Does anyone know of a fiber supplement that does not give you immense gas? I was taking one with barley,oats,acacia gum,psyllium seed,and guar gum it is made by Amway. I bought it from a freind who said it was the best there was.When I take it my stomach hurts and bloats up major gas attacks.Thanks for any help on this.
I use a product called Dakota Flax Gold by Heintzman farms. I like this brand, because it tastes the best. If you do a web search, you’ll find them. One pound is only $6.00, two pounds will last you a month at a dosage of 20 grams of fiber daily (it also contains 20 grams of flax oil). I grind it up daily in a coffee grinder, you can store ground flax in jar in the fridge. You can also add to protein drinks in your blender.Always start off slow on adding fiber. Add 5 grams for a few days, then add 5 more (ten total) for a few days, until you get to 20-30 total fiber per day. 1/2 cup of dry oatmeal gives you 4 grams of fiber.
You may want to check if there’s any “active” ingredients in the mix. Sometimes, those multiple-fiber combinations include senna or other herbs, which produce intestinal contractions. Nowadays, fiber supplements have different uses, so 20g of this product may work differently than 20g of another.
I found that taking in fiber half-an-hour or an hour after meals (with alot of water) works better for me. I get no gas this way. If you’re just adding fiber to produce bulk (as opposed to lowering G.I.), you may want to take this route.
You may want to simply lower the dosage until your system acclimates to the additional fiber. I too recently starting taking fiber and the label said take 10 to 20 grams a day. Well, I followed the directions and spent the day getting a lot of reading done on the throne. I then started with a way smaller dose and worked my way up. It is probably not the brand or type of fiber you are using that is giving you problems but simply the amount.
These all sound like good ideas that can help. Just as a thought, have you tried bran? You can get it in bulk at most health food stores for less then $2.00/lb. I usually add 1 to 2 tablespoons to my morning MRP shake (the bran is completely flavorless), and I never have any problems tolerating it. The ingredients you decribe in the Amway product sound not only indigestible, which they should be, but also intolerable.
In this week’s issue, they talked about “Colon Cleanse” a pure psyllium husk supplement. I haven’t tried it, but you might want to check that one out. It’s in Chris Shugart’s article.
Colon Cleanse is pretty good. I mean, there’s not much to it – if you’re just interested in bulk, finding a pure psyllium product is all that’s needed. I like to use something called “hydrocil” because it’s ground much finer (making it easier to down.)