Fiber intake

When I went vegan 7 years ago, the difference in ease of digestion was truly dramatic. Before that, I tended toward a sluggish system. Simply put-- the more whole plant foods in your diet the better! My diet consists of fruits, vegetables, beans/legumes (including organic/non-GMO soy foods like tofu, tempeh), nuts/seeds and a limited amount of whole grains. I severely limit any added sugars and virtually all processed grains. (I do eat up to 4 prunes per day just to be safe. I don't get sugar elsewhere so I don't much worry about it in dried fruit). I try to eat grains mostly in the form of brown rice, quinoa and maybe the occasional piece of bread or tortilla. Starting your day with a green smoothie can really benefit your morning digestion. In mine, I add: a dark leafy green, frozen banana, celery, avocado, orange, blueberries, pineapple, and a little bit of pea protein powder and hemp seeds. Did you know that dairy can be constipating? Right now I'm dealing with what I believe to be a cystocele and rectocele (after having my baby 11 months ago) and I do believe my optimal diet and ease of elimination has been a big big help. Good luck to you!

I really don't think it is as much about fiber as it is about getting our bowels back to a healthier place. Most of us have been eating the Standard American Diet full of sugar and processed foods, taken way too many antibiotics, and really don't have a good understanding how posture and the whole woman work can also help the digestive system, realigning our organs into a more functional position.

Getting some fermented foods into the diet and cutting out the junk is really a great start, and not drastic at all. I personally took baby steps with my diet, taking out what didn't work and adding in what did.
It's really a personal journey for us all.

I love Christine's post about Original Health on this thread:

https://www.wholewoman.com/forum/node/6835

The short answer is I don't monitor my protein grams. As I went vegan, I initially did extensive reading on vegan nutrition. I quickly learned that protein really isn't an issue as long as you get enough calories. Every plant food has protein (of course some more than others.) If you eat a balanced diet of a wide variety of plants, you rarely have any problem getting enough. For example, broccoli is 33% protein by calorie, carrot is 8%, quinoa is 14%, cantaloupe is 9%. We really only need something like 10-12% of our calories from protein. Of course, if you're the type of vegan who eats nothing but potato chips and oreos then you've got other problems than finding enough protein! I actually don't know any of those, anyway. In my 7 years I've felt great eating this way and I've always been very active physically (i.e. mountain biking up steep-ish trails all day on a Saturday, etc). My typical breakfast is a green smoothie, lunch includes something legume based (lentil soup or hummus, etc) and dinner will again contain a legume (pinto beans with rice in a big Mexican salad, etc). I snack on fruit and nuts here and there during the day. I eat lots of assorted veggies. I do enjoy some tofu or tempeh weekly. I make my own cashew rice milk and I combine that with some soy milk for my daily latte (i.e. a hug in a mug). Keep in mind that I really don't eat a ton..I only weigh about 103 lbs. But I'm consuming plenty of calories. My baby was conceived, grown and born vegan! He's a thriving 11 month old. Thanks so much for the question. I love talking about food!

I have noticed even with a plant based diet, there are differences in what some need more of than others. I eat very much like you do, first time mama, but I also cook for my husband who seems to have different dietary needs. We both benefited greatly from cutting out the dairy, but we have to tweak things to get what we each need. I know protien is in everything, and I have been fine on the sources we have been eating, but he needed a little more, so the addition of a little more tempeh, tofu, and beans more often helped him tremendously, and he needs a lot more of the sourdough bread than I do which I make weekly.
We have been adjusting well with only a few hiccups over the last two years, but it really does take some research and dedication to get there.

What a very natural type MD told me about flax seeds is to soak them overnight so that they are slippery. That makes them mucilaginous going in and also going out when you add them into soups or on top of foods. WHen added this way, you just swallow them.
Otherwise they will require more liquid in the diet if they are ground up into a powder or meal. They could in fact be constipating. But they have the nutrient content of the Omega 3 oils which are very good when you consume them ground up. I would soak the ground up seeds in liquid first and then consume them so that they already have absorbed their liquid and won't take it from your digestive system. I have stopped using it for a while until I understand this better myself for my mom who's bowel movements have become sluggish. She was a vegetarian vegan for almost 15 years and now has Alzheimers so I do not recommend this for anyone as it ruined her brain to become so strict and fear fat, meat and dairy. Her diet was 100% Mediterranean but she stopped eating eggs, meat, dairy. Never had liver or organ meat either. The most potent essential nutrients are found in just a few bites of organ meat once in a while. It takes a few years to see the effects of a deficiency of being so strict avoiding foods. I don't wish this on anyone.
The Natural Hygiene Society has posted a warning on their website a few years ago of the dangers of strict vegan-ism. The brain deficiencies are irreversible in many cases. Even the vegetarian Indians eat butter or ghee. And their great great grandparents were not vegetarians. it takes a few generations of deficiencies to create a birth defect and then deformities.

Of course, I disagree with you on this, because you can find just as many studies that oppose this theory as support it.
Just are a few of articles I found:

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/article/feed-your-brain/

http://www.pcrm.org/health/health-topics/diet-and-alzheimers-disease

http://www.vegnews.net/alzheimer’s-disease-do-vegetarian-diets-increase-risk-of-dementia/

I also watched a video of a 95 year old vegan cardiologist who only just retired from his work, and was still very with it and spry. We could go round and round disagreeing with each other over dietary choices, and cause and effect, but I don't think it is as simple as blaming a particular diet when there are so many other factors that come into play here. I do think we can all agree that sugar and processed foods have been more the culprit in modern society than anything else.

I appreciate your input and will look into those articles because caring to get answers is better than not caring...... But what did the mother of the 95 year old cardiologist eat when she was a child? How long did her micro-biota last to conceive and produce such a strong virile human being that lived so long on a vegan diet his whole life? or did he only begin to eat vegan his last 30 years?
I see 98 year olds smoking like chimneys... but when did they start and did they have quick tissue repairing nutrients in their diets?
Maybe the cardiologists mother ate biscuits made with the left over bacon grease pan drippings. The human race at stuff like that... I have a book called Man Eating Bugs.. it is humbling i have to say..
I Just don't have a food religion any-more.
I am suspicious of all of it. There are 100 year olds that ate bacon and eggs and biscuits but they would stop eating their meal before they got full and walked 1 mile a day to the diner...
My moms body is way to alkaline it seems because there are conditions she has which point to that. But once again... I can't say for certain.
But I agree that it is a conundrum to know how to eat nowadays...
I am going to look into those articles tho... And I actually do already and have even read how to get into ketosis on a vegan diet......because I always have to know all sides.... I would reverse and go back to being vegan in a heartbeat if that was the plan of human kind. After all these years.. I have my doubts and am ready to go hog hunting if i was a sharp shooter of poisoned arrows that causes the hog no pain and instead a euphoria and i wasn't a chicken...... ;)

Yes, a conundrum it certainly is. I have even read accounts of people who were raised vegan from birth, and are perfectly healthy also. I think we could all come up with accounts to support our position. There are so many environmental factors that come into play also, and stripping of nutrients from the soil itself. I have read some scary articles about that. I wouldn't doubt that food in general was a whole lot healthier in the past than it is now, no matter what you do.

No one understands how the French do it, except that they don't eat between meals, their meals are small, and generally last 2 hours!

It's great to do research, but do lots of it, and then decide what is best for you in the end.
Best wishes to you and your mom. Hope she is doing well.