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BTD Forums / SWAMI Xpress / Psyllium- harmless laxative or not?
Posted by: Jenny, Saturday, July 21, 2012, 4:21am
I was asking questions about this back in May 2012 on another thread, but had not made an important connection until today when I was doing my occasional check of all my Avoids to see if anything unwanted has crept into my diet. I find that a particular fruit, plantain, has always been on my avoid list, but because I am unfamiliar with it I had taken little interest. However, I now discover that psyllium is made from plantain: I will give you the dictionary definition of psyllium:" a plantain whose flealike seeds are used as a laxative". So in a nutshell, or bananaskin if you like, psyllium is an absolute no no for me as an A type, swamied Warrior. Bingo. :K)
Posted by: Possum, Saturday, July 21, 2012, 4:41am; Reply: 1
Good you connected the dots... ;)
Posted by: shells, Saturday, July 21, 2012, 5:15am; Reply: 2
I don't need to connect the dots.....ouch! ;)
Posted by: Conor, Saturday, July 21, 2012, 1:43pm; Reply: 3
However, I now discover that psyllium is made from plantain . . .
Hi Jenny, psyllium husk is from the genus
Plantago, which includes approximately 200 species of small plants commonly called plantains. Confusingly enough, they [plantains] share this common name with the banana-like plantain fruit that is produced by a herbaceous plant in the genus
Musa. Nonetheless, plantains from which psyllium husks are derived and the plant on which the "banana plantain" (aka kochbanane) grows are totally unrelated to each other aside from the fact that they're all in the plant kingdom. It probably doesn't help matters that, just as many fruit trees have common names of the fruit they bear, the fruited plantian shares its name with an entire separate plant family (
i.e., Plantaginaceae Juss.).
Posted by: Damon, Saturday, July 21, 2012, 2:43pm; Reply: 4
Still, psyllium is a rather hard/sharp fiber which is thought to be able to damage the intestinal wall. In that sense softer fibers like rice bran or oat bran are better choices.
Posted by: NewHampshireGirl, Saturday, July 21, 2012, 3:08pm; Reply: 5
Interesting since I do take psyllium every day with lots of water. (think)(book2)(whistle)
Posted by: Damon, Saturday, July 21, 2012, 3:32pm; Reply: 6
In my opinion supplementing fiber is a bit overrated.
Yes the average American likely benefits from supplementing fiber, but we are far from the average American. All of us health conscious people likely do ingest more than enough of it via our diet.
I don't know what your stools are like, but if they're hard that would be a decent sign to maybe cut back on the psyllium ;)
Posted by: policychecker, Saturday, July 21, 2012, 3:50pm; Reply: 7
Fiber of this sort is not good for anyone. Perhaps you should read the book "fibre menace"
regular fruit and veg is sufficient for fibre needs normally.
Posted by: Andrea AWsec, Saturday, July 21, 2012, 4:00pm; Reply: 8
It can cause melanosis coli.
Posted by: Victoria, Saturday, July 21, 2012, 5:32pm; Reply: 9
I'd rather stick with fiber that is from the food I eat. My favorite for my own type is ground chia seeds and ground golden flaxseeds. Delicious in my morning smoothie, adds protein, Omega 3 fatty acids and thick creaminess to the blender drink.
Posted by: yvonneb, Saturday, July 21, 2012, 10:38pm; Reply: 10
My favorite for my own type is ground chia seeds and ground golden flaxseeds.
Mmmm- my new bestest food friend: ground flax seed 'bread' (foccacia)
Flax seed is great, speeds 'things' up or slows them down- whatever is needed ;)
Posted by: Jenny, Sunday, July 22, 2012, 12:10am; Reply: 11
Thanks for your insights Conor. So now I would be requesting that psyllium be tested and reported on future TYPEbase lists so that we don't have to make false assumptions such as mine. thanks
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