Food for Constipation:
The Right Foods for Constipation
Everything you choose to eat or not eat each day directly contributes to any problems you may have with chronic constipation--as well as for many other health problems, short-term and chronic. Being picky about good-for-you foods is one of the easiest and most natural ways to control constipation problems, and ultimately prevent them from happening at all.
In recent years, everywhere you look you're being bombarded to eat more fiber. You hear it from your doctor, medical specialists, tv commercials, the natural health field, and even on the news too. This is because constipation has become a serious and growing problem in the modern world. Specialists may finally be beginning to realize just how important colon health is to keeping your entire body healthy.
Getting extra fiber is believed to be the number one way to prevent or relieve constipation problems. This is because fiber is not digested by the human body, so it passes through the digestive system unchanged. Once it reaches the colon, since it's still unchanged from the way it went into our bodies, it provides roughage that helps clean the colon walls. This roughage, or cleaning action, helps the colon muscles to move other solid waste materials through the entire length of the colon, and dispose of it through bowel movements.
So when you have plenty of fiber in your diet, you're unlikely to have any constipation problems at all.
Fiber is found in plant-based foods, and this is one of the reasons you're told to eat more fruits and vegetables. Not only do these foods provide your body with a wealth of vitamins and nutrients, they also give you the much needed fiber that will help keep you from becoming constipated.
The best way to get the most from fiber provided in fruits and vegetables is to eat these foods raw. When foods are cooked, they lose a substantial degree of their nutritional value, and the fiber content is softened or, in the case of processed foods, removed entirely. Cooking fresh fruits and vegetables provides adequate fiber; just try to avoid anything that's been pre-processed. Processed foods have all the bulk and fiber stripped out so they can be cooked faster, and while this may be convenient, it's extremely bad for our body's overall health when these food products are consumed regulaly.
Fiber can also be consumed in the form of nuts, seeds, and herbal supplements. A popular, natural, and easy way to get fiber is to add flax seeds to your morning cereal. If you need more oomph, some supplements to take for chronic constipation are those which are high in chlorophyll, such as parsley or alfalfa.
Editor's Note: If you're looking for something more than water and fiber, but don't want to touch drugs or enemas, click here to read our review of the Ultimate Colon Cleanse, a natural detoxing colon-cleansing program we use and highly recommend.
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