Anyone who has suffered from constipation knows the discomfort and unhappiness that it can cause, not to mention the impact that it has on your overall health. The effect that nutrition has on your physical health is especially substantial when it comes to conditions relating to the digestive system.
A complex system
A properly functioning digestive system is finely balanced, depending on a delicate mix of ingredients in terms of your organs and the enzymes that they both produce and use to process your food efficiently. As well as helping to pass your food through your body, effective digestion is essential when it comes to absorbing the nutrients within the food, and ensuring that you get the best benefit from what you’ve eaten and drank.
If you’re constipated, this has a profound impact on your digestive system as a whole, as it inhibits a vital process on which your body’s health is totally dependent. Although there are a variety of medical treatments, and even procedures in extreme cases, for handling constipation, in most cases, having a healthy diet should sort out any problems you’re having. Indeed, in the long term, a balanced diet should actually prevent you from suffering with constipation in the future.
Fibre
We all know that fibre is meant to help with constipation. While this is true, there are a whole range of other measures that help your body to process the food, and indeed to get the best out of any fibre that you consume. One of the key elements is water – drinking water in conjunction with fibre in your diet is one of the most effective strategies for fighting constipation. It is recommended that you drink around eight glasses of water a day to maintain a healthy system.
In terms of the importance of fibre in your diet, the function that it performs is twofold. Insoluble fibre aids the process whereby your food is passed through and handled by the intestine and colon, this type of fibre adds to the bulk of food, stimulating your organs to process it. Soluble fibre holds fluid, and keeps the waste in your system in a state in which your digestive organs can pass it through.
A diet that is high in fibre will typically contain a lot of foods that are associated with a vegetarian diet, i.e. lots of fruit and vegetables. Additionally, whole grains are a great source, rather than foods containing refined grain. Eating fewer animal products can also help, as these are the kinds of food that have a tendency to hang around in the system, eventually causing a build up and ultimately resulting in constipation.
A balance
In general, a diet that is high in fresh foods and low in processed foods will lend itself to a healthy gut and bowel system. Your body’s functions ideally look for the types of foods that contain the vital vitamins and minerals that you need, but also those foods that help you to absorb those essential ingredients, making the best use of what you consume.
