how does fiber work to help both constipation AND diarrhea? how can it do both of those things?

Question

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

Answer 1

Let’s say you’re trying to plant a flower in two buckets. One bucket is full of dirty water. The fix would be to add a bunch of compost or nice soil to soak up the water. The other bucket is full of rocky clay. The fix would be to add a bunch of compost or nice soil to break up the rocky clay.