Fiber queston

I don't know if you're a skirt steak lover, but I made skirt steak the other night and it was amazing. It's my favorite cut of cow.

It was super simple - you make a paste in a mini processor with "6" cloves of garlic (I used around 12), 1/4 cup kosher salt, and 1 tablespoon pepper. Then you massage that into about 4 pounds of skirt steak and let it sit for 30 minutes.

Then cook. I used a super hot skillet and some olive oil, 3-4 minutes per side and then cut against the grain. I'm sure it would work well grilled too. Lots of rave reviews from the guys and skirt steak is so easy on my stomach!

Add fat to your diet. It will "grease" the pipes.

In addition, not drinking enough fluids is the main cause of constipation. 64 ounces of fluid daily is the minimum we should be drinking. I have to drink 120 ounces daily to keep things moving. I also added magnesium to my vitamin list. I take 500 mg in the morning and 500 mg before bed. I have had zero problems since I almost doubled my fluid intake and started the magnesium.

Oh yes, I also put 1/2 teaspoon of magnesium citrate powder in my morning shake. Although I'm thinking about cutting that out for a week or two to see what happens - I feel like I started adding it to address edema and I'm wondering if that's still an issue for me.

And yay for fat and liquid! :D

How does that taste?

If it has a taste, I'm not aware of it? So either the taste of my protein shake masks it or it has no taste. I'm not sure.

Holy cow! It's all I can manage to get the 74 ounces in. My biggest issue is no liquids taste very good to me, including water, so everything is forced. I miss the days when I drank something and it really tasted good and was easy. I keep hoping my tastes will revert back to normal someday soon.

Play around with different flavorings and temperatures. Warm tea, Mio, etc.

Oh, believe me, I have. Tried Mio, all kinds of other brands, many different kinds of SF drink mixes, hot tea, cold tea, all kinds of coffees, SF juices. I'd almost given up hope until I tried the Diet Lipton Green Tea w/Citrus. I used to drink it all the time years ago, but hadn't for a long time. It's the only thing that I can drink in large quantities besides water.

I still drink a cup of coffee every day, because my head won't let me NOT drink it lol. I don't enjoy it nearly like I used to, but it's not as bad as some of the other things I've tried since surgery. At least it's warm.

I've accepted that it might be months before anything else tastes good to me, and I still go back and try things again now and then...but still no luck. I hope it doesn't last forever, but if it does, oh well...

I just put two tablespoons of Benefiber in my shake each morning and don't worry about fiber otherwise. I also add Miralax to my shake.

I definitely avoid processed/refined carb sources, so I wouldn't be eating cereal. I understand the logic behind net vs. total carbs, but I don't think it's useful to track net carbs for me.

So, for me, to stay regular I do 2T of Benefiber in my morning shake and 1/2-1 dose of Miralax depending on my morning bowel status and how long I'll be at home before running out the door.

I take magnesium everyday. It makes everything move! I get very little fiber. But no problems here!