Photo by Iñigo De la Maza on Unsplash
I like to review the piles of journal articles and newsletters that find their way to my desk every Monday morning. At this point of my life, my surgical subspecialty is a little bit niche, so not everything is completely applicable to what I do. So I don’t read all of it. We cannot actually possibly read every single article out there, unless you are the Editor-in-Chief of one of these said journals (which I hope to someday be), in which case it is your job to read all the articles. For now, I review a lot of submissions for the journals which always leads me to some exciting, cutting-edge ideas. And I skim the headlines and titles of articles to find which ones give me butterflies (which, you know, is just your gut-brain spidey-sense telling you that something wonderful might be happening).
Recently, I’ve seen two articles about how high fiber diets might be good for things other than gut health. Again, we already know this– it’s good for health health, eye health, brain health, mental health, etc etc, everything. But one article pointed to how high fiber diets helped patients recover after stem cell transplant. And the other one was about how high fiber diets reduced the rate of progression from patients who had MGUS to multiple myeloma. That is huge! We’re talking about fiber having effects on the bloodstream– in particular, cells that circulate in our bloodstream. I know that in the future we’re going to find that eating junk food really contributed to this whole mess that we’re in– and I am not perfect, I had Arby’s for lunch yesterday and ice cream (albeit, non-dairy) for dinner– but eating whole foods, a variety of fruits and vegetables and grains, will combat the inflammatory effects that stress and the environment have on our bodies. This isn’t new. But it bears repeating. The optimal amount of fiber daily is 25-35g daily, less if you’re on the smaller side, more if you’re on the larger side, and don’t eat it all at once, and don’t start at 25g daily if you’re fiber naive.
If you’re interested, read more in Chapter 10- You can’t poop out a bad diet. And get some fiber-fun recipes in Chapter 25.
Purchase Constipation Nation: What to Know When You Can’t Go
Here is an overview of the soluble fiber, insoluble fiber, and prebiotic content in one serving of cooked sweet potatoes and cooked broccoli:
Total Fiber: About 6.6 grams
Soluble Fiber: Approximately 1.0 to 1.5 grams
Insoluble Fiber: Approximately 5.1 to 5.6 grams
Prebiotics: Sweet potatoes contain prebiotic fibers like inulin and pectin, but in small amounts compared to other foods like onions or garlic.
Total Fiber: About 5.1 grams
Soluble Fiber: Approximately 1.0 to 1.3 grams
Insoluble Fiber: Approximately 3.8 to 4.1 grams
Prebiotics: Broccoli contains prebiotic fibers such as glucosinolates and raffinose, which support gut health by promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria.
These values are approximate and can vary depending on factors like cooking methods, preparation, and specific varieties of the vegetables.
Until next time, that’s just the way the anus wrinkles~
Optimized by Seraphinite Accelerator
