Can You Use Metamucil And Probiotics At The Same Time?

I’m seriously sending this to my dad. He’s been mainlining the ‘muc for as long as I can remember, and when I still lived at home, I would shake a cold bottle up for him every morning before school/work. He said he takes the pills now because he can’t recreate the way that I always mixed it for him, his always turns gloopy super fast. If I knew it was just because I was shaking it up using ice cold water, I would’ve let him in on the “secret” sooner.

Another good way is just to blend it into your smoothies with frozen berries, if you like those in the morning. I just put a large tablespoon of psyllium husk (which is Metamucil basically is + flavoring) and bbrrr in the blender. As you said, cold temperature slows down the goopification and it also adds a nice thick texture to a smoothie. It really is a gamechancer for anyone who’s struggling with regularity.

If anyone lives near an Indian grocery store they psyllium husk for even cheaper, and you can often get the whole husk (not powdered) which you just take a spoonful straight followed with a full glass of water. None of the goopy grossness of the powdered stuff. They even have cardamom (elaichi) flavored husk sometimes. If you don’t see “husk” it might be called “isabgol”

I’m on anticoagulants that restrict me from eating “leafy greens” which means my fiber intake is a bit limited, so I’ve been taking (generic) metamucil regularly. My only other protip is that the artificial orange flavor in the fiber is the same one that’s used in tang, so I buy the sugar free fiber powder and then also add in some tang so it actually tastes like an orange drink and not “thick water that’s orange flavor adjacent”

If you’re wondering if you get enough fiber in a day, here’s the math I did: 1/2 lb of Brussels sprouts(7g) 1 onion(1g), 1 tbsp chia seeds (6g), 2tbsp peanut butter(2g), 1 serving almonds(2g), 1 banana (2g), 1 protein bar (2g), 1 serving of whole wheat pasta (5g), and 1 bowl of grape nuts cereal (the ones that are like pebbles, 7g), most of which are considered great high fiber foods, adds up to 2g LESS than the amount of fiber recommended to me in a day (38g), and none of the rest of the food I logged had any fiber whatsoever. Hitting your fiber goals is a lot harder without some assistance than you’d think, even though people will say “just eat more vegetables like carrots and broccoli!” Even though 5 servings EACH OF those only gets you 20g of fiber in a day.

Fantastic article on topic that never gets enough attention when it comes to nutrition! I’d like to add, if you can’t have Metamucil because of some of the additives or simply prefer a cheaper/not as sweet drink: The main ingredient in Metamucil is psyllium husk/powder and is available to buy as a non-branded product in many places. It can be sprinkled over foods like oats without altering the taste or texture much. You can also drink it the same way you’d drink Metamucil, but the taste is a bit more noticeably “earthy”, so it may take some getting used to. Generally, I find it more versatile than powder options with very strong flavors. It can also be bought in capsule form, though I’m not sure if this can affect the effectiveness.

I bought a bottle of glucomannan pills and a bottle of psyllium pills yesterday. SERIOUS TIP: Cut your protein shakes with water soluble fiber, like flavorless Metamucil, and non soluble fiber, my favorite of which is just baker’s chocolate powder. Having both types of fiber is good for you, and adding fiber to your pre-made protein powder helps reduce the sugar content even further. I even add peanut powder to mine for a little extra flavor and protein.

So, credit where credit is due, I’ve been drinking metamucil daily since I saw this article and it’s actually lowered my cholesterol. However, I think this overcomplicates the process a little. I find that its much easier just to take a cup, put in metamucil, fill it halfway with cold water, give it a vigorous stir with a spoon and chug it. I found that the Ice was making it too cold to down it, plus the metamucil would clump up around the cubes. And shaking the bottle (I use a mason jar with lid) just made the bottle a lot messier as the muc would find it’s way into the screw top of the lid. So, do it however you like, but for me a simple stir and chug does it.

My roommate has been on me off and on for a while now trying to convince me to try metamucil. I fall pretty squarely in the first category: why do I need a supplement when I can just eat better food? The point you make about how difficult it is to eat that well every meal hit home though, and maybe getting a helping hand isn’t the worst idea.

Thanks for this article, Shaq! If anyone is interested, you can essentially forage the product Metamucil. It comes from plantain, not the banana-like thing, but plants in the genus Plantago. The seeds in particular produce mucilage which the important component of this product. Mucilage is essentially a dietary fiber and is responsible for the thickening action of the water it is placed and mixed into. I have a article on foraging and making an at home mucilage for those who are curious! I’ll try to do one with Plantago in the future!

Here’s my ‘mucil process: 1) Turn faucet on to max cold and let it run while I prep 2) Take out my glass (I use a 12oz wide mouth Ball jar) and scoop in 3 smoothed/flattened teaspoons of the ‘muce 3) Fill it under the faucet while doing some light swirling, then take my coffee frother (I bought it literally only for Metamucil but keep it next to the coffee maker so no one asks about it) and spin that baby up until the ‘mucil is dissolved 4) Chug it as fast as possible because he’s not kidding, that cup will get thicker quicker than you’d like and it’s not fun to drink then Note: I have the sugar-free/artificial sweetener name-brand Metamucil Note: Don’t ask about my coffee frother Happy ‘mucings to you and yours!

Shaq could put out a sponsored article on tire pressure gauges and I would click in, knowing that in 4 minutes or less, I would both understand why he was making a article on it and also have my life meaningfully enriched with some useful info. You got a lot of goodwill built up and I think the people see that you’ll not say anything or agree to advertiser copy that would go against what you believe or mislead. Obvi you gotta know your analytics but based on engagement for a article about poop-good, I think you should get that bag every so often

I’m not sure why I started taking it because someone left a container of it behind so after a year I gave it a whirl. I eat fairly healthy, lots of salad. I have regular BM’s first one regular and the second one loose almost diarrhea .but after Metamucil my second movement was regular like the first and I lost that sudden urge To go or I soil myself. I know TMI. As well I seem to be losing some of the extra weight I have been packing around. I am absolutly sold on this stuff. Thank you for sharing!

other tips: pair with flavors that go well with the orange (I’m not crazy about the artificial orange flavor), and mix into a drink that’s already thick so you don’t have to chug to beat the gloop. The best of both of these worlds is mixing it into a smoothie with other fruit flavors. Tastes great, and is thick enough to keep the metamucil suspended. Even if it doesn’t, the texture of a mucil glob won’t really stand out amongst all the thick fruit pulp. A lower effort option is mixing it into chocolate milk. The milk is a little thicker and chocolate and orange are a great pair. You can still have glooping problems, but personally I find them more tolerable in this context than if it were just plain water.

Metamucil is more expensive here in the UK since you need to order it online, so I’m looking at alternatives. Standard tub on Amazon is 29p/35c per serving compared to 8p/10c mentioned in the article, which gives you 2.4g soluble fibre/fiber. Ground flaxseed is around 1p/1c for 2.4g soluble fibre but obviously you can’t make it into a tasty orange drink, so instead of two servings of Metamucil per day you could offset by having one serving of each. It’s recommended to have around 10-15g soluble fibre per day so you can have the flaxseed with oats (3.8g/100g) for breakfast to add another decent chunk.

Another reason not to take it, if I remember correctly, is that you can’t take it nearby other medications as it can affect absorption. So for example if you take medicines throughout the day, might want to look into that. But yes I absolutely agree that people can do well to look into fiber supplementation!!

I use 1.5 TBSP per 10 oz of water and rapidly stir and scrape the edges of the bottom of the glass (better to have a glass where the interior bottom has a curve verses a 90 degree angle where the muc can accumulate). I find adding more water means it’s not so “gloopy” and dare I say actually “refreshing”. YMMV.

As someone who does not immediately wash my muc’ vessel after drinking it, ain’t no way I’m doing this in a bottle. Cleaning this stuff when it’s not freshly finished is not the easiest task. But good to see you plugging the stuff Shaq. Your ongoing commitment to being a straight up no bs dude continues to buoy my faith in humanity.

you are so good at what you do! Thanks. I find that metamucil just doesn’t have enough fiber, especially in the tiny amount you used in that article, plus I don’t like the artificial tasting orange. I get the plain old Psyllium husk powder from trader joes. Now THAT gets mucilaginous! It would be nice if it didn’t, but I guess there’s no way around it

A couple other things for bm hygiene that you should definitely research because they’ve done me a world of good: bidet or bidet bottle and a squatty potty or a another way to raise your knees to reduce stress to your sigmoid colon, a leading issue for diverticulitis. Resection surgery isn’t fun. Oh, and another thing: if you don’t drink a lot of water, taking a large amount of fiber at once will work the opposite way that you want it to. Fiber works by pulling moisture from your intestine and can actually cause constipation by pulling too much from you. Think bare skin sliding on a pleather couch.

lf we put on our tin-foiled hat on, metamucil is manufactured in Phoenix Arizona where Shaq is based. Obvious conclusion is that this is not an ad, Shaq has just bought a major share of Proctor & Gamble the company that produces Metamucil and is indeed shilling out the product to line his pocket. You have been foiled Victor.