’s Diarrhea
Chancy Diet
Stress
Absence of facilities
Getting over-tired
Did I say stress?

First of all, avoid carbonated drinks and ice water. And, drink plenty of cool, not cold, water.

One element of the travel kit that I have used with success–and there’s no payoff for mentioning this other than that you may find it helpful, too–is Equalactin. This product consists of chewable tablets that equalize the water content in the large bowel (intestine, colon). Equalactin works to prevent tipping the balance from where you are generally comfortable to discomfort or disaster. Equalactin doesn’t do the whole job but it certainly helps.

You add it to your IBS kit together with enough soluble fiber for your trip. Those small travel bottles in travel kits often help.

Then you add a few envelopes of organic instant oatmeal (see my Amazon page), some rice crackers, and perhaps some rice cakes. These will calm the gastrocolic reflex, and substitute for a meal when you can’t get to food.

And have a good time. That is, after all, the best stress reliever.

On the absence of facilities, stores and restaurants in many states are now required by law to make their restrooms available to people who come in because of an imperative need to use the restrooms. See GastroGirl’s recent column on this at Revolution Health.

I push the envelope all the time on overdoing it, blogging into the wee hours, staying up with a book, spending a night out with friends or family–and then getting up early the next morning to do necessary stuff like (recently) allergy testing. Just saying: cool it with this stuff on your vacation. If you stay up, or stay out, late, sleep in as long as you can the next morning.

As for chancy diet, please resist the ball-park frankfurters and other summer foods laden with fats, wheat, and such. Print out and take along the list on the IBS Triggers page here.

July 27th, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, Amazon, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS Triggers, IBS food, Online sources | no comments

Fiber for IBS - 101a

Sometimes it seems so simple I take it for granted. There are two kinds of fiber for IBS. One is FiberSure ™, which is 100% inulin and is made from chicory. The other is Heather’s Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber ™, which is 100% acacia fiber, from the acacia gum tree.

These are the fibers that are PREbiotic - see PREbiotics 101. One way you can tell is that they dissolve completely in warm water, leaving either clear liquid you can see through (FiberSure) or a suspension that settles into clear liquid if you don’t touch it for a while–Acacia Tummy Fiber.

I have seen posts uncorrected by the communities on forums (that I’ve recommended in the past) that say something like “I’ve changed to Weetabix–or Shredded Wheat–and I still have problems with IBS-C!” or it might be “Now I have yoghurt crunchies for breakfast, so that’s my fiber, but I still have IBS-D!”

I think there’s a disconnect in communication about your need for fiber if you have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in any variety.

What I am talking about, and what Heather’s web site talks about, and what medical sites like the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions Gastroenterology - IBS are talking about is not changing your breakfast cereal to treat your Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

We are all talking about

the gradual increase of your daily dietary fiber amount from the maybe 3 gms of fiber to ten times that much,AND
starting to get at least half of that amount in soluble fiber, AND
gradually increasing the amount of fiber, most of it soluble, you have EVERY DAY to the recommended range.

In short, ignore the TV ads for cereals or other products that are “high fiber.”

Most of the time a serving of these advertised high-fiber products has as much as 3 gms of fiber in it. That’s one tenth of what you need in a day. Do you want to have ten servings of whatever it is? With milk, and/or containing wheat, and/or containing citric acid? Are you serious or just playing around?

It would be terrific if we people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) could get a lot of our fiber from fresh fruits and vegetables. Sadly, I at least don’t have the nerve to challenge my system with fresh carrots or apples, or GrapeNuts Flakes ™. Oatmeal–mixed soluble and insoluble fiber–works okay after your first dose of soluble fiber (Acacia or FiberSure).

July 23rd, 2007 Posted by tummyblogger | fiber, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS therapy, IBS-C, IBS-D, FiberSure (tm), Heather's Organic Acacia Tummy Fiber (tm) | one comment

For My Tummy

Self-Help for IBS