# Should I stop eating foods that don't digest?



## quarky (Jun 15, 2011)

I have IBS-D, which is under reasonably good control with mebeverine (3 times a day) and loperamide (half a pill a couple of times a week). I try to eat mostly soluble fiber/low-fiber foods.

Every time I eat vegetables (other than root vegetables) for dinner, the next morning I see undigested pieces of them in my stool. Stool is usually soft but mostly solid. So far, I've noticed this happening with mushrooms, beans (including green beans), peas, bell peppers, undercooked carrots, and leafy vegetables like spinach. Some of these vegetables also give me gas, so I try not to eat them too often for that reason, but others (like mushrooms) don't cause unpleasant symptoms - they just don't seem to break down at all during the 12-14 hours they spend inside me.

I'm just wondering whether there is any point in me eating vegetables if my body isn't going to bother digesting them? I'm much happier with the firmer stools I get when I stick to just eating starches, bananas, root veg and white meat/fish, but cutting out vegetables seems to go against everything I've ever read about healthy eating. But if the vegetables are coming out in exactly the same state as they started in, am I even getting any nutrition from them anyway?


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

The tough parts of veggies no one breaks down the tough part. They always have come out the way they went down. Just with soft stools and more attention we notice it.

If you want to see less of them in the stool you need to chew more. You still dissolve the nutrients out of the cells, but the tough structure must be ground up and the only part of the GI tract that does that is the teeth.

Now the veggies that give you gas may be something you want to avoid, but it isn't the tough structure but the undigestible carbs leaking out that cause the gas. You could check the low fodmap diet info and see if there are some veggies that you can eat that are less likely to cause gas.


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## rmiller1985 (Sep 13, 2011)

Hi quarky,

I agree with Kathleen, breaking them down is the key. You might try making a veggie smoothie out of some of the ones you notice the most, and see if that resolves or at least partially resolves the problem.

Also, realize that although you see undigested bits, you don't see whole vegetables (which is good, because that would be painful!). So you are getting some nutrition from them, even if you see bits later.

Cheers,

Rich

Lifetime wonky gut

3 months SCD

http://omnivoreoncemore.blogspot.com


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## zane21 (Jun 24, 2013)

I have been LOW fodmap since June 18th...and the ONLY veggies that I can tolerate are zucchini and tomatoes....everything thing else is a disaster. Its frustrating to have such limited choices BUT it sure beats feeling crappy.


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