How do you keep yourself regular ?.

[GezFox]

I have always had irregular bowel movements I.e. Every three days is quite normal for me. I try to drink 1.5 litres of water a day and run three times a week. Every once in a while I will go through A period of a week when I don't go properly at all . I am thinking of taking some sort of laxative / stool softener to get things moving . What would you recommend ? am gong on holiday in 5 days and want to try and resolve before I go. Thanks ,

What's your diet like? All the water and running won't help if you're eating too many refined carbs and not enough naturals fibre (fruit & veg).

I have similar and senokot works fine

try brown rice, and fruit?
dried apricots/prunes are excellent
oth if you always go every 3 days that is your normal

Weetabix or Shreddies every morning without fail

I second the weatabix every morning or every other morning. I also have baked beans regularly which I find helps . Dates, raisins, fresh fruit and veg also help. But yes warm milk with dates or weatbix is great. For when things are really bad. Try a few days off lactulose. I find that much better than sennacot, glycerine etc it is quite gentle so won't give you the awful cramps and gass. Good luck

Fybogel is very good. I have one drink of it per night when I start to feel bunged up and it always sorts me out.

Pears and mandarin oranges.

How much fibre a day...see examples here.

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/how-to-get-more-fibre-into-your-diet.aspx

If you are getting at least 5-6 fruit/ veg a day plus some wholewheat cereals bread, rice, pasta), you should be ok.

I second pears. One a day helps me lots

Hi
Thanks so much for all your responses .

I rarely eat refined foods and never eat ready meals but I am now questioning whether I am getting enough fibre. cereals , Bread , rice and pasta don't really feature much in my diet and nor do potatoes or dried fruit or pears !

Typical diet is as follows:

breakfast
Scrambled / poached eggs with German rye bread , kale and baby plum tomatoes
Or
Porridge with blueberries and linseeds and chopped dates (twice a week)

Lunch
Salad containing spinach, toms, cucumber celery with either tuna or turkey plus seeds ( pumpkin and sunflower )
Greek yogurt with blueberries

Snack
Almonds
Dark chocolate 85%

Dinner
Salmon / chicken / cod with broccoli and green beans

Are you trying to lose weight?

That's a really healthy looking diet but it's quite low on carbs- all you are having is the porridge and the rye bread.

I think everyone is different. I eat a bit like you but if I really did eat all that fruit and veg as in your example, I'd be going 3x a day. Twice a day is normal for me, and sometimes 3 x. (But I think I have a touch of IBS.)

A lot depends on the amount of all the stuff you are eating.

eg- baby tomatoes- is that 6 or 1?
kale- how much? A teaspoon or a fistful?
blueberries- a few or a good handful?
broccoli- one floret or half a head?

There is nothing wrong with only having a poo once every few days. But if it's a struggle to 'go' then you are maybe not drink enough.

big bowl of all bran!!

You may need more fat in your diet. Wheetabix causes constipation in me.

Try some bran cereal and dried fruit.

Hi
It is low carb but to maintain rather than to liose weight and the quantities are on the larger end of scale i.e. Half head of broccoli and 6 baby plum tomatoes ! Also on Fridays and Saturdays add wine !
My regular is really every 3 days ( apart from when I have my period when I go every day ! ) so just need to figure out how to get out of longer periods of not going .

I think I need to be more conscious of fibre as I think my current diet is def not high fibre so will make sure I get some more .
Unfortunately I can't stand weetabix / shreddies/ allbran but love baked beans and pears !

I swear by a glass of prune juice every morning and a daily kiwi.

I also try and drink 2L per day and I think this makes a difference. Your urine should be pale yellow if you are properly hydrated so if it's darker than this you may want to increase your fluids too.

I would suggest senna or ducolax for when you want to get things moving.

All Bran, yogurt and grapes.

Your diet is excellent by the looks of it. Must be so annoying.

*I always soak the All Bran in the milk for about half an hour first, I really enjoy it with the grapes (or any other fruit) and yogurt.

I'd increase the fruit and veg- a single apple has quite a lot of fibre. You could have fruit after your dinner each evening. Or have a piece of fruit instead of the chocolate some days.
And monitor your fluid intake. You may think you are getting 1.5 ltrs but it may not be quite that. ( 6-8 x 250mls cups/ glasses a day?)

Half a glass of prune juice on a morning

Hi where do you buy prune juice ? Is it awful ?!!!!!

When I feel like fruit I tend to go for blueberries , melon, pineapple , mango . But will get some apples and pears in the house and see if that helps

Eggs are binding and it looks like you're having some every day so I'd stop that.

Personally, I take magnesium supplements, but not sure how good it is to do that all the time.

I would definitely avoid any aggressive laxatives like senna or the stuff you get in laxative herbal tea. I second the person above who mentioned Fybogel though I use magnesium myself.

Try the suggestions. Maybe keeps food diary, might need to be for a while and see if there is a change in activities, food, stress levels that make you less regular.

Milled chia seeds.

eggs are binding
No they aren't. It's an old wives tale :)

Hens become 'egg bound' but not humans.

I used to believe in the constipating values of an egg but read stuff which showed it's bollocks.