Natural Health
| Don’t Let Constipation Ruin Your Day |
| By : Ajit Hari Sahu | Previous | Next |
| Posted on : 22 Dec, 2005 | Total Views : 303 |
Constipation is very common, not only in children but in adults too. In this article dietary and physiological aspects of constipation shall be discussed and not diseases leading to constipation. Today's lifestyle and eating habits have a bearing on this problem:
• Late rising in the morning and rushing to school/work
• Eating junk food and avoiding food which is rich in roughage
• Drinking less fluids
Over a period of time, small amounts of faeces get accumulated in the rectum, which in turn hardens. This is known as `faecoliths'. If corrective measures are not taken then as time passes, structural changes in the rectum occur, leading to acquired mega colon in children.
Everyone should be digesting approximately 20 – 30 grams of fiber a day. Without fiber in your diet you could be creating detrimental effects to your health. The average person suffers from a lack of fiber in their diet.
You can raise the amount of fiber in your diet by eating more of some foods, such as bread. Bread is a good source of insoluble fiber as is vegetables. Barley, baked beans, lentils and citrus fruits a good source of soluble fiber. The National Heart Foundation suggests one should eat 3 kinds of vegetables of a salad with your evening meal. Two to three pieces of fruit are suggested each day. Fresh dried and canned fruits all contain a good amount of fiber.
When choosing your breakfast cereal, check for cereals should contain more than 3 grams of fiber per serving.
Fiber, also called roughage or bulk, is necessary to promote the wave like contractions that move food through the intestine. High fiber foods expand the inside walls of the colon, easing the passage of waste.
Rural Africans digest and eliminate the foods they eat in one-third of the time it takes for the people living in Western cultures. This is because the diet of Africans is rich in fiber, which in turn speeds up the time required to digest food and expel wastes. It is believed this helps to sweep out harmful substances before they can cause problems in the body. In fact, these rural people suffer far less from many of the diseases of the digestive tract that plague Western man, which is thought to be related to the nature of their diet.
The large intestine’s purpose is to remove excess water from the food waste by passing into it from the small intestine. When food passes the large intestine too quickly not enough water is absorbed by the intestine, and diarrhea results. In contrast, if waste material is passed too slowly too much water is absorbed. This results in hard stool and constipation, often leading to straining. Constipation is common in adults as well as children.
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Written By : Ajit Hari Sahu
