I’ve heard people say, “if you’re constipated, you need more fiber in your diet.” and I’ve also heard people say, “if you’re having diarrhea, you need more fiber in your diet.” does fiber really help with both? and if so, how? I would think that fiber would help with diarrhea but make constipation worse. (TMI) >!but multiple times, eating fiber-heavy foods like flax seeds has caused diarrhea for me.!<
TLDR: how does fiber work to influence your bowel movements??
In: Biology
Your digestive system evolved to digest a relatively high fiber diet. Fiber is the neutral consistency that your intestines expect to pass through them so if you are having some sort of an imbalance that has to do with the actual content of your diet, adding fiber will bring it closer to its balancing point.
That having been said, there are many other reasons one might have diarrhea or constipation. Increasing your intake of fiber and water is a good first step toward correcting them but it won’t solve everything.
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