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I sat in the same boat for years. I ate less than 10% of the recommended fiber intake each day. I pooped great (although now I realize a little on the loose side…).
All of a sudden I ate a little more fibrous foods when putting on some weight and boom. Bloating, constipation, reflux for over a year. Turns out the lack of fiber left me vulnerable to eating fiber which caused SIBO.
It’s been a year and a half, a gastrocopy, colonoscopy, reflux treatment, SIBO antibiotic treatment and a whole heaping of diet changes later I’m finally mostly better. I now eat between 90-110% of the recommended fiber intake. I poop like a GOD and I feel just as good as I did prior.
Eat your fiber.
The fiber itself is needed for a couple of reasons. Fiber absorbs water. This makes the colon’s job of moving the stool easier. The fiber also acts as a mechanical stimulant to the intestinal wall aiding in peristalsis. It massages the muscles and helps keep them healthy.
Best way to find out is do a carnivore diet or keto with no fiber diet for 30 days. Your body will answer that question for you. I think you don’t need fiber daily or even weekly but having no fiber over time will definitely cause gut issues. You also have to follow diets to specifically avoid fiber in your food, which I feel isn’t sustainable.
Fibre is recommended for long term health, but it’s not classified as essential because there are no known deficiency illnesses.
A nutrient is classed as essential when your body cannot make it and will have a pathological response to deprivation. An example is vitamin C which humans cannot make, and if we’re deprived of it for long enough we’ll develop scurvy, a connective tissue disease.
That being said, there’s an enormous amount of data showing an inverse relationship between fibre intake and diseases. People with high fibre diets tend to have way less heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and even dementia. It’s not necessarily a causative relationship for all of those (although it likely is for heart disease and bowel cancer), but it’s definitely a relationship.
Fiber as I understand it supports health and lowers all sorts of disease including cancer. Fiber also helps absorb other nutrients like calcium. I could be wrong but it seems like one of the most important nutrients there is.
Also, the people that stick their nose up at fiber usually advocate a carnivore diet or act like a kid when it comes to eating their vegetables. My mother in law meticulously picks the onion out of the food I make. She likes the taste it adds she says but “doesn’t like onions”. It’s your life but I think anyone that acts like my mother in law is getting in their own way. Eat your veggies.
I experimented a lot, esp. to see the impact on what allows for the easiest digestion.
I haven’t taken fiber for years (this is only fiber). Instead I get my fiber through high fiber foods.
I start my day with oats, and add a mix of chia, hemp, flax, sunflower seeds, some nuts, blueberries and make it a fiber bomb.
I also try to get at least 2 servings of veggies - carrots, broccoli, purple cabbage.
As long as I get 30 grams of fiber, I rarely ever feel constipated and overall feel like I have a lot of energy.
Yes, it’s essential.
You won’t die from a lack of fibre like you would say, vitamin C, but it is very important. It helps prevent bowel cancer, it keeps you regular, it lowers cholesterol and helps stablise your blood sugar.
Once you’re used to eating a regular amount of fibre - insoluble and soluble - you’ll struggle to imagine living without it. Life is just better when you can poop comfortably and regularly.
https://whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=59#function
Most soluble fiber is thought to change the gut bacteria to where it converts less tmao, which is found in red meat and probably clogs your heart and arteries. What you mention about diversity, actually only applies to types of fiber (lol)