How to Get Colon Cancer (Or how to increase your chances of developing diverticulitis, irritable bowel and chronic gas.)
Now that I have your attention, you can relax. This is a newsletter about fiber and how 99.99999% of us don't get enough. I'm here to show you how to get more stress-free fiber so that you can prevent getting any kind of bowel disease, including cancer. If you are squeamish, stop reading now, because we will eventually be discussing poop. Oh, what the hay, why not right now. Read on.
I heard someone once say that if you didn't look into the toilet bowl every morning and exclaim "Wow!" then there is something not as right as it should be. So, let's start working towards the "Wow!" factor right now. I like the description of the perfect stool from Donna Gates' Body Ecology Diet. It gives us all something to aspire to: "The ideal, healthy stool is neither runny nor mushy; it drops from the body within seconds after sitting on the toilet; it is fully formed, but crumbles into little pieces when the toilet is flushed and it is free from the clay-like appearance that is promoted by eating mucus-forming foods." I doubt if many of us have this aesthetic pleasure every morning, so let's see how we can bump up our stool acceptability and "Wow!" factor.
First of all, fiber, fiber, and more fiber. In the 70's, Dennis Burkitt, M.D. studied the bowel habits of Africans living in small towns and he found that the natives who ate indigenously had different bowel habits than others eating a more Western diet. They would eat a meal, then like a mynah bird, rush to squat in a bush, proudly welcoming a large and very perfect stool. (A lot of "Wow's!" were heard in these small African villages. . .) Dr. Burkitt found that these natives excreted an average of one pound of feces each day with twelve-hour transit times while those on a Western diet only excreted 5 ½ ounces of stool each day with an average transit time of 48 to 72 hours. The natives from the small villages purportedly ate 60 to 80 grams of fiber per day and their transit time was 1/3 the time of ours.
Having personally attempted this Guinness Book of World Records amount of fiber, I'm here to tell you that it is impossible: One must eat all day long, and munch on lots of weird stuff with tablespoons of psyllium between meals. I was forced to isolate myself or else try, often unsuccessfully, to prevent socially unacceptable eructations from both ends. Plus, I endured World Class Bloat, Tight Waistband Syndrome and looked six months pregnant all the time which is not pretty on a 50 year old woman.
So, instead of going totally native, let's all shoot for a bit more than the recommended 20-35 grams of fiber per day. Let's try for 40. Since most of us eat 10 to 15 grams per day, it will be an issue to get the 25 grams more per day, but it is doable.
Why so much fiber?
1) It's necessary to promote the wave-like contractions that propel food through the intestine.
2) It expands the walls of the colon, easing the passage of waste.
3) It absorbs large amounts of water resulting in softer and bulkier (perfect) stools. (Oh, yes, it must have water to absorb, so please keep up the 8 glasses of water a day.)
4) A large and bulky stool acts to dilute carcinogens and move them through the bowel more quickly, before they can cause problems in the bowel, such as pre-cancerous polyps.
5) It prevents constipation and straining which can make your hemorrhoids happier, or maybe you could avoid them all together.
6) More roughage means less pressure in the colon which translates to a happier bowel and is important in treating IBS.
7) Due to the scouring effect of fiber, the formation of diverticula may be reduced or even stopped.
8) Fiber can help in reducing cholesterol by binding the cholesterol in the intestines and then carrying it away in the stool.
(Information you don't really need, but I'm going to tell you anyway.) Soluble vs. Insoluble Fiber: Soluble fiber is found primarily in oats, oat cereals, oat bran, barley and legumes such as lentils and beans and most vegetables and fruits. But the richest source of soluble fiber is oat bran and psyllium. Then there is insoluble fiber which you will find in most of the "super fiber" cereals like All-Bran. And for us gluten intolerants, there is always buckwheat. Although the soluble and insoluble fibers work differently in the body, there is no need for you to stress out about counting and measuring them separately since they are mostly mixed in the healthy diet that you will be eating.
I think it would be a good idea for you to count your fiber grams for awhile just to see where you are, so here's is a list of high fiber foods for you to start with:
Cereals per cup:
General Mills Fiber One -24 grams Kellogg's All Bran - 18 grams Grape Nuts - 10 grams Oatmeal - 8 grams Shredded Wheat - two biscuits - 6 grams
1 oat bran muffin - 5 grams 3 squares graham crackers - 4 grams 2 T uncooked barley - 3 grams ½ c cooked brown rice - 2 grams All Breads: look on label for fiber content
Legumes, 2/3 cup:
Garbanzo beans - 20 grams Black Eyed Peas - 6 grams Baked Beans - 16 grams Lentils - 10 grams Pinto, Lima, Great Northern and Kidney - 8 grams
You could also Google "fiber content of foods" and get a lot more information.
Please start slowly on the fiber. Easy does it or you will be one gassy person. As your body gets used to this new way of eating, it will adapt.
Tips: Beans are dynamite. Add a cup most days either by themselves, over brown rice or over your fiber-packed salad. Esp. add garbanzos when you can. You could make hummus and dip veggies in it. Add psyllium every day. If you're a fiber newbie, start with one t. and work up to 1 T per day. If you can eat wheat, eat the super fiber cereals once a day. A cup of super fiber cereal will get you half way to your goal of 40 grams. If you can digest flax, add either ground or whole flaxseeds daily.
Your dietary fiber should consist of a mix of the soluble and insoluble forms. But so as not to stress over this minutiae, here's a good start for you: Just have three or four pieces of fresh fruit every day. For example: 1/2 C. berries, ½ an apple, ½ a pear and ½ a banana. Then have one mixed salad every day with EVOO.
Put cabbage in your salads plus other high fiber fruits and veggies. Brussels sprouts, asparagus, cauliflower, corn, peas, kale, parsnips and potatoes contain high amounts of fiber. Do psyllium or some fiber bulking agent at night before bed. Add flax, psyllium and bran to smoothies.
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