Was talking to a nurse the other day and she said that potato crisps/chips is a huge culprit for anal fissures and dry cerial specialy when scoffed down as it doesnt brake down and can be jagered and rip the anus....mmm im a potato chip addict.something to think about.

I can vouch for dry cereal. Among the things I ate to rip open my anus where back to back meals of 1.5 servings of high fiber cereal mixed with post shredded wheat and steel cut oats. 30-40g fiber per meal, then again, then a lot of straining the following day as I gave birth to it.
I'm not the biggest fan of fiber anymore.

Its hard to think that chips and cereal after going through all the moisture of our intestines will still be jagged enough to rip our anus's.
I use to shy away from popcorn and nuts because of similar fears. But strange thing is, when I switched to plain popcorn and nuts I never had any problem with them.
I'm thinking its the same with chips and doritos that we have to stay away from. They are covered like sand paper so I'm wondering is there a link there.
And we know salt in the system just draws water from cells so that me be another link as all these foods are doused with salt.
Alas, I don't know, it confuses me. To each his own but I'll just continue to ditch eating anything loaded with anything salty. Its Back to the original diet for me that our bodies were made for............Fruits, nuts and grains....er plain nuts.
GL

buttastic you beat me to it was going to say the salt is a double wammy by dehyrating us and drying out the anal passage.am going to stay away from chips and cereal from now on.

I've heard you're not supposed to eat "sharp" foods with a fissure (chips, nuts, and popcorn, mostly). I'm just wondering if this is still a problem if you chew them up well enough. Also, I would think the acids in our stomachs and digestive juices would break them down a bit and smooth them out. I guess I'm just a little skeptical about these foods causing issues when I chew my food up really well and never had issues with them in the past.
I didn't hear anything about dry cereal causing issues. I eat regular Cheerios every day, so... hmmmmm. I haven't noticed any problems, though.
I don't eat chips or popcorn anymore (I was never a big chip and popcorn eater pre-fissure), but I do eat nuts (pecans, walnuts, pistachios, mostly). I chew them up thoroughly, however, and don't eat that many at a time (only a few pieces). I do worry if they can cause problems, though. Different people say different things: don't eat nuts if you have a fissure because they are sharp and can cut the anus, OR eat nuts because of the fiber and nutrients they provide. Ugh. Guess it just depends on the individual.

I hear you Luka
I think its one of those, "all else being equal" deals.
Meaning, if your doing everything right, eating like your supposed to, getting enough exercise, good genes, enough water, not taking in too much irritants pollutants food additives etc that just exasperate our anus, Then our anus can easily handle these things no problem.
But in todays world of junk food, laziness, food additives, spices, pollutants, impure improperly cooked meats, bad genes, IBS and I could go on and on, and generation after generation of this passed down to us, its a wonder more people aren't afflicted.
Such is life...

I never have an issue with cereal (any) but do always chew well and combine with bio-yoghurt.....
Pop corn seems to cause no issues and I'm generally OK with nuts but I learned a lesson yesterday when I overdosed on Salt & Vinegar flavoured peanuts, which I love! and combined them with pickled onions. I don't think it was the texture so much as the acidity....Gee - for a nearly healed fissure, it still stung like crazy when I had a BM today!!! A lesson well and truly learned but no lasting damage!!! :)

I've never had a problem with potato crisps. I chew them well though.
I love crisps !!

Does elevated sodium really dehydrate you enough to hit your poop for you guys? I've been eating lots of salt to counter my milk of magnesia electrolyte imbalances and I've been fine.

yes chewing very well is always the way to go.i have bad nerves and eat way to fast.i often see undigested food in my stool maybe thats half my problem.i think nuts would not really be a problem but chips and some dry cereal are very sharp.they say nerves and a bad digestion go hand in hand.maybe it can cause or delay healing of fissures.