Millions of people the world over both in the United Kingdom and the United States of America , have at one time or another have suffered from constipation, it is a common problem amongst a lot of people and can give some very uncomfortable symptoms, even though it’s not particularly related to weight loss.
It’s surprising how eating a poor diet can play havoc with your digestive system, there are some crucial points to remember here food has evolved around us and not the other way round, when we are brought into this world it’s safe to say that, our eating habits are largely dictated to us by our parents. As they are the most influential people in our lives as well as our friends when we are growing up.
But we often fail to realise that what we are eating can play havoc with our digestive systems, I myself at one time had quite bad constipation, since I have changed my eating habits I don’t suffer from it at all now, but I can attest to the fact that it can be very painful. It’s no joke waking up in the middle of the night and trying to go to the toilet and having pain in your lower regions most uncomfortable I don’t recommend it at all.
So here are some tips if you are suffering from this particular problem, very few people don’t realise that there eating habits are causing the problem but 90 percent of the time it is the case.
Make sure that you eat a diet high in insoluble fibre this is a key component, to having a healthy digestive system most people don’t eat 25 grams of fibre per day make sure you eat plenty of fruit and vegetables in your diet Have a high fibre breakfast the more the better try and eat at least 10 grams of fibre for your breakfast that way you only need to eat 15 grams more to get the recommended daily allowance of fibre, this can quite easily be achieved by eating beans on toast, with two slices of high fibre wholemeal bread Eat more nuts, lentils, and especially green vegetables, for instance brussels sprouts, broccoli, garden peas and baked beans If you are eating white bread this tends to contain more refined carbohydrates, which may lead to weight gain try eating high fibre brown bread,or you can get granary bread which has bits of wheat etc, the higher the fibre content the better Try and eat a mixture of fresh fruit and vegetables preferably the recommended five a day, if you are not sure what to eat, I will provide resources at the end of this post Make sure you have plenty of exercise if you can manage it 30 minutes per day,or if that is too much break it into chunks, 30 minutes per day for times a week then have three days rest. Exercising its supposed to be beneficial for gut health and make you regular Eat small meals eating food isn’t meant to be a race and I can’t help but think at times that, we eat far too quickly when we do this it’s is quite easy to have stomach ache after eating a lot of food Drink plenty of water this will hydrate your digestive system, and make passing stools far easier
Here are some recommended resources regarding constipation and eating a high fibre diet
http://www.constipationadvice.co.uk
http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/23068713/
http://www.constipationadvice.co.uk/achieving_inner_health/high_fibre_diet_planner.php
And just in case you want to know what to your stools should look like here is a picture so you know that you do have healthy bowel movements, which is a important factor in overall digestive health
This is known as the Bristol Stool Chart.
Tags: constipation, fibre
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