Low Residue Diet Example

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Premise

The following indications are for informational purposes EXCLUSIVELY and are not intended to replace the opinion of professionals such as a doctor, nutritionist or dietician, whose intervention is necessary for the prescription and composition of PERSONALIZED food therapies.

Low fiber diet - low residue diet

Dietary fiber is a group of soluble or insoluble plant polymers, which are NOT digestible for humans, yet it is an extremely important nutritional component as it performs the functions of:

• Increased post-meal satiety
• Regulation of intestinal peristalsis
• Maintenance of intestinal hygiene from toxic waste and maintenance of physiological bacterial flora
• Modulation / slowing of the absorption of fats and sugars
• Reduction of cholesterol absorption and bile reabsorption
• Reduction of insulin surge

There are temporary or permanent conditions that require a reduction of fiber in the diet to constitute a diet called low in fiber or low residue diet. As often happens, the needs of the various clinical cases are quite different from each other and, although they may be united by the need to reduce the fiber, sometimes they require very different secondary characteristics.
The low-fiber or low-residue diet should be applied in cases of:

• Irritable bowel syndrome (chronic diarrhea)
• Colitis (inflammatory, infectious, chemical, etc.)
• Intolerances and allergies (in a state of acute)
• Drug therapies (antibiotics)
• Intestinal radioactive therapy
• Intestinal resection (for cancer, Crohn's disease, or ulcerative colitis)
• Preparations for endoscopic investigations of the itestinal tract (e.g. colonoscopy)
• etc.

Other precautions or ancillary features of the low-fiber or low-residue diet can be:

• Absence of lactose and lactulose
• Absence of toxic molecules, even in small concentrations (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, acrolein, acrylamide etc.)
• Absence of spices (pepper, chilli, coriander, cumin, turmeric, curry, etc.)
• Use of not very violent cooking methods, which do not reach very high temperatures
• Choice of digestible foods
• Choice of easily chewable, seed-free foods

In summary, the low-fiber or low-residue diet consists in drastically reducing ALL foods containing good amounts of dietary fiber (vegetable); consequently, it would be a good idea to prefer refined ones, ie deprived of their fibrous component. Some examples of plant foods suitable for a low-fiber or low-residue diet are:

• Refined cereals, flours and white derivatives
• PASTE legumes with the vegetable pass (NOT smoothies)

In case the low residue diet has to be continued for a long time ...

• Peeled or squeezed or centrifuged fruits and vegetables
• Raw leafy vegetables (to reduce portions)
• etc.

Other precautions to follow when drafting a low-fiber or low-residue diet are:

• Drink a lot of water, to introduce the water portion normally taken with foods of plant origin and to optimize the fecal volume
• Reintegrate the fiber little by little, especially after any constipation
• Assess the relevance of using pre- and probiotic foods
• NEVER take HOT milk (due to the presence of lactulose, an osmotic component)
• etc.

NB: for the low-fiber or low-residue diet it is advisable NOT to eat foods that contain more than 1g of fiber per serving and to consult food labels to make sure that the ingredients or nutritional values ​​are suitable for the treatment.

Useful supplements in case of a low-fiber or low-residue diet

Food supplements useful in case of a low-fiber or low-residue diet are of different kinds; first of all it is advisable to use a good product containing minerals and vitamins, especially potassium, magnesium, vit. C, vit. K and B-carotene, which are deficient in a diet poor in fresh fruit and vegetables. On the other hand, it is not possible to establish the dosage since it essentially depends on individual needs, the composition of the diet and the time for which it is continued.
Secondly, if appropriate, it is possible to integrate with probiotics in order to preserve the integrity of the intestinal bacterial flora. With a low residue diet, the colon bacteria alter their composition favoring the development of putrescible strains to the detriment of the "good" ones; in this case, it is advisable to take at least one billion microorganisms per day (read the label of the specific product), strictly on an empty stomach and for about 3-4 weeks in total.

Example

• Child with frequent diarrhea likely infected with Norovirus; normally he does rowing 3 times a week.
  

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