My name is Kenny Honnas and I've been able to achieve an almost unprecedented level of
health and dietary freedom after being diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis.
I've been able to do this by purposefully optimizing the gut microbiome.
And a big part of optimizing the gut microbiome is soluble fiber intake.
Dietary fiber has recently become a hot topic of debate within circles of people with a
range of digestive illnesses, but especially inflammatory bowel disease.
Some think that dietary fiber only exacerbates and further damages the intestines, while
others think it's necessary for optimal digestion.
I think there is truth on both sides, and here is why.
There are two main types of fiber found in whole food plant based sources.
Insoluble fiber, meaning it does not dissolve in water, and soluble fiber meaning it does
dissolve in water.
Both types of fiber are indigestible.
But there is a key difference.
Soluble fiber, while not technically digested, is fermented and broken down by probiotic
microorganisms in the gut microbiome into short chain fatty acids that are used to modulate
physiological functions of the host.
The two most well known functions of these short chain fatty acids are inhibiting inflammation
of intestinal epithelial cells, while also increasing the number of intestinal epithelial
cells at the same time.
So they literally stop inflammation and increase the number of intestinal epithelial cells,
which basically means repairing the gut lining.
As far as I know, Ulcerative Colitis is just damaged and inflamed intestinal epithelial
cells.
So a quick recap.
Soluble fiber is a prebiotic that is fermented and broken down by probiotic bacteria in the
gut microbiome into short chain fatty acids that inhibit inflammation and repair the intestinal
lining.
That sounds to me like a functioning optimized gut microbiome is able to reverse and prevent
Ulcerative Colitis.
On the flip side, insoluble fiber is not fermented by probiotic bacteria.
So it does not provide short chain fatty acids that inhibit inflammation or repair the intestinal
lining.
Insoluble fiber does not form a gel when chewed or blended, and can irritate an inflamed and
ulcerated colon.
So is insoluble fiber bad?
Not necessarily.
I think about fiber in terms of three columns: soluble fiber, insoluble fiber, and roughage.
We know from the literature that soluble fiber is integral for optimizing the gut microbiome
and repairing the intestinal lining.
So that is something I make sure to consume.
However, whole food plant based sources of soluble fiber, like fruits and tubers, always
come packaged with insoluble fiber as well.
Soluble fiber cannot be consumed from whole food sources without consuming insoluble fiber
with it.
They go hand in hand.
Now when fruits and tubers are blended up, the form a thick gel like mixture because
of the soluble fiber content.
Think of applesauce and mashed potatoes.
But roughage is different.
Roughage is made up almost entirely of insoluble fiber, with little to no
soluble fiber whatsoever.
Roughage typically comes in the form of leafy greens like spinach, cabbage, and kale.
But those are not the only sources.
When leafy greens are blended they do not form a gelatinous mixture the way that fruits and tubers do because
there is no soluble fiber in them.
Consuming roughage while sick with IBD can wreak havoc on the already sore and ulcerated gut lining.
Since roughage is only insoluble fiber, it is completely indigestible, it increases stool transit time,
and does not form any type of soothing gelatinous mixture.
Instead, it's shard like bits of fiber that can poke, scrape, or get caught on the
wounds inside the intestines.
Causing urgency to increase and other symptoms to worsen.
Which is why I avoided roughage while healing.
But I made sure to consume foods that contained prebiotic soluble fiber in them.
I did this because of the gut microbiome optimizing properties that soluble fiber contains.
Regardless of the fact that these foods also contained insoluble fiber.
The mixture of soluble fiber and insoluble fiber is not the problem.
It's insoluble fiber by itself, which is roughage, that is the problem.
The mixture of soluble and insoluble from fruits and tubers does form a
gelatinous soothing mixture, unlike roughage.
However, even though fruits and tubers solubilize into a gel because of the soluble fiber
they may cause some irritation in the beginning since they contain insoluble fiber as well.
But, as the gut microbiome is optimized through the intake of probiotic and prebiotic foods,
the gut lining should begin to heal
and that irritation should fade more and more until it's nonexistent.
Again, the gut lining should heal over time from the fatty acids produced via probiotic microorganisms
breaking down prebiotic soluble fiber.
That's why optimizing the gut microbiome is the key to the whole healing process.
Once the gut microbiome is functioning optimally,
it can break down prebiotic soluble fiber into the necessary short chain fatty acids
to reduce inflammation and increase the number of intestinal epithelial cells.
This was able to reverse Ulcerative Colitis in my specific case,
but I think this is a duplicable process for others with Ulcerative Colitis
and other forms of inflammatory bowel disease.