Category: Low Calorie

Gaining Constipation Relief On A Low Calorie Diet

The Bowel gets backed up and overfull

 

 

Diet Problem – Constipation

One of the problems with many diets is that constipation can raise its ugly head – you know, that time when your bowel is full,  you can feel that you need to visit the loo but nothing is moving. That can get very uncomfortable and if it continues for more than a couple of days, it can get very serious. This article will cover how to relieve constipation arising from low fiber in the diet. It does not provide health advice. If you have any concerns over your health whether diet or constipation related, please consult your medical adviser. If you find yourself suddenly constipated, unable to pass a motion or even gas or passing blood, please get urgent medical advice immediately.

What Is Constipation?

Constipation is when your bowel movements happen less often than usual or when they are hard to pass. The normal number of bowel movements can be very different between different people. Some “go” only once or twice a week, others may need to visit the loo two or three times a day. But the longer the time between having bowel movements, the harder it becomes to have one, as the colon (the last part of the gut) removes water from the “poo” making it harder and more compacted and more difficult to pass.

Constipation Symptoms

Some of the symptoms you may get if you have constipation can include having to strain to go, having hard or small stools, having fewer bowel movements than usual, a feeling that everything didn’t come out, a swollen belly or having belly pain and possibly even throwing up. Some people may get diarrhea, because liquid stools further up the gut slide past the harder material further on down.

Why Does Dieting Cause Constipation?

Dieting can cause constipation (or diarrhea) because of changes in your usual food intake, or you may be less active than usual, or you may not be drinking enough water or taking in enough fiber or possibly, because you avoid visiting the loo when you know you need to “go” and resist the urge to have a bowel movement. This may be because you are busy, or for some people, because they have hemorrhoids and these cause pain. If your stools are less bulky than usual or you are taking in less food because of dieting, you may find that there is a change in your bowel habits that can lead to constipation. It is important to recognize this early and take steps to deal with it as quickly as possible.

Constipation Relief

There are several areas you can tackle to stop or relieve constipation. With dieting, you may be eating less overall, so your stools have less bulk and you may also be eating less fiber. The lack of bulk means the intestine has less material to work with, so it doesn’t push the contents through as quickly as usual. The act of pushing the contents through the digestive system is called peristalsis. Find out more about peristalsis, with a video, here.

The two most basic areas are to stay well hydrated, that is, to drink plenty of water and to take in plenty of fiber. Both of these work together to provide more bulk in your stools.

How Much Fiber Do I Need?

WebMD suggests that women need 25 grams of fiber a day and men need 38 grams per day.

Fiber

One kind of fiber with no calories is psyllium husks also known as ispaghula. This is easily available on line and probably in your nearest pharmacy or health food shop or even grocery supermarket. It is a dry, powdery, even feathery type of substance, which is mixed with a glass of cold water and drunk straight down. It should be followed by more water, to make sure there is sufficient water to allow it to work, otherwise if is too dry, it can cause a blockage in the intestines. It can also be obtained in capsule form. Psyllium husks are also used in commercially available products advertised for bulking out the stool. These may make the product more appealing to take, being flavored with orange or lemon. You can mimic this at home by adding a teaspoonful of lemon juice to your glass before adding water and psyllium husks. Because psyllium husks, with water bulk out the contents of the intestines, they provide more for the peristaltic action to work on and so are a gentler form of constipation relief.

Fiber in Real Food

If you are on a low calorie diet, you need to get as much fiber for the calories taken in as possible. Apart from using psyllium husks, this may seem almost impossible. “Increase your fiber intake” you get told, yet when you look at the fiber content of various healthy vegetables, such as celery or green beans or broccoli, you find that you would probably need to eat 2 or 3 pounds in weight of any of these to get your daily requirements. And the foods with plenty of fiber also seem to have plenty of calories too, which makes it hard to keep within your calorie allowance.

It is possible to create soups that are low calorie and high fiber, using lentils and flavored with garlic and celery. Extra fiber from wheat bran or oat bran can be added to these to increase the fiber content and make a healthy lunch or tea that fits within your calorie allowance. These can be made with a stock cube (watch the salt) for ease or by making your own bone broth, which is cheap and highly nutritious but will take a bit longer. Bone broth can be frozen, so you can always have the basis of a soup available.

Other ways of tackling constipation are to eat or drink items that also contain natural stool softeners, in addition to the fiber they contain. These types of food include prunes and prune juice and apple juice. When on a diet, you want to find fiber with the least number of calories, so you are not breaking your diet by taking in too many calories. Prunes and apple and pear juice are quite high in calories so you will only be able to eat or drink a little, however, they also contain sorbitol a natural laxative. If you are on a calorie restricted diet then you get better benefit from eating prunes, for instance than by drinking prune juice, as you get more fiber for your calorie intake, as well as getting the laxative effect from the natural sorbitol. Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol produced from fruits and corn and has been used as a sugar substitute. The body only metabolizes it very slowly, so it doesn’t produce an insulin spike and it has a laxative effect, so may not be suitable for those with IBS.

Exercise and Physical Methods As Constipation Remedies

Exercise is a useful way of getting “things moving”, including walking and, if you can, running. Yoga can also be used to help with constipation and gas problems and there are particular poses that are especially helpful. You can find a number of videos available demonstrating these poses. If you are not used to yoga, you should consider whether these are suitable for you, as some yoga poses should not be used by people suffering from Osteoporosis for instance. There is also the possibility of abdominal massage, which can move the contents on around the digestive system. The yoga moves shown above also work this way.

Laxatives And Suppositories

If you really are in desperation from constipation, then laxatives such as preparations containing senna are available over the counter. Ask for advice from your pharmacist to ensure these are suitable for you. It is also possible to obtain glycerin suppositories for insertion into the rectum, to soften the stool to allow it to be passed. Again, seek advice from your pharmacist or medical adviser to make sure this is suitable for you. If you suddenly find yourself suffering from constipation, with no known reason, get medical advice immediately.

ProBiotics and PreBiotics

What is the difference between prebiotics and probiotics?

Probiotics – the “good” bacteria

Our gut contains a lot of bacteria, that help with our general health and digestion. Probiotics are the “good” bacteria, or flora, that we can take, either in something like “live” yogurt or fresh sauerkraut or kefir or as a supplement, to add to the ones already there, to boost the numbers of “good” bacteria. They are alive and help us digest our food, as well as creating (synthesizing) Vitamins B and K. The biggest numbers live in the large intestine and can form as much as 60% of the dry matter in our poo. Recent research suggests that the gut is a 2nd brain and can affect our bodies in many ways we are only just beginning to find out about.

By changing our diet, perhaps by dieting and reducing the level of certain kinds of food or eating more of others, we may change the numbers and kinds of good bacteria in our gut and this can affect our health and may contribute to constipation or diarrhea. Our gut flora also changes as we get older. Taking a probiotic can help keep our gut bacteria working for us, instead of against our health. These can be taken in capsule form or in food. Take any probiotics onnly with COLD drinks, so you don’t kill the bacteria.

Prebiotics

Prebiotics are the kinds of food that the probiotic bacteria live on. The prebiotics are plant fibers that come from fruit and vegetables. With lots of prebiotic fibers, the good bacteria have plenty of food to help them grow and do their job of keeping our gut healthy. These fibers are not digested in the first part of the digestive system (the stomach and small intestine) so they reach the large intestine mostly untouched. They ferment there and provide good food for the good bacteria. This fermentation also helps keep the numbers of “bad” bacteria low.

Probiotic yogurt

This is a type of yogurt that contains a “live” culture of some of the types of “good” bacteria that are useful in the digestive system. In order to get the benefit of the live culture, you need to make sure you don’t take a hot drink at the same time, as that will kill the live culture before it can get to work!

Probiotics For Weightloss

While probiotics are not specifically used for weightloss, there is some evidence that they can have a protective effect against the symptoms arising from emotional problems like stress, anxiety and depression. This may help those who overeat because of emotional problems to control their overeating, as their symptoms become less and so they may eat less.

Constipation on a Low Calorie Diet Can be Managed

It is possible to keep the bowels moving smoothly by taking in a regular level of fiber each day and using some of the other techniques in this article to keep within your low calorie diet limits.

 

Two Week Review of Blood Sugar Diet

How I Started BSD

I started the 800 calorie Blood Sugar Diet on a whim, a couple of weeks ago. Not exactly a whim but I had read Dr Michael Mosley’s book on the 8 week, 800 calorie BSD and finished it on the Sunday. It made a lot of sense and it mentioned that the patients in the clinical research trial run at Newcastle University had been put on liquid “shakes” to ensure their calories were counted correctly. I had protein shake in the house, so I decided that from the next day, I would try the 800 calorie 8 week diet. I told myself that I would try it for one day, that I could last one day and then I could go back onto my normal low carb diet. I was just going to try it out. It can be useful to tell yourself this kind of story, looking forward just one day at a time, rather than saying, I HAVE to do this for 8 weeks, when it can seem like a life sentence!

Two weeks later, I am still on this diet and it has been completely possible, I have NOT felt like eating the table leg because I was so hungry. I can’t say that I haven’t felt hungry at all but it’s odd, the hunger has just been a sensation, a feeling, that I was able to acknowledge was there, without salivating or feeling I had to get something to eat.

I have kept a chart of my progress, with the number of calories I ate each day and with my abdomen girth and my weight taken when I had access to a weighing scale. Over the two weeks, I have now dropped 4.5 Kgs, this is 10 pounds in weight! I am at the lowest weight ever for years and I have every expectation that I can break the 70 Kg barrier tomorrow or the next day. This is REALLY exciting for me, as I have not been this low a weight since I discovered (or was introduced to) the Atkins diet back around the year 2000.

What am I eating?

I don’t have breakfast until about 11.00 am most days, because I go for a walk and do not eat until I return from that. I have found that a 100 calorie protein shake, with a cup of tea or coffee to follow, fills me nicely. I have a shaker bottle and a scoop. I add a little water to the shaker bottle, add 1 scoop of protein shake, put the top on and shake to mix it up. I then add more water up to the 500 ml level (about 15 fluid ounces). I drink this slowly. The current flavor is chocolate smooth. I also enjoy blueberry and strawberries and cream flavors. The shake I use is NOT marketed as a diet aid but as nutrition for athletes. It is high in protein and uses artificial sweeteners, to keep the calories low. It is my feeling that by taking a large amount of fluid with the calories, my stomach can feel full even BEFORE the calories hit the digestive system. I take another of these at about 2 pm. By that time, I am starting to feel a bit hungry but the shake fills me up again, so I last until dinnertime with no problems.

For dinner, I generally have what everyone else is having, except, no potatoes or rice or pasta or bread. I just have the meat and a non-starchy vegetable, such as green beans, or cabbage, or cauliflower, etc. I was surprised and pleased to find that a dinner like that is about 400 calories. (I haven’t actually tried any different recipes but there are plenty of recipes available for the BSD if you want.) Together with the shakes earlier in the day, this makes about 600 calories. You might think that is great but NO! Read on to find out why.

Since I realised I could stick to this diet for at least a while longer, I decided to find a support group online, to share experiences and help. I found a closed Facebook group for the 800 calories, 8 week blood sugar diet and applied to join. They were very quick in approving my application and very welcoming, with lots of members there. I immediately found that I should NOT try sticking to 600 calories a day, as my body might think it was being starved and possibly reduce my metabolism to slow weight loss! They advised that I should add a little fat to make my intake up to 800 calories a day. I love almond butter and have that in the house but a small teaspoonful of that has about 100 calories and I have been used to eating a LOT more than that. I was concerned that I might go back to eating a lot of almond butter, so decided instead to put butter on my vegetables at dinner. One ounce of butter has about 200 calories, so that made me up to the 800 calories a day. Other alternatives suggested, were to add cream to coffee, also very nice. They were also able to point me to information on dealing with constipation.

The group talked about various “rounds” of the diet. It seems that some people go on the 8 week diet, take a rest, then do another round. I had never even thought of that! There is a LOT of information, recipes and support available if you want to do this diet.

Positive Points of the BSD

  • Quick weight loss. I have lost about 10 pounds in 2 weeks and feel I could lose a bit more with no real problems. My target weight is 126 pounds, 9 stone, 57 Kgs. According to the height and weight charts available online, I am currently in the overweight category. My target weight is in the middle of the “normal” category.
  • Not feeling especially hungry
  • no loss of energy

Difficult Points with the BSD

  • Constipation. It’s the same with many diets, the reduction in carbohydrate intake reduces fiber intake. In my case, the almond butter provided a lot of fiber. I need to replace that with more vegetable fiber.
  • Felt a bit cold during the first week of the diet. The weather was cold but I don’t normally suffer too much with it. Not as cold feeling this week.

Future

Christmas will be here in less than one week and I feel it is highly unlikely that i will stick to this diet over Christmas. BUT the Facebook support group for BSD has planned an 8 week round starting 2 January. I will be on that.

From Low Carb To Low Cal Diet

Low Carb Diets

I have been a big fan of low carb diets ever since I first tried the Atkins Diet probably around the year 2000. I was considerably overweight, though fit. I attended up to 4 classes of step aerobics each week and completed them no problem. So the term fat but fit or fit but fat could have been applied to me.

I was wary of starting a diet at that time because I had memories of feeling ravenously hungry in previous years and feeling that diets didn’t work for me. In addition, I had always thought that you couldn’t just remove carbohydrates from your diet, you would get ill or very unhealthy. How wrong could I have been?

A work colleague persuaded me to find out more about the Atkins Diet, so I bought the book and started to read. It totally blew my mind. I didn’t need carbohydrates, at least not all of the amounts I had been consuming? I might be allergic to carbohydrates? I could be healthy eating mainly protein and fat? It was a revelation. And that book was written by a heart doctor who had tried this diet out on his patients who ended up a lot healthier than previously!

I lost 4 dress sizes and 28 pounds on that diet and felt really healthy but eventually I slipped away from low carb into the temptations of sugar and put weight on again.

Older and Not As Easy

I am nearly 20 years older now and losing weight is not as easy these days, however, I have gone back onto a low carb diet because quite honestly I feel better eating that way. I don’t crave sweet stuff, I can leave it totally alone, not even tempted to lick a bit round the edges! I am looking at low carb cooking, though it is hard to persuade my husband to move away from the (healthy) way of eating he has enjoyed for decades. But then his weight stays the same healthy level from year to year – lucky so and so. So although I feel better on low carb, I would like to lose some weight as well, so I have decided to move onto low calorie eating, however, I am likely to keep to the low carb type of food anyway, simply because I enjoy it more and feel better on it.

Low Calorie

A calorie is the measure of the amount of energy in your food. The theory is that food containing a lot of energy (calories) requires you either to work it off or else it gets stored as fat. A low calorie diet doesn’t prescribe what kind of food you eat, just that it mustn’t contain too many calories. So you could eat a very small piece of cake or some cookies or a LOT of lettuce and celery. Each might contain the same amount of calories, so you would be on a low cal diet but one might leave you feeling ravenously hungry a short time later (the cake or cookies, if you didn’t know), while the other would take longer to digest and leave you feeling fuller for longer. If you choose your food wisely, you can eat a low calorie, healthy diet and lose weight, while not feeling like you could eat an elephant, or a gallon tub of ice cream! Some low calorie diets are used for a short time only, to get weight loss kicked off. One of these diets is the 8 week 800 calorie blood sugar diet, developed by a University and tested on diabetic patients. You can read more about that here. If you want to read the book and check up all about it you can get it here.

Which Will You Try?

Have you tried a low carb or low calorie diet? Which did you prefer?