Can you look at my diet & tell me why I'm constipated? It's really getting me down.

[RubySunsett]

Typical day:

Breakfast, a whole banana chopped up with full fat Greek yoghurt, a decent sprinkling of chopped hazelnuts, pecans & chia seeds, dessicated coconut on top.

Lunch, omelette with two eggs, onions, peppers, mushrooms. Decent portion of rocket on the side and a modest piece of smoked salmon, 5 cherry tomatoes.

Dinner, a piece of plain cod with half the plate piled with cauliflower & purple broccoli

I only drink water, either hot or cold as I don't like tea or coffee. I have no snacks.

I'm fed up of being constipated. I'm beginning to think it's adding to my low mood all this old food hanging around in my gut. Any bright ideas gratefully received.

Fibre!

A bowl of fruit n fibre is guaranteed to sort me out.

I'm a long term constipation sufferer (since childhood) and eggs and yellow cheeses are my personal triggers. Adding dried fruit to my diet always helps. For some reason the amount of water I drink makes little difference.

one small glass of kefir with crushed linseed & oat bran keeps my gut happy.

Turmeric supplement made a difference to me when I was low carbing

Banana and eggs in a day
Both are known binders

@Tickledtrout

Turmeric supplement made a difference to me when I was low carbing

Are you saying that turmeric helped with constipation or made it worse?

You eat very healthy but you eat a lot of protein which won't help you go. Could you try more fibre based fruit, apples would be good with the skin on or grapes/berries. Or a fibre rich cereal? Exercise also helps move things along, you eat very healthy but if you Don't move around, especially now a lot off us work from home this will lead to constipation x

I had to give up eggs. Not good for bowel. Instead of eggs I eat artichokes in oil. Jars from waitrose. No probs since

Can't believe this timely thread, I've had issues all week like a rock sat under my rib and to ease things I've been eating.. Green bananas 😁 I read they help the probiotics in stomach

Clearly not!!

Chia seeds constipate me. Threw them in the bin.

Echoing other posters in saying you need whole grains and pulses and to lay off the bananas and eggs for a while. Hope it helps

I think your diet is too low carb. I had this problem and my GP said it was the reduction in sugar that was to blame. She recommended more fruit, and that worked.

I do wonder if we're going to end up seeing some health problems associated with lack of dietary fibre in the longer term given the popularity of low carb diets at the moment. Clearly it's possible to get enough fibre while eating low carb but it's a lot more difficult if you're not eating whole grains etc.

Well your not eating much fibre so your going to be constipated

I found that seven seed sensations bread really helps me go to the toilet.

@lydia2021

I had to give up eggs. Not good for bowel. Instead of eggs I eat artichokes in oil. Jars from waitrose. No probs since

Do you poach, scramble or fry them?

Your supposed to have 30g of fibre a day, I can get to about 10g in your diet being generous with portions of veg.

You will be constipated it you eat a third of the fibre you are supposed to.

Diet and constipation can be entirely unrelated. What you eat/don’t eat may not be the whole picture. If you are long term constipated you may need to disimpact to get rid of a blockage, then introduce other good regular habits like using a footstool when you sit on the loo so your knees are above your hips. And then make sure you go for a sit on the loo 20-30 mins after eating when peristalsis makes it most likely for bowel movements to happen.

I was thinking about this last night - you said you were told to have the eggs to help your iron. There are lots of other foods high in iron that won’t constipate you and dried apricots came to mind as a good one to try.

It could be the eggs. I love eggs but I have to be really careful - if I have them then I have to massively over compensate with high fibre stuff even though I’m having plenty of water etc. So much so, I don’t have them that often.

Another thing to consider is how long do you leave between meals especially your evening meal and breakfast? I always try to stop eating for the day well before 8.00 at night, and that includes no late night snacks, tv snacking, alcohol, bedtime drinks (apart from water) I think your whole system works better if your digestive tract is given time to do what it needs to do without being constantly topped up with extra work.

Better for your blood sugar too.

Also try lying on your back and cycling your legs in the air, or getting on a bike and doing it for real!

I used to soak the chia seeds in water till they got all gloopy
Noypleasant but I certainly wasn’t constipated on them
I find I don’t need them now

Eggs stuff you up drink more fluid more carbohydrate more bulky fibre less eggs

Eating eggs any way makes me unwell. Last time I ate eggs I was ill for a week. Havent touched them since. I get iron from spinach, and apricots.

Roasted celeriac is absolutely brilliant to keep me regular. It's actually just too 'loosening' for DH

Wheat and grains can appear to be good at providing fibre. Lots of us find that they don't agree with us. Not as serious as celiac disease, just not really well and 'glowing' with health.

Vegetables especially those grown above ground can have the sand regularising effect and make me feel loads better. Spinach, raw cabbage, leeks are among my favourites.