Fibers and liquids are the most important nutrients for a healthy bowel movement. Fibers are mostly found in natural products. Fruits, vegetables, wholegrain pasta, potatoes, legumes and also bread. It’s preferred to take 40 grams of fibers on the daily. Eating and drinking healthily often sounds way easier than it sometimes is. Almost everywhere you look you’re having food advices thrown onto you. The one says no carbs, the other says no salt, and then your neighbor talks about a diet of having 1 meal a day. Every advice is so different, so what makes it the right thing to do? We all want to eat good and to have a good looking body. But of course it doesn’t always go together. Despite everything, there are still a lot of good advises that are suitable for your organs. We all know that drinking those 2 liters of water a day is quite the challenge, by now. Let’s take a look at simpler advices for improving your bowel movements and your health.
Hopefully your goal is to have a healthy bowel movement when you’re reading this article. Should you still want more tips, advice or information after this, feel free to take a look on the website. I have lots of content! It’s filled with in-depth information, tips and also exercises too.
Let’s begin with what’s most likely the source for a healthy intestinal flora: Fibers.
Fibers are the fuel for a healthy bowel movement
“Fibers” is the magic word. It sounds easy enough. Consume some of those little fellas and done. But there isn’t enough fibers in every food. Fibers are primarily found in natural products. Fruits, vegetables, wholegrain pasta, potatoes, legumes and bread. It’s preferred to take 40 grams of fibers on the daily, but this could still heavily lead you around the bush. Brown bread being healthier than a lighter bread isn’t the case. A lot of people think; the darker the bread, the healthier it is. But that is yet another commercial trick. A wholegrain bread is fine. Grains and fibers do make the bread somewhat darker but it always will remain a light brown. If you so happened to have bought a very dark bread, then the color probably comes from cacao. Dark bread doesn’t exist by itself. It can be the case that white bread gets darkened, but that doesn’t mean that it contains fibers. Do keep an eye on the food label.
The nutrition center also has a very easy list to calculate the amount of fibers with. Look at how many fibers you’re eating now. Maybe only a slight adjustment needs to be made, or maybe you’ll discover that you have to drastically change something. That’s fine and really easy to do. Do you for example always eat white bread or plain pasta? Maybe convert to eating a wholegrain variant. It takes getting used to but it’s easy to do, and at the same time it’s very healthy as well!
Eating healthy doesn’t have to be expensive!
You don’t have to convert to the extremely expensive food trends. For example, quinoa seeds, that all is very expensive. Or crackers from almond batter. It sounds cute and it isn’t unhealthy, no, but there are other perfectly fine alternatives as long as you just eat your fruits and veggies. Sure you consume your fibers in a less trendy way, but you do consume it in a cheaper way. Make small adjustments if necessary. Keep wholegrain products in mind. You can also add in some chickpeas from time to time. When there’s a will, there’s a way. With the help of those smaller adjustments, it’s easier to convert to healthier food, but also to keep it up.
Obstipation is a common consequence of choosing the wrong food
You can get obstipation in many different ways. Maybe there is a medical issue, but it also can have a simple cause: your eating habits. It’s important to go through the things you eat and look for what’s the best thing to eat. Keep fibers in mind and drink enough water on the daily. In general, drinking 2 liters of water a day is doable. Consistency is important for your intestines as well. Breakfast wakes up your intestines, and lunch provides more fuel for the day. You can also have a piece of fruit in between to keep your cravings under control. Having 5 moments of eating with some fruit snacking in between is completely fine.
But have you already thought everything through? Are you already eating consistently and healthy? And you still have obstipation issues? Then this is getting more technical. Not all fibers are good for the intestines. There’s a difference between non-fermentable fibers and fermentable fibers. Do check what kinds of fibers are in your food.
The intestines need a lot of liquid
Liquid is crucial for the metabolism process. The more liquid is present, the better the food descends to the exit. Gallons of liquids pass through your intestines, and the intestines keep reusing those gallons. Normally a metabolism process takes around 24 hours. The longer your metabolism takes, the more solid your stools become. And the more solid your stools become, the risks of developing obstipation become higher.
4 different situations where the chance of getting obstipated is higher:
- Pregnancy.
- Menstruation period.
- Menopause.
- It comes with age.
Unfortunately, hormones have a negative influence on the intestines. Liquids get drained faster and obstipation is more likely to occur. Intestines can also get stuck during pregnancy. The intestine speed can decrease because of it. This is often an important cause for obstipation.
If you aren’t able to consume enough fibers, you can always try to go for wheat bran. Bran contains fungi that can separate the good components from the lesser fibers.
Your toilet behavior can be a big influence on your bowel movements
Your obstipation could be caused by your toilet behavior. Are you going to the toilet in the right way? You can develop a variety of issues if you have wrongfully taught toilet habits. That’s why it’s good to know what you have to do when you’re going to the toilet. Remember, especially the pelvic floor muscles, which includes the anus, need to be tensed up throughout the day in order to keep your feces from coming out. And when you need to go for a number two, you will need to relax those muscles so the feces can exit.
The most people don’t know this, you only hear and see a lot of people push hard on the toilet. But you only tense up your pelvic floor muscles more when you push. So pushing often isn’t the solution. Don’t postpone taking that dump, because the longer the feces remain in your intestines, the dryer they become. Waiting a prolonged amount of time can cause your stools to difficultly come out. Do pay attention to how and when you’re going to the toilet. You can look at my advice for toilet behavior, it contains all advises and tips that could help you for your struggles with going to the toilet.
Even if you don’t have problems in the little room, it might still be a good thing to have a read through these tips. It can’t hurt, and who knows, maybe it will even work in a preventive manner.
And lastly, are you looking for more information?
Hopefully this information was useful to you! We’ve discussed what’s the best thing to eat and drink to maintain a healthy bowel movement, and talked about how it can benefit and/or improve your toilet behavior. If you’re still looking for some more information, feel free to take another look around on the website. It’s filled with in-depth information, tips and also exercises. I still have a lot of articles with lots of information about other symptoms and issues. Feel free to click on the blue words to take you straight to the right page.
