I used to consume oat bran regularly, but I have stopped. I read that oat bran is one of the highest phytate foods, and probably gets things going by irritating the heck out of your gut lining. Personally, I avoid it just for that reason.

If you do like it, and it doesn't cause IBS symptoms for you, I would recommend at the very least lacto-ferment it overnight before consuming it.

Have you tried magnesium? I know I've taken a little too much magnesium at once if things get, uh, a little urgent in the bathroom department.

If you are doing a lower carb version of paleo are you getting enough fat? If my ratio of muscle meat to fat is too high I get a little backed up sometimes.

And....I don't even begin to claim I understand how it works yet (just started researching), but I've been reading that the vagus nerve is connected to bowel and digestive function, and anything you can do to support your nervous system can be helpful.

They suggest that just because oat bran contains more fiber than any other grain. But when you have constipation (or diarrhea), while fiber helps, it's not the main ingredient that fixes the gut. Fermented foods (e.g. sauerkraut, home-made lactose-free probiotic goat yoghurt), offal, raw & unfiltered local honey, multi-probiotic (e.g. iFlora), are more effective, as it's magnesium.

So, don't go the grain route to get fiber, which is only one of the multitude of reasons of a healthy gut. If you must have fiber, simply eat veggies & fruits (e.g. avocados have lots of fiber too).

You should look into GAPS or the specific-carbohydrate diet. They're designed to fix digestive problems. The main feature is cutting out all diasaccharides, and olgi/ply-saccharides, and only getting carbohydrates from monosaccharides, eg honey, ripe fruit, veggies, nuts and seeds. So not tubers, unripe fruits, lactose, etc.

I used to use oatmeal, not just oat bran to help with that problem. Now everything is working out fine without it!

Someone I know who had the same problem now uses:

Morning Glory Poop Smoothy

1 Persimmon 1 Tomato 1/3 of a Cucumber 1 Apple 1 Orange 1 Banana 1 Carrot

Add a little fruit juice or water to help blend, drink it all down and KABOOM! LOL

Magnesium supplements and probiotic foods are gonna be way more helpful and healthy in the long run. Eating more fat helps some people, quitting dairy helps for others.

Any laxative over the long term is detrimental, grain fiber may be the worst http://www.gutsense.org/fibermenace/about_fm.html

If you're a pain patient or otherwise long-term impaired in gut motility, Miralax is available over the counter and is actually NOT a traditional laxative, it can be used to actually retrain your gut to hold more water in your stool and keep things moving. To have this effect though, you have to take it pretty much every day for six months to a year.

Very intetesting. Just bumped into this thread, and it strikes a chord with me. I get plenty of fibre, from a balanced diet, but 2 months ago, things went pear shaped in the poop dept. for me. Hard stools, constipation, anal fissures, it was driving me mad. Coincidentally, it started after I included oat bran into my diet, 1/2 cup a day on my breakfast cereal. I finally worked out that the oat bran may be the culprit, eliminated it, and 3 days later all is back to normal. My summation, fibre overload, and the oat bran was acting like quick set cement in my gut.

Use with caution.

Try ground flaxseed (2-3 tbsp).

PG, try adding a few ounces of pureed pumpkin to your meal. Pumpkin is renown for relieving constipation as well as firming up stools if one has diarrhea. Out of the squashes, pumpkin seems to work the best.

Resistant starch foods are considered the 3rd type of fiber (along with soluble/insoluble) and works as a prebiotic in the small intestine. Feeding digestive bacteria, creating butyrate (an enzyme which may prevent colon cancer) and increasing lipid oxidation (fat burning).

The most Paleo way to get RS foods is by heating and cooling them (think: digging out last night's leftovers out of a cooled pot and having them for a cold breakfast). Cold tubers & bananas are your best (and most Paleo) bet and you only need 4g a day.

http://www.ehow.com/list_6850812_list-resistant-starch-foods.html http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/nutrition/a/resistantstarch.htm

EDIT: I ate some white rice yesterday for lunch (Thai food), and this morning my poo was soft and easy to pass. I take Mg in the a.m. and Ca citrate & probiotic before bed. It seems as though white rice is a better RS than potatoes, at least in my experience.