I'm ready to hear anecdotal evidence.

Is it due to too much fiber or too little fiber? Is something else causing it?
What natural strategies have been helpful?
How long after modifying fiber content did you have to wait to see results?

The answer is simple: both, or neither.

In seriousness, though, I feel for you. I've been lucky in the C department: the time I struggled with it, it was caused by wonky hormones. That was before I was a LCer.

From all the DCTs (dreaded constipation threads ) over the years, it seems like everyone falls on a different part of the spectrum. Some peoples' happy zone is lots of LC veggies, some almost none. And on the topic of fiber, I was curious as to just how much of that constitutes our feces... and I found very little information. I finally found a study that said it was about 8% on average. The rest is other undigestable parts of foods (various proteins, non-fiber carbs, fats), certain eliminated body products like bilirubin (dead read blood cells; that gives it the brown colour) and water. We've sort of been sold a myth when we assume fiber intake is the be-all/end-all of how you do your number two.

Overall gut health is probably the most important factor: good microbiome + little or no damaging foods that you're intolerant to, like gluten in my case.

I can go almost zero carb and be fine. I can eat fiber and be fine. I only seem to be bothered if there's a drastic increase in fiber, especially if it's "junk" fiber like my occasional rare off-plan meal from one of the local pizza places (Pizzaville or Pizza Pizza here in Ontario) that do very good gluten-free crusts, but they're bowel bombs loaded with fiber. Even then, it's more the bloating that causes annoyance, I don't really get constipated per se.

I don't have to be too careful with my usual coconut flour/psyllium recipes because they're pretty self-limiting and not that high in fiber per serving.

HTH.

I have had great results with the advice on this site:

Gut Sense

Which helped me go low fiber, fermented foods, and probiotic tea for a well-performing digestive system along with with my low veg/fiber, high protein lifestyle.

More water and salt.

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb...ts/constipation

Dr. Westman’s advice is if more water and salt isn’t enough, a small amount, a teaspoon per day of milk of magnesia works gently. Not a full dose.

I go after supporting gut biome. With prebiotics and probiotics.

Psyllium fiber works for me - it does the opposite for my DW.

I take 10 grams per day, divided into 3 doses, with lots of water. Without the water it stops me up.

So I guess you have to read what you can, and experiment on yourself.

Good luck

Thank you all for the wisdom and resources to check out. I got tired of eating fiber with no results.

This is the only part of LC that I despise. It always does this to me. But I'm determined to find answers.

Water intake and probiotics are a good place to start. Also limit low carb junk.

I don't eat much insoluble fiber, lol, I'm not a cow or goat with a rumen. Fiber has a wide variety in it's digestibility. Eating a green bean is unlike a bran muffin. And that's the tip of the iceberg.

Probiotics need food to eat......prebiotics. worth driving into learning what those are.

Let's us know how it all works for you.

I've varied my fiber over a very wide range, from essentially zero to over 70 g a day, and have seen very inconsistent results. If I go too much above 60 g day I get loose stools. Similarly, if I'm at very little fiber, I am more susceptible to them.

For me, constipation is more likely to be associated with higher iron intake.

Watch the cheese. Mozzarella cheese is like pouring concrete down my chowder chute.

Yogurt is fermented, but so is aged cheese. (Mozzarella is a fresh cheese.)

I drink different kinds of pro-biotic "tea" which I can drink in 1/4 cup amounts every morning and it does wonders for my digestion.

Gut biome can never be "set and forget." It's alive, it varies by what we feed it. Getting our diet adjusted to keep our biome happy will differ by person.

Adding vinegar to my plate or eating pickles is another strategy I use.

I still enjoy Mark Sisson's informative newsletters and posts, he is more 'keto' paleo now anyway. Many reasons for constipation and solutions here: https://www.marksdailyapple.com/keto-bloat

I am still a work in progress; that said, it seems 5htp and tryptophan are the only things that help me. I believe it's due to the serotonin-gut connection.

At least you have that much figured out! Also, pumpkin is a great "normalizer" whatever our guts are doing.

I have a smoothie now twice a week with strawberries, avocado, greek yogurt, chia seeds that seems to help.

I started an enzyme/prebiotic/probiotic blend but too early to say if it's working. It definitely isn't hurting.

Drinking more water to make the soluble fiber useful.

I'll check in next week and see how it comes together.