Hey, one of the articles on RealAge talks about food that keeps you regular, and it seems to be some new information (different from the "eat fiber" stuff):
Quote:
Keep It Moving
A lack of fiber in the diet is a common culprit in constipation. But not getting enough magnesium or not eating enough water-packed foods may have an impact, too. In fact, women in a recent study were most likely to suffer from constipation if they had low magnesium intake and didn’t eat many juicy foods (think watermelon, oranges, peaches, cucumbers, tomatoes).
Of course, we won't eat watermelon, but the others on the list (including celery) are great options.
They also remind you of this important fact about eating high-fiber foods:
Quote:
...the key to making them work is to get plenty of water with them
How often is regular? I go once a day when before I was going twice a day. I drink plenty of water and I eat greens...not too much fiber fiber and I don't eat fruit (grapes once in the blue). Thanks for the article!
Do you exercise? Movement of your body leads to movement of your intestines (literally). When you don't move around a lot, neither does your digestive system. Get out and move (any pace works) so that you have lots of regular "movements!"
When you say you drink water, are you including things like soda and green tea? Many things, including green tea, coffee, regular tea, and soda, either dehydrate you or act as a diuretic. You need to make sure you're drinking enough plain water. If your urine is very pale yellow (nearly without color), then you're getting enough. If not, it's time to drink more water!
Have you checked your magnesium (per the article) above? Do you take vitamins? You may need a magnesium supplement--check with your doctor.
SBD, why don't you eat fruit? If you absolutely can't, you might want to make sure you're getting enough watery veggies, like cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, etc.
I have to agree with the article - I was having problems about a year ago. I had taken tons of fiber supplements, kicked up my work-outs, took in even more water than I already was...nothing. My SIL suggested taking a magnesium supplement because she had heard about it in a newsletter. I was getting magnesium in my multi, but I started taking a cal-mag supplement and everything was solved. Mind you, that was in addition to everything else as well
It is amazing just how much small deficiencies in essential vitamins mess with our bodies.
Do you exercise? ...Have you checked your magnesium (per the article) above? Do you take vitamins? You may need a magnesium supplement--check with your doctor.
SBD, why don't you eat fruit? If you absolutely can't, you might want to make sure you're getting enough watery veggies, like cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, etc.
I do eat grapes once in a while, but I don't usually have a taste for fruit. I eat lots of cucumbers and mushrooms though (tomatoes sometimes). I work out everyday (mostly cardio). I think I need to up my fiber and I seriously need to be on supplements. I think I outgrown my Vita-fol (pregnancy vitamins) which my doctor said I should stay on, so I have to go make a doc's appt soon.
Sass - you don't necessarily need a prescription for supplements. There are plenty of great ones that are available over the counter.
I take Shaklee Vita-Lea. It was the only supplement that I could take during my first pregnancy (and this one) that I wouldn't vomit up....well, let me say that I would try but it would be mostly digested by the time that I would vomit (sorry, tmi). When I would vomit my prescription pre-natal, it would be whole and completely untouched. The faster that it dissolves, the more time your body has to absorb nutrients. During my pregnancy, I also added a b-vitamin complex that was coated in folic acid - the vita-leas plus the b-complex equaled about 1000 mg. of folic acid per day plus whatever food that I was ingesting.
My son's pediatrician recommended a multi-vitamin for him - the one that she prescribed would often end up in his diaper, completely whole and untouched. I switched him to shaklee's vita-lea for kids and haven't had a problem since.
Do a lot of research before you decide on a multi-vitamin...just because it is a prescription doesn't mean that it will work the most efficiently in your body. Also be sure to include a cal-mag supplement and a fiber supplement to help with...you know.
Great Value BeneFIT bars. Oats and Chocolate. Every time I eat one of these, by that night, I'm ALLLL cleaned out. WARNING: Don't eat unless you can spend some quality alone time in your bathroom that day!
hehe!!
These actually have NINE grams of fiber in one bar. 140 calories...and are REALLY yummy. I seem to stay more regular when I get my fiber from some kind of food rather then supplements; not sure why??
Great Value BeneFIT bars. Oats and Chocolate. Every time I eat one of these, by that night, I'm ALLLL cleaned out. WARNING: Don't eat unless you can spend some quality alone time in your bathroom that day!
Too much sugar and processed ingredients for me. Taking sugar free metamucil helps me. I also started taking the magnesium supplements so I'm anxious to se if that helps. And there's nothing like a good cup of coffee...
Gnu bars have more fiber and better ingredients, if you are going for a bar (I carried them camping). I just eat lots of beans, cabbage, sauteed greens like kale & collards, Brussels sprouts and apples and I've never had a problem. Today's lunch was going to be split pea soup and sauteed cabbage but the Co-op had roasted Brussels so I had some of them too. If you use FitDay or other tracking software try to keep those fiber numbers up.
Sass - you don't necessarily need a prescription for supplements. There are plenty of great ones that are available over the counter.
I take Shaklee Vita-Lea.
Thank you. I will look into this. I was listening to a radio show on the AM dial and a couple of doctors were discussing how a lot of these supplements don't get digested and that it takes a long time to dissolve if they ever do. They were plugging this liquid multi supplement that gets absorbed by the body right away. I went looking for one and couldn't find it. I checked vitaminworld.com and nothing. I'll check yours out for sure.
a good way to check is to drop them into a glass of water, the faster they dissolve the faster they will dissolve and be absorbed into your body.
I tried it with a few different brands of multi-vitamins.
My Rx pre-natal took a little over an hour to completely dissolve
A centrum never did dissolve (I threw the water out after a full day)
the Shaklee vitalea took around a minute to dissolve completely.
GNC's store brand of multi-vitamins took about a half hour.
Great Value BeneFIT bars. Oats and Chocolate. Every time I eat one of these, by that night, I'm ALLLL cleaned out. WARNING: Don't eat unless you can spend some quality alone time in your bathroom that day!...These actually have NINE grams of fiber in one bar. 140 calories...and are REALLY yummy. I seem to stay more regular when I get my fiber from some kind of food rather then supplements; not sure why??
JamieJo, are you on South Beach? I don't think so from looking at this bar--sometimes our threads are on the main site and people from other diet plans comment.
While 9 grams is certainly a lot of fiber, you can get far more without any sugar or overly-processed/chemical additives in other things. For instance, Fiber One has 14g of fiber per 1/2 cup serving (and I don't know about you, but I usually eat twice that...it's only 60 cals per serving).
Food That Keeps You "Regular"
