There is also other things like brominated flour which is illegal in brazil, the eu, india and canada but not the USA

California banned potassium brominate as a food additive last year, but it doesn’t go into effect until 2027.

The FDA finally banned brominated vegetable oil very recently so maybe they’ll get to the rest of it too. Assuming they can make rules anymore, anyway.

> after years of not eating anything with fiber,

You mean they avoided vegetables entirely?

My doctor told me after an intestinal surgery that I would never be able to eat vegetables again.

Yes, there is a whole subsection of the internet that seems to think that vegetables are a net negative. They site doctors that suggest that fiber causes irritation in individuals with compromised intestines (leaky gut syndrome, etc.). It's exhausting having conversations with them as a vegetarian as they seem to think the only healthy way to eat is bone broth, butter, mct oil, and meat.

it’s probably _a_ way. The Saami live like this, with some berries for vit c.

I wouldn’t want to do it though!

It’s common for someone in a flare of an IBD to be unable to eat vegetables without irritation. You should seek to understand the root cause of an individual’s experience instead of invalidating their experience due to your own.

If they become healthier then they should be able to increase vegetable intake which will further increase their health.

Hmmm...I recently had my gut biome die off but could not identify any suspects. I bake a lot.

The most noteable thing about the whole experience was how amazing my bowel functions are after having to restore the gut biome. They are functioning far better than the many years before I experienced the die off. I used pills from Amazon that had good reviews (Physicians Choice) with a strict raw vegetable diet, and they definitely worked. I noticed another uptick in bowel function after taking some pills my wife purchased that had more strains. You can't just eat yogurt and dust off your hands.

Just writing to add my similar experience. L. reuteri strain has been particularly helpful to me.

Happened with my "gluten-free" wife, too. No issue with legit sourdough.

What's the difference between food and foodstuff?

A foodstuff is a staple or “raw material”, like an input. Flour is a foodstuff. It is also food. However a hamburger is not a foodstuff.

I was struggling with digestive issues from about 2019 after a severe work burnout (I think triggered by sleeping with a belly full of casein powder and also don't eat gas station sushi) but finally got to the bottom of them only this year. The solution was holistic, but basically my body's inflammation was so high from stress that my gut couldn't handle a piece of bread or a cup of milk, much less beans or nightshades.

Specifically I have sleeps apnea, my cortisol was 1.5 times the max upper range, my thyroid wasn't getting signals from my brain, I had adrenal fatigue, my B12 levels were low (the liver stores 3 years worth of B12, that's why vegetarians often crash the third year), my D3 was low, my BMI was way too high so aromatase was turning my T to estrogen, basically my levels were all off. My nurse gave me some prescriptions and a supplement cocktail and I found relief within just a few days. My joint pain went away, my patchy hair filled in after a couple of months, no more brain fog, etc. If IBS is a spectrum, then my experience has been that it is curable even if it's been going on for 5 years or more, although Crohn's disease probably has immune system markers that require specific treatments.

Now my digestive issues are in remission and I can eat everything I did before (edit: including gluten), although spicy food maybe overstimulates my peristalsis. So that's just the onset of oldtimers disease I guess.

For some level of immediate relief, try eating mainly big looseleaf salads for a few days, drink kefir, and drink a scoop of organic turmeric powder to calm the inflammation, all daily. I also found 2-4 psyllium husk capsules and a large glass of water daily to be highly beneficial, but watch for flares since there are different types of IBS. And stop all multitasking (edit: choose the path of least anxiety), add slack to your schedule, make 20 minutes per day to meditate, and stop believing that you are stuck and this will last forever. I believe that night terrors and bodily symptoms are our subconscious trying to get our attention so that we do the healing work to address the pain of our isolation and suffering.