TO wonder if my chronic constipation IS actually my own fault?

[BladdersRoom]

Been chronically constipated for years. A while back, this resulted in me being rushed to hospital in agony with an impacted bowel.

Doctor's have always said I need to eat more fibre and my response was always "I do! That doesn't work for me!"

However I've been following my fibre intake on MFP recently and have realised I NEVER hit target. In fact, the most I've ever managed was 15g one day but most days it's between 2g and 7g

So is this actually the cause of my constipation?? I'm considering going veggie so that my meat substitutes contain so much more fibre but I'm worried that I'm going to end up a bloater.

Is my fibre intake (or lack of) really enough to have caused this long battle with constipation?

cereal is saturated in it Ready Brek isn't.

My fibre intake was much higher than yours but I still had a tendency to constipation. What works for me is a small (5oz) glass of coconut water in the morning; 30-40 minutes later, it moves me... rapidly. I know it's ridiculously expensive at £3.69 but a litre lasts all week. Hope it helps you!

My breakfast today was a kipper, spinach, egg and feta cheese.

You don't have to eat cereal (or shit in a box as Pagwatch once described it).

Even with a pear a day added on, that would still be a pretty low fibre diet I eat a shit diet but I have at the very least a piece of fruit and veg with my dinner. How could you think that was lots of fibre? I don't mean to be judgemental, BTW - the doctor should've been more specific about what contains fibre and just how much fibre is enough. In your shoes I'd be trying to get at least some fibre into a couple of my meals every day, and probably a veg/fruit snack during the day. It shouldn't be too much hassle, if it's arduous or too big a change you won't stick to it. You could also experiment with soluble vs insoluble fibre - some people find one sort works better than the other. Muesli for breakfast?

Your diet reads as being very high in protein actually.

Apart from changing your diet as suggested above, you could for the moment start your day, before eating anything else, with a tablespoonful of ground flaxseed in hot water. From what I understand it tastes quite good

Add seeds and raw fruit to your shake.

Fibregel makes you balk- do you drink it immediately? My sister thought she had to wait for it to gel. You don't, drink it while it is thin. It's like sunny d. Comes in different flavours.

What do you like? Nuts and seeds? Dried fruit? Raw carrots?

Swap a meal for whole meal toast with peanut butter and extra flax seeds.

Honestly, be careful, you may not need a lot- you've been having barely any!

I think maybe you need to go to more traditional dinners for a time, I like to have sausage and mash with three different veg options, same with a pie.

Keep some frozen veg in, cauliflower, Brocolli, green beans, carrots in the fridge.

You need to be having 5 portions of fruit and veg a day minimum, as well as some sort of all bran for breakfast.

OP if u have a milkshake of a morning could u swop to smoothie? I have similar issues and each morning i stir in 2 heaped teaspoons of Recugol from holland and barrett into about 150ml fruit smoothie. Recugol is like ground up fibery bits. The smoothie absorbs the grittiness its like having a thick smoothie. And a magnificent 11 grams of fibre to start your day

Just have to overlook the packaging which has an elderly couple out for an autumn walk

Breakfast - why are you sticking with the protein shake? You'd be better off with something like poached egg (for your protein) on wholemeal toast, with some fruit. That way you get fibre from your toast and a portion of fruit. If you don't have time to poach an egg before work, you can do hardboiled eggs, and then eat one on the way in. You can even add in a few leaves of salad, like the pots you get in Pret etc.

Can you not make yourself a decent 'salad' for lunch every day? You can get loads of veg in there. For example:

-a third of a bag of (e.g.) rocket salad
-2 or 3 small boiled potatoes with skins on, chopped into wedges (boil enough for three lunches twice a week and keep in fridge)
-some extra cooked veg (maybe some cold roast e.g. peppers, or even just some cooked frozen peas)

• some shredded raw cauliflower and/or broccoli for crunch
• other salad things like cucumber (with skin on) or tomato

add some protein/fat of your choice

• half an avocado
• a hard boiled egg
• some cooked salmon, chicken etc
• tofu
• cheese

And a dressing of your choice

Followed by a portion of fruit

You can mix and match the ingredients so you have something different each day but you still get a good two or three portions of veg/fruit at lunchtime. It travels well, so I make mine the night before if I'm at work the next day.

Supper - I'd also mix up your evening carbs. If you're not interested in cooking you can get loads of microwavable packs of e.g. quinoa & lentils or brown rice.

Agree with the 'eat a raw carrot every day'. Cheap and tasty. No such thing as too many carrots .

Do you like fruit? You say you don't eat it. I'm wondering if our suggestions are a bit pointless if you dont like it.

If you do, how about

Pack of frozen raspberries, large Greek yogurt split over three days for breakfast.

Tin baxters green lentil soup with seeded bread. Piece of fruit or massive chunk of cucumber.

Normal dinner with lots of veg, frozen peas plus half a head of broccoli, or some frozen spinach stirred in.

Bran flakes are not saturated in sugar.

the diet I suggested is high in fibre and may well fix your problem.
You don't actually sound like you want to help yourself whatsoever.

if I suffered for years with constipation then and all I had to do is change my diet, Id leap at the chance.

But whatever.

How often are you going to the toilet? I think if I ate as you do daily it may only be every 2/3 days that I would pass stools, you must feel quite uncomfortable being constipated.

I'm not keen on fruit either OP but I do love salads.
Is salad something you could try?
The lack of veg in your diet is a bit shocking tbh

Processed cereal can be high in sugar, but the plainer stuff like porridge oats and cornflakes isnt.

I'd take linseed or psyllium husks with water every day. (I think you can take linseed 3x a day). And yeah cut out refined carbs completely.

bugger didnt include the link here you go
cake bars to make you poo

Regucol sorry

you can take psyllium husks in capsule form, I can't cope with the disgusting gloop of fibrogel either.

Lots of good advice here re your actual diet. Just try to add more actual vegetables!

Ready meals and pre made sauces like dolmio are full of sugar op!!

Weetabix and porridge are low sugar but you can make them quite liquidy with milk if that helps?

Your diet is pretty bad!! Salads and soups for lunch would be good. I have high fibre without eating too much fruit, just lots and lots of veg and pulses.

Pasta x2 meals each day would bung up anyone, surely?

Put a half cup of porridge oats and a couple of tablespoons of ground almonds in your smoothy, and some fruit and that will add lots of fibre and some protein. Also, natural greek yogurt (like Fage 2% fat) is high in protein and live bacteria, so good for your gut, and has a naturally creamy non-sour flavour with no added sugar.

Also, you swapped out a chicken burger for a quorn burger. A grilled chicken breast is probably just as healthy for you, but either way you could grill two or three at dinner time, eat one hot with boiled new potatoes (keep the skin on for more fibre) and a big pile of salad that includes things like grated carrots, kidney beans, and some sunflower seeds as well as the usual lettuce tomato cucumber. Then eat more salad, cold slice up chicken breast, and make potato salad out of some left-over potatoes.

Stir fries are good for packing in the veg too, and they can be all made in one pan and warmed up the next day for lunch :-)

How old are you OP?

You don't have to answer of course but are you old enough to remember the F plan diet? If you can get hold of a copy or maybe it's online somewhere there are loads of high fibre recipes that will really get you going

I have gestational diabetes and had to see a dietician and the talk on portion sizes was a real eye opener , the meat element of a meal should be no bigger than a deck of cards , the carb the size of your fist so a portion is half a jacket potato or 3 new potatoes or 2-3 tablespoons of rice or pasta the rest of the plate should be veg or salad , breakfast cereal is 3 tablespoons i realised i was eating way too many carbs and nowhere near enough fruit and veg , she also said not to eat fruit with a meal but to have it later on as a snack to keep your metabolism going

Whatever you do OP, don't do all this at once! Gastric disaster, darling...

Protein shakes are full of sugar. Eating every day like that it's full of sugar and lacking in nutrients. Protein shakes are not the way forward

Can I ask do you have issues around food and gaining weight