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I have eaten a zero-fiber diet for over a year (I ate 0 calories from any plant-based food source for all of 2021 -- beef, eggs, fish, and dairy was all I ate).

I have eaten a zero-fiber diet for over a year (I ate 0 calories from any plant-based food source for all of 2021 -- beef, eggs, fish, and dairy was all I ate). The one indisputable effect of a zero fiber diet is less frequent, smaller, and much "easier" bowel movements. The idea that not having fiber in your diet leads to constipation can be completely disproven by anyone who is willing to try eating a zero-fiber diet for a few weeks.

jononomo 5y ago
The more I think about it, the more annoyed I get at this completely unsupported assumption, taken as OBVIOUS, that eating only meat leads to constipation. Not only does eating only meat lead to the smoothest bowel movements you've ever experienced, but it also dramatically improves musculature, skin & hair, mood, sleep, and overall physical fitness. Incidentally, it is impossible to get diabetes on a meat-only diet. In fact, we evolved on a meat-only diet for hundreds of thousands of years (with a berry here and there).
- IntrepidWorm 5y ago
  Calling it a berry here or there seems to be downplaying ancient hominid diets. We lost the ability to produce our own vitamin C quite early on due to our subsistance on fruits, nuts, and vegetables foraged from the surrounding land. Hunting is a high-stakes calorie game, which foraging supports.
  - samatman 5y ago
    Anyone eating a diet mainly of meat they have hunted will have more than enough vitamins from the meat. Particularly the organs, particularly the liver. The entire old-world primate order lost vitamin C synthesis, and that common ancestor was arboreal and a foot tall. Our genus has primarily subsisted on hunted meat for the entire period between adopting bipedalism and getting forced into growing crops (if you like this stuff, Against The Grain is a great read).
thwayunion 5y ago
You also, presumably, have ready access to limitless quantities of water, a mild exercise routine, and don't go prolonged periods on an extremely high sodium diet. The root cause of constipation during an epic is almost always a prolonged period of mild to moderate dehydration. This can be caused by a lack of sufficient water, excessive exertion, excessive heat, excessive sodium intake, or most often all three in combination. People often become very dehydrated on long epics even in places with limitless water, eg rivers or snow-covered mountains. This is especially true in colder weather. I have rendered aid to dehydrated parties on snow-covered backpacking routes much more often than eg on the side of walls or in deserts. In the latter situations you know that water is precious and your body wants to hydrate. In the cold the mind doesn't want to hydrate and water doesn't seem so precious. Fiber always helps with constipation when your body is trying to preserve water because fiber pulls water into your digestive tract -- water which would otherwise be distributed in other ways by your body. If you are sufficiently hydrated then fiber often isn't necessary for healthy digestion. Do you ever go weeks at a time on 4000 calories of beef bouillon and horse jerky, a gallon or less of water, and 8 hours of mild to heavy exertion? When you do eat fresh meat, do you eat 9 pounds of steak each day? If not, then your definition of "meat-heavy diet" isn't the same as the L&C definition of "meat-heavy diet". If you ever find yourself in adverse conditions for prolonged periods -- in the alpine, high desert, or a big wall -- I highly recommend incorporating fiber into your rations. Particularly in the desert or on a wall, where staying hydrated is difficult because water is heavy.

jononomo 5y ago

The more I think about it, the more annoyed I get at this completely unsupported assumption, taken as OBVIOUS, that eating only meat leads to constipation. Not only does eating only meat lead to the smoothest bowel movements you've ever experienced, but it also dramatically improves musculature, skin & hair, mood, sleep, and overall physical fitness. Incidentally, it is impossible to get diabetes on a meat-only diet. In fact, we evolved on a meat-only diet for hundreds of thousands of years (with a berry here and there).

IntrepidWorm 5y ago
Calling it a berry here or there seems to be downplaying ancient hominid diets. We lost the ability to produce our own vitamin C quite early on due to our subsistance on fruits, nuts, and vegetables foraged from the surrounding land. Hunting is a high-stakes calorie game, which foraging supports.
- samatman 5y ago
  Anyone eating a diet mainly of meat they have hunted will have more than enough vitamins from the meat. Particularly the organs, particularly the liver. The entire old-world primate order lost vitamin C synthesis, and that common ancestor was arboreal and a foot tall. Our genus has primarily subsisted on hunted meat for the entire period between adopting bipedalism and getting forced into growing crops (if you like this stuff, Against The Grain is a great read).

thwayunion 5y ago

You also, presumably, have ready access to limitless quantities of water, a mild exercise routine, and don't go prolonged periods on an extremely high sodium diet. The root cause of constipation during an epic is almost always a prolonged period of mild to moderate dehydration. This can be caused by a lack of sufficient water, excessive exertion, excessive heat, excessive sodium intake, or most often all three in combination. People often become very dehydrated on long epics even in places with limitless water, eg rivers or snow-covered mountains. This is especially true in colder weather. I have rendered aid to dehydrated parties on snow-covered backpacking routes much more often than eg on the side of walls or in deserts. In the latter situations you know that water is precious and your body wants to hydrate. In the cold the mind doesn't want to hydrate and water doesn't seem so precious. Fiber always helps with constipation when your body is trying to preserve water because fiber pulls water into your digestive tract -- water which would otherwise be distributed in other ways by your body. If you are sufficiently hydrated then fiber often isn't necessary for healthy digestion. Do you ever go weeks at a time on 4000 calories of beef bouillon and horse jerky, a gallon or less of water, and 8 hours of mild to heavy exertion? When you do eat fresh meat, do you eat 9 pounds of steak each day? If not, then your definition of "meat-heavy diet" isn't the same as the L&C definition of "meat-heavy diet". If you ever find yourself in adverse conditions for prolonged periods -- in the alpine, high desert, or a big wall -- I highly recommend incorporating fiber into your rations. Particularly in the desert or on a wall, where staying hydrated is difficult because water is heavy.