Little Known Ways to Help Prevent Constipation

Constipation, though common and widespread can be easily prevented and avoided. Sure you will probably experience it once in while—but who doesn't? There are plenty of preventive measures that you can take so you can hopefully live a life free of constipation. Some of the preventive measures for constipation you'll see here are common while some may surprise you.

The DO's and DON'Ts of Preventing Constipation

· Never fight the urge when you feel like relieving yourself. Except of course in instances where there is no available comfort room anywhere. Fighting the urge to defecate will upset your natural body clock; it's saying that you'll do it later but when later comes, your body might not be keen on cooperating with you anymore.

· Check your diet. A well balanc ed diet to prevent constipation includes lots of fiber and sufficient fluid intake. Fluid intake should be 8 to 12 glasses a day or more. You can get fiber from whole grains, vegetables and fruits. The most fiber rich however are prunes, pears, figs, popcorn, raisins, oatmeal, papaya and nuts. Eating fri ed foods, cauliflower, cabbage, beans and dri ed fruit should be consum ed moderately. Milk is actually constipating for some but helps in preventing constipation for some, so observe how milks affect you.

· Exercise. Exercise is strongly advised to combat a host of illnesses and of course constipation. Exercise is shown to have effect on the proper digestion of food and consequently making the stools go down quicker.

· Evaluate your supplement and m ed ication intake. Certain supplements and m ed ications are known to have an adverse effect on bowel movement. Among these are calcium supplements and antacids that contain aluminum. M ed ication for allergies like antihistamines, m ed icine for Parkinson's disease, narcotics, s ed atives, diuretics, some antidepressants to name a few are contributors to constipation problems.

· Establish a ‘toilet habit'. Just like we train children when to go to the bathroom to relieve themselves, it's never too late to train yourself as well. Pick a meal time in which after you relieve yourself. In time, your body will adjust to your designated time. Just be sure to couple this change with preventive measures discussed above.

· Eat smaller meals and eat only when hungry. Eating smaller meals will give your digestion system the room and the time to break down your food properly. This way, you won't have to strain yourself when you feel too full and can't relieve yourself properly.

These tips ma y sound simple but constipation IS often simply an effect of bad habits. So try to keep the above in mind and you'll see how easy it is to NOT be bother ed or at least beginning to r ed uce constipation problems.  Good bowel habits help to create good bowels.  A quarterly bowel cleanse using natural products are a huge plus!