Review of Fiber menace that gives better details about what to feed....

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Fiber Menace

By Konstantin Monastyrsky

Ageless Press

Reviewed by e Pirtle

The striking cover photo of Fiber Menace--a cereal bowl filled with

brass hardware screws--primes the reader for its startling message:

the USDA-endorsed high-fiber diet creates disastrous effects for the

digestive system.

Fiber Menace describes major health problems that can develop from

eating what's considered a modern healthy diet high in fiber from

grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes and even fiber supplements. The

author details how high-fiber diets produce large stools which

stretch the intestinal tract beyond its normal range--eventually

resulting in intestinal damage--and a drastic upset of the natural

bacterial flora of the gut. The end results manifest as hernias,

hemorrhoidal disease, constipation, malnourishment, irritable bowel

syndrome and Crohn's disease. He also provides numerous medical

references to show that high-fiber diets do not confer the benefits

claimed for them.

The author of this book is a brilliant professional man who suffered

a life-threatening illness from years as a vegetarian living on high-

fiber foods. Konstantin Monastyrsky was trained as a pharmacologist,

but after immigrating to the US from the Ukraine, pursued a career in

high technology. He worked in two premier Wall Street firms: as a

senior systems analyst at First Boston Corporation and as a

consultant at Goldman-Sachs & Co. He has also written two best-

selling books in Russian: Functional Nutrition: The Foundation of

Absolute Health and Longevity, and Disorders of Carbohydrate

Metabolism.

Monastyrsky explains that human teeth are fashioned to chop flesh and

that our digestive system is built to handle mainly protein

digestion, with only small amounts of fiber. When we eat too much

fiber, digestion lasts longer and fermentation occurs, endangering

the bacterial flora and causing problems such as bloating, flatulence

and enlarged stools, leading to constipation or diarrhea, IBS and

diverticular disease.

One fascinating chapter of Monastyrsky's book details the problems of

drinking too much water. Drinking the currently recommended eight

glasses of water a day may cause problems such as mineral depletion

and imbalances, which can contribute to digestive disorders, kidney

disease, degenerative bone disease, muscular disorders and even

cardiac arrest from electrical dysfunction. Paradoxically,

overconsumption of water may also cause constipation. When too much

water is added to a high-fiber diet, the fibrous foods swell and

ferment in the intestinal tract, leading to gas, bloating and other

uncomfortable effects.

Traditional peoples did not drink large quantities of water. Instead,

they stayed hydrated with milk, fermented beverages and bone broth

soups, which contribute abundant nutrient qualities and do not upset

the body's homeostasis. Plus, traditional peoples consumed plenty of

fat, which renders much more water during metabolism than proteins or

carbohydrates.

I was very interested in this author's perspective as I also suffered

a life-threatening digestive illness and recovered through eating a

nutrient-dense diet, which happens to be a low-fiber diet. For years,

I ate lots of fruits and vegetables--mostly raw--and ate tons of

grains and faithfully drank eight glasses of water daily. I ate some

meat and dairy but avoided fat--and definitely no butter! I developed

severe intestinal damage from undiagnosed celiac disease and a hiatal

hernia.

The material presented in Fiber Menace makes me wonder whether my

digestive disorders--which led to intestinal damage and severe

malnutrition--may have been caused by all the fiber I was eating,

rather than gluten intolerance.

For those who worry about getting enough nutrients without eating raw

vegetables and fruits, the author reminds us that nutrient-dense

animal foods contain concentrated nutrients because the animals spend

their whole lives chowing down literally tons of fresh green grass

and other plant matter. The result is meat and fat containing all the

vitamins and minerals found in fresh produce, not only in more

concentrated form, but also one that is easy for us to digest.

Fiber Menace gets a Thumbs Up, but the book is not without flaws. The

book becomes repetitive in the later chapters in the descriptions of

various diseases caused by eating the way the doctors tell us to. And

Monastyrsky's audience would have been better served with a concise

presentation of what to eat. He is firmly in the WAPF camp,

recommending butter and small amounts of cod liver oil, but in this

book he fails to emphasize the healing effects of bone broths,

fermented foods, medium-chain fatty acids and liberal amounts of the

fat-soluble activators A and D. (His book in Russian, Functional

Nutrition, does emphasize these foods, and Monastyrsky tells us that

he will be translating these sections into English and posting them

at his website fibermenace.com.)

The author does warn his readers not to eat anything that your great,

great, great, great grandparents wouldn't eat . . . but our forebears

did include high-fiber foods like grains, legumes, fruits and

vegetables in their diets. They could do this without ill effects

because they knew how to prepare these foods by soaking and sour

leavening or, in the case of vegetables and even many fruits, by

cooking, and because they did not weaken the mucosal tissue by

following a low-fat vegetarian diet.

Monastyrsky warns readers of problems when switching to a low-fiber

diet. It is important to gradually cut down on high-fiber foods and

make sure you are getting adequate fats and foods that build the

intestinal flora. As stools are smaller, the urge to eliminate will

be less pronounced, so it is very important to pay attention to

the " urge " signal; otherwise stools may harden and cause

constipation. Interestingly, he points out that a healthy stool is

easy to pass, rather small in diameter and is mostly composed of

bacteria leaving the body rather than protein residue--the human

digestive tract is designed to digest proteins completely. He

stresses the fact that it is not necessary to consume fiber to have

regular stools as we have been led to believe. Some of the healthiest

cultures had very little fiber in their diets.

Dr. , DC, CCSP, DIBCN, who lectures with me on building

health through traditional nutrient-dense foods notes that, " My

training as a physician included many hours of nutrition, but fiber

was only mentioned in regards to the effects of a deficiency. Never

once did any of my professors consider the possibility that too much

of what has always been considered a `good thing' could have such

harmful or far-reaching consequences. The author's detailed

description of the trauma imposed to the gastrointestinal mucosa by

the expanding fiber is a vivid reminder that returning to the basics

of GI function and logically thinking through what our bodies

actually are designed to do with the food we eat, should be the first

step on anyone's journey to recovery from digestive disorders. Thanks

to the insights in this book I have slowly begun to change my

approach to common patient symptoms, which I traditionally would have

treated by suggesting increased fiber and more water to correct! So

far the results are promising. "

Many thanks to Konstantin Monastyrsky for writing this important book.