Today I've got another tip for those of you with digestive issues, including IBS, constipation, diarrhea and acid reflux: eat fewer vegetables.
Yep, that's right. Fewer vegetables.
Vegetables (as well as some fruits) are often high in insoluble fiber. While soluble fiber can be soothing for the gut, consuming large amounts of insoluble fiber when your gut is inflamed is a little bit like rubbing a wire brush against an open wound. Ouch.
Vegetables that are high in insoluble fiber include:
- Greens (spinach, lettuce, kale, mesclun, collards, arugula, watercress, etc.)
- Whole peas, snow peas, snap peas, pea pods
- Green beans
- Kernel corn
- Bell peppers
- Eggplant
- Celery
- Onions, shallots, leeks, scallions, garlic
- Cabbage, bok choy, Brussels sprouts
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Carrots
- Winter squash
- Summer squash (especially peeled)
- Starchy tubers (yams, sweet potatoes, potatoes)
- Turnips
- Rutabagas
- Parsnips
- Beets
- Plantains
- Taro
- Yuca
But won't I become deficient in nutrients if I don't eat tons of veggies?
First of all, I'm not suggesting that you don't eat these foods at all if you have digestive problems. I'm simply suggesting that you limit them. There are also steps you can take to make these foods more digestible and less likely to cause problems. They include:
- Never eat insoluble fiber foods on an empty stomach. Always eat them with other foods that contain soluble fiber.
- Remove the stems and peels (i.e. from broccoli, cauliflower and winter greens) from veggies (and fruits) high in insoluble fiber.
- Dice, mash, chop, grate or blend high-insoluble fiber foods to make them easier to break down.
- Insoluble fiber foods are best eaten well-cooked: steamed thoroughly, boiled in soup, braised, etc; avoid consuming them in stir-fries and if you do eat them raw, prepare them as described in #3 above.
I have nothing against vegetables. In fact, I like them quite a bit and I do think they're beneficial. But the advice to eat 6-8 servings a day is not based on solid scientific evidence, and may cause unnecessary distress in people with gut problems.
Fermented vegetables: a better alternative?
Fermented vegetables like sauerkraut, kim chi, sauerruben and cortido are excellent alternatives for people with gut issues. First, the fermentation process "pre-digests" the vegetables and makes them easier to absorb. Second, fermented veggies contain probiotic microorganisms that help heal the gut.
Although sauerkraut and kim chi contain cabbage, which is high in insoluble fiber (and a FODMAP to boot), I've found that many patients with gut problems can tolerate it quite well. FODMAPs are sugars and sugar alcohols, and fermentation breaks down sugars. This is probably why fermented FODMAPs are better tolerated than non-fermented FODMAPs.
If you're new to fermented vegetables, you have two options:
- Make them yourself. Check out this page for a great primer. It's really quite easy, and cheap.
- You can buy them at a health food store. Make sure that it says "raw" on the jar, and they're in the refrigerated section. The sauerkraut you can buy in the condiments section has been pasteurized and won't have the same beneficial effect.
P.S. Next week I'll be presenting at the Ancestral Health Symposium in Boston, and thus may not be able to post an article to the blog. I look forward to meeting those of you that will be there.
This has been known in Ayurveda now for thousands of years....the "roughness" that gives digestive problems of eating certain raw fruit and vegetables is called putting ones Vata out of balance. The symptoms in this case are, but not limited to, bloating and gas. The good thing about looking at your diet and routines in terms of the Doshas of Vata, Pitta and Kapha is that these symptoms ( as in the case of this article ) are but the first stages of disease. Of course nothing is going to happen from a few episodes of gas and bloating...but over a prolonged period of time...those symptoms will develop into other symptoms if not counteracted with changes to diet or addressing other root causes of ones environment and routine that one lives. Which is why western medical science is still so much in its infancy when it normally only addresses the much later stages of diseases which because of their prolonged neglect at their recognized state are much harder to treat and deal with.
What has not been caught up with yet is that the author has not recognized that for some individuals their Vata would not become out of balance given the same raw portions of fruit and veggies compared to another; some people do not experience gas or bloating. In fact some peoples constitutions that are very low in Vata but say high in Kapha...benefit from favoring such fruits and vegetables eaten raw.
On another note some people would at one time of the year yet not at another time of the year; cooked at one, raw at another.
Hopefully someday, people as a whole will learn to understand their bodies much better than we do; and a very strong background in science education is not required for this to be.