2 Supplements to Consider for Occasional Constipation
Let’s say you’re having one of those days when you wish your tummy felt less full and bloated and you wish you weren’t -- to put it more directly -- constipated. It’s no big deal and it’s not necessarily going to ruin your day, but you are wondering whether there’s something you could eat or drink for a quick fix.
Usually, there aren’t quick fixes for occasional constipation unless you want to take a laxative. It’s better to make a long-term commitment to regular exercise, plenty of water and a diet with sufficient soluble and insoluble fiber. By the way, health care practitioners recommend up to 35 grams of fiber a day, despite the fact that the average American is getting only 5 to 14 grams.
But here are a couple of items you might want to keep on hand for those days when you wish you had more bowel regularity. Both items are easy to obtain from a grocery or health food store.
One is oat bran, which started receiving praise in the 1980s for its heart-health benefits. But like its cousin oatmeal, oat bran is a great soluble fiber, meaning that it dissolves with water in your colon to form a gel-like material that helps normalize bowel movements. Your body needs insoluble fiber as well, from whole wheat flour and certain vegetables, to “maintain bowel integrity and health,” according to Mayoclinic.com. You can buy oat bran in the bulk foods aisle of the grocery store, or look for it in the cereal section.
The other item (also a soluble fiber) is flaxseed, whose popularity has grown so much in recent years because of its possible medical benefits that it now comes in a variety of forms -- whole, crushed, powder, capsule and liquid. Some people make a habit of adding it to juice or cereal in the morning.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (an arm of the National Institutes of Health) has a section on its website called “What the Science Says” about various nutritional supplements, and for flaxseed the pronouncement is: “Flaxseed contains soluble fiber, like that found in oat bran, and may have a laxative effect.”
We value and respect the experiences of all of our HERWriters, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.
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