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In This Article
What Is It?
How to Use It
The Foods to Include
Here’s some nutrition advice you likely don’t hear every day: Eat less fiber. That’s exactly the premise behind the low-residue diet.
We know what you’re thinking: “Didn’t you just tell me that it’s best to follow ahigh-fiber diet?” In most cases, yes. This is especially true sinceresearch suggeststhat consuming sufficient fiber can reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes, boost longevity, improve gut health, keep you regular and increase satiety.
How much is enough fiber? The2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americansrecommends 25 grams per day for women or 38 grams for men. But according to theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most of us get about half of the daily recommended amount.
And while a high-fiber diet is generally recommended, some individuals with certain medical conditions might receive a prescription from their healthcare practitioner to follow a low-fiber, aka low-residue, diet.
Read on to discover the pros and cons of this unique intervention, see a sample day in the life implementing a low-residue diet menu and get the final answer from dietitians about who should—and definitely shouldn’t—consider this low-fiber diet.
We spoke withRoxana Ehsani, M.S., RD, CSSD, LDN, a registered dietitian in Las Vegas and a national media spokesperson for theAcademy of Nutrition and Dietetics, andElizabeth Shaw, M.S., RDN, CPT, a San Diego–based registered dietitian and the author of theAir Fryer Cookbook for Dummies, for some expert intel.
Pictured Recipe:Beef Bone Broth
What Is a Low-Residue Diet?
According to the National Library of Medicine’s resource,StatPearls, a low-residue diet is one that’s designed to create as few demands as possible on the gastrointestinal tract. “Residue” refers to the indigestible material that remains in the GI tract after digestion is finished.
This leftover residue is totally normal for most people and often includes a decent amount of fiber since the body cannot fully digest some of the fiber in foods. It eventually works its way through and out of a normal gut through our stools.
However, for those with certain GI tract illnesses, the process is not always a smooth one. A low-residue diet is designed to create fewer and smaller stools to reduce the risk of GI-condition flare-ups or to prepare for certain procedures.
“When I worked in clinical dietetics, we often would put patients who were struggling with GI challenges on a low-residue diet for a set period of time,” says Shaw. “This wouldn’t usually be a long-term diet we implemented, but rather a short-term fix to help lessen symptoms until their body could tolerate fiber again.”
Initially, there wasn’t a clear consensus about how much fiber people were recommended to eat on a low-residue diet. But in 2015, researchers completed a literature review published inAdvances in Nutritionand landed on the magic number: 10. A low-residue-diet menu should ideally include 10 grams or less of fiber per day, to help limit GI symptoms and distress.
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A low-residue diet should only be embarked upon under the guidance of a registered dietitian, who will offer personalized advice. Here are some foods that are typically included, and foods that should be avoided when following this intervention.
Foods to Avoid
As a general rule, a low-residue diet plan involves limiting or avoiding anything that can irritate the digestive tract or anyhigh-fiber foods, including:
Foods to Include
A low-residue diet leaves options like these on the table:
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As with many nutrition trends (ahem,peganism) or even long-standing diets like the since-the-1970sDukan diet, the answer to “Is a low-residue diet healthy?” is “It depends.” Usually, no, it’s neither healthy nor necessary.
“I would not necessarily classify this diet as healthy or unhealthy, for as we know that term has a lot of different interpretations depending on who you ask,” says Shaw. “A low-residue diet can meet an individual’s nutritional needs when planned with a dietitian for a particular person who has been prescribed this diet.”
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As far as who might fall into that camp, you might be a candidate for a short-term low-residue diet if you have:
“Most Americans don’t come close to consuming the recommended amount of dietary fiber each day, so it’s important that a healthy person without any types of complications or without being prescribed doesn’t follow it,” says Ehsani. “A naturally high-fiber diet is very nutritious, and is most often rich in fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains.”
Foods naturally high in fiber also contain other important nutrients that should be included in a balanced, healthy meal plan, adds Shaw, such as many vitamins and minerals that help our bodies perform at their peak.
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The Bottom Line
If you are given a prescription for a low-residue diet, “work with a registered dietitian to ensure you are getting the nutrition you need to help whatever health goal or condition you’re trying to achieve or improve,” says Shaw. A dietitian can also guide you when you’ve reached a safe space to begin slowly incorporating more fiber into your diet.
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