Constipation
 

My mom has Type II diabetes, and we started following L-C diet about 8 weeks ago. She has been constipated since she started this. We are not sure what to do. When she eats a cereal with fiber in the morning, it seems to help. But it is difficult to get enough fiber in the diet without eating carbs. She also seems to be afflicted at times with slow digestion. Thus Dr. Berstein says to limit fiber. Well, if you limit fiber, then there is constipation. Any suggestions?

Hi, Gracie.

I think I remember you saying in another post that your mom drinks tons of water, right? If not, that's the very first thing to change. It's said around here that she needs 64 ounces, plus 8 ounces for every 25 pounds she needs to lose, pluse 8 ounces for every cup of coffee or two cups of tea or caffinated pop.

Personally, I find coffee helps in this particular area - but then I love coffee and am not ready to give it up, so am thrilled to come up with these little justifications. ;-)

I don't remember Berstein saying to avoid fibre. I know I've read some other reports that suggest soluble fibre helps lower bg. (I'll have to reread that part of Bertsein's book myself).

If you decide to continue adding fibre, there's always metamucil (psyllium). And there are also some flax-seed muffin recipes at this site that are relatively good (with low carb baking, I find it best if I don't expect the thing to taste like baking as I remember it).

Try some macadamia nuts or smoked almonds. Net carb grams = 2 per oz. for macadamias, 1 for the almonds. The almonds have 3 grams of fiber per oz. I bought a ten oz. can earlier today and I've nibbled away about half of it this afternoon (portion control is a very real problem with these) so I, uh, oh, excuse me I have to run to the bathroom now.....

almonds
 

Almonds do work. Besides the fiber they also contain a lot of magnesium. If you want to avoid the calories of the nuts you could just try 250 to 500 mg of magnesium a day.

It's not so much the fiber that Dr. Bernstein has concerns with but the bulk. Filling the stomach too full can create what he terms "the Chinese restaurant effect" where insulin is released in response to the stomach being too distended. One way to get around that is with fiber supplements or I just use ground flax...lots of fiber in a little bit. Keto hot cereals are along the same lines. 12 total grams of carb per 2 scoop serving with 9 of those being from fiber. Two other things that you need for regularity are fat and water so making sure that your mom is getting enough of both of those will help as well.

I take Colon Care from GNC (20% week off is coming up in a week) and eat 20 macadamia nuts or almonds every day (instead of lunch).

Also, I have found that a little exercise after meals helps. I also drink well over 100oz of water per day. No caffeine.

Last time I went on Atkins, I had this problem, so I am a happy camper this time.

128 oz. is a gallon. Lady, that's a lot of liquid.

Well, you are suppose to drink 1/2 oz per pound. I weigh 200lbs, so 100 oz is about right. All I drink is water, herbal tea and hot cocoa made with powdered soy milk. Thankfully, I use a home delivery bottled water service. We go through a lot of water!!!

(If I ever get off Metformin again, I will have a glass of wine or a brandy before bed. I am down to 1/2 a 500mg tablet in the AM and one around 9pm. Getting closer every day, I want my morning BG's around 90. They are high 90's right now...yeah)