So you're watching this video because you're really constipated right at the moment.
What would you choose to eat – the plain rice bubbles with low fiber or the high fiber bran
and nuts – which one do you think is the most appropriate to eat right now?
Hi, I’m Michelle and welcome to today's video, which is all about choosing the best foods
when you're really constipated. So I'm talking about when you've got abdominal pain, you can't
empty your bowel, and you're really wondering what to eat. You'll remember from my last video that
we went through the problem with having too much high fiber in your diet and how that it actually,
when the fiber moves through your bowel, that it can actually clog up your bowel, particularly when
the waste reaches the end of your bowel, and it becomes dry and really hard, just like in a pipe,
when a pipe becomes blocked. Now, the correct answer to that question is the food to choose
is actually the lower fiber, the rice bubble, and I’m going to go through why this is the
case in this video, and then give you some tips on the correct food groups to choose, and then
how to get your bowel moving and how then start back into your fiber intake when you've actually
cleared your bowel. So let's dive right in and start to look at some of the foods to choose.
So I thought we'd start off with an assortment of fruit and vegetables. Now,
remembering that we really should all have 25 to 35 grams of fiber a day, that's really important
for preventing you from becoming constipated. But when you are already constipated,
the residue from the fiber you eat will actually backlog up, like a blocked pipe and actually make
you feel even worse. So the idea is to reduce your fiber temporarily while you're really
constipated until you empty your bowel and then to resume your fiber intake after you've emptied. So
let's have a look at some of the foods now to choose when you really are constipated.
We're going to start with fruit and vegetables. So we're looking at some of your lower fiber,
lower residue types of vegetables, so obviously here we've got things like mushrooms, we've got
tomatoes; carrots, if you're really constipated, you might even take the peels off those, and the
same with the zucchini. Potatoes are another really good food, particularly white potatoes,
and I’ve also got some sweet potato here as well. Once again, you can peel those,
if you're really constipated, because the peels can then add to the residue in your bowel,
which then sits there and actually makes gas and makes your meal feel more uncomfortable.
So also we've got capsicum, asparagus is another really nice low residue food to choose, and garlic
as well. So this is just a brief overview to give you some ideas. It's by no means comprehensive,
but just giving you some ideas of what you could actually choose in terms of vegetables.
Now, fruits, similar, we've got bananas that you can eat, your papaya, and your pawpaw,
lovely foods to eat. If you're having apple, I’d probably take the peel off,
particularly, if you're quite constipated, but you could have the inside of the apple;
and also too orange; and melon, all melons are great, they have low residue, so they're a great
food to choose when you're really constipated. The other thing you might like to do if you're really
constipated is to use, if you're having problems eating too much, is to actually juice these.
So you can actually combine vegetable juices, the more colors you combine, the better. And
you can have your melon juices, where you can combine your carrot and apple juices,
to actually help you get your nutrients, but also not bulk up too much on your fiber.
So let's now move on to cereals and grains. Okay, so if we look at some of the types of cereals and
grains that are going to be more appropriate for you to have, when you are really constipated,
we're really getting rid of your really high fiber, high residue types of things, just for
the moment, so probably leave that, that's going to make you feel a whole lot more uncomfortable
and bloated if you eat that high fiber cereal. Much better to choose your lower fiber cereals,
like your corn flakes or your rice bubbles. And also too, when it comes to bread, we're looking at
your lower fiber type, so your white or just your whole wheat types of bread, you have tortillas,
pizza bases, also too you can have your noodles, your macaroni, your regular spaghetti.
I’ll just mention rice. Rice is one of those foods that is, white rice, is low residue,
as opposed to your brown rice; but some people actually find that white rice actually firms the
stool. So I think this is quite an individual thing, you can use some trial and error.
But just a word of caution with the white rice, so you can see that we're looking at really plain
low fiber types of cereals and grains just for the moment, while you are really constipated.
So in terms of meat, you can have any type of meat that you like. So we're looking at meat, beef,
pork, you can also have all your seafood, you can have fish, and also too eggs. So these are all
types of things that you can have and know that they're not going to affect you while you are
constipated. And you can even make custards and things like that out of your eggs as well,
and we'll talk about your dairy in just a moment too, but know that you can really confidently
eat your meat as much as it feels comfortable for you.
And so, moving on to dairy, you can have a wide range of dairy. Dairy is often really tolerable
for most people when you are constipated. So you obviously, have your milk, you can have
your soy milk products as well. So you can have tofu, you can have any of those types of things.
We've also too got your coconut milks, your evaporated milk, yogurt is really nice to have.
Just make sure that you choose the yogurt that doesn't have berries in it or granola. So you
want to have your yogurts if they're flavored with honey or something like that or syrup
rather than actual berries which are going to be more likely to introduce fiber into your system.
Also too, we've got cheeses, so you can have your goat's cheese, your soft cheeses, your camembert,
there's a cheddar here. Again, just another word on cheddar, some people do find that hard cheeses
can make them a little bit more constipated. So again, that can be an individual thing, so just
watch for your own individual variations with this in terms of your cheddar cheeses. But basically
on the whole, you can look at a wide range of your dairy foods to eat when you're constipated.
So finishing up, I thought we'd talk about nuts and seeds. So while a lot of seeds and nuts can
be high residue, particularly, things like your chia seeds, your flax seeds can be high fiber,
there are some things that you can have in moderation. So some pistachios, you can have some
pistachios, perhaps a few walnuts, or you could have a spoonful or two of your peanut butter,
or sesame seeds too and this is tahini. So you could have any of those types of things as well,
if that's something that you like to include in your diet. Something I would like to mention
is that when you're constipated, often the tendency can be to think that you need beans
and the legumes, so you've got hummus and things like that. So your black beans, your hummus,
your chickpeas, lentils don't have them when you're constipated
because they're really going to bloat you, and really going to make your constipation worse.
Now, when you are constipated, it's most likely that you'll be having these foods
while you're actually having laxatives. So you'll probably need the laxatives to
keep the stool moving through because you've actually decreased your fiber. Now, when you've
actually resolved your constipation, that's when you can gradually start to reintroduce your fiber,
and you might be taking osmotic laxative like Movicol or perhaps Osmolax, while you actually
increase your fiber intake gradually over time. So remember, you're not launching straight back
into 25 to 35 grams of fiber, you're actually gradually increasing as your body tolerates it.
Other couple of things you can do is to be mobile, if you're working at a desk,
get up and walk around regularly, that will help your bowel movement. So being moving and
being active is a great way of stimulating your bowel, along with making sure that you get really
good hydration, so your six, perhaps eight cups of fluid a day as well. So I think you can see
that things really can change when you are quite constipated, I think it's quite a myth to say that
you really need to increase your fiber, you can see that's going to make you very uncomfortable,
and it can actually worsen constipation problem. The idea is to lower down your fiber,
clear your bowel by actually using the appropriate medication from your doctor or your pharmacist,
and then gradually reintroduce your fiber according to the way your body reacts to it.
So I really hope this information helps you manage your constipation
and your bowel problems. I'd love to hear from you, if you've got any questions or comments,
please feel welcome to post them below; and also too if you found this video helpful,
give it a like below too, because that helps other people find the video.
Thanks so much for watching today, I’ll see you next time. Bye for now.