Fiber Menace

Hi,

I am relatively new here. I know I need to soften my stools because I have strained my whole life on the toilet, and really didn't think this was a problem until recently. I can remember being a toddler and straining and clogging the toilet. Now I am 46 and post-menopausal and it has caught up with me.

I read on here about Fiber Menace and decided to try it (I have read the book and have been doing it for ~3 weeks). I had a couple of questions, and thought someone here who uses this method might be able to help.

1) In one section he talks about just having a protein meal once a day. Was this advice just for people with indigestion (I think it was in that section), or is that a rule for everyone? If he is primarily advocating for a low carb, low fiber diet, I don't understand what you would eat your other two meals, but maybe that was specific to people on the other end of the spectrum from me.

2) I have always had a bowel movement close to every day (pre-Fiber Menace), but they were hard. I gave up my 2-3 Coke-a-day habit about a month ago, and clearly, the Coke had helped to move things along, because I just don't seem to have the urge anymore. I feel great besides the bowel issues, though. Sleeping better, more energy, no sniffling from allergies even though it's pollen season, etc. Fiber Menace says to use suppositories if you don't experience the urge and that eventually your body will (may) start to experience the urge. Did this work for anyone? I am afraid that the opposite could happen, that I won't be able to go without suppositories. I have been using them most mornings since doing Fiber Menace.

3) is it ok to have an occasional bowl of oatmeal? If I do half a serving, it's only a couple of grams of fiber and he said in one place that the goal should be no more than 10-15 grams per day. I have not been doing oatmeal, but today I gave in and had half a serving.

I have been attempting Fiber Menace for a couple of weeks now and I have had to do the Milk of Magnesia thing he recommends a couple of times because my stools are getting hard and small (as opposed to large and hard like they were pre-fiber menace). It takes 2-3 days of using MOM to get to the softer, lighter cooler stools that are I guess being evacuated from the small intestines. Maybe that is normal, though?

I really don't want to add caffeine back to my diet because I feel like I will be too tempted to start drinking Coke again (I worked really hard to get off the caffeine, and I have been through this cycle before of completely giving up Coke for a time only to have a bad day were I succumbed to the caffeine craving do me in for good). And its kind of the same thing with carbs. I feel like the years I have subjected my body to such high blood sugar make it really difficult for me to do well with a carb-heavy diet. (the other day I chaperoned my daughter's field trip and packed a lunch that was too small, and when I got home I was so ravenous I had 2 cookies and small amount of ice cream and then when I went to pick up my son, I almost lost consciousness from low blood sugar from the insulin rush. I have put a packet of Gu in my car, so I can remedy this if it ever happens again when I am driving).

Sorry for TMI.

Thanks in advance-
Kaia