Constipation

[John Haydon Boatner]

Currently looking for ways to cure constipation. I take digestive enzymes and pro biotics. Is apple cider vinegar any help in dealing with constipation?

Foods I eat are lean meats, red meats, fish, eggs, all kinds of oils, sweet potatoes, some brown rice, some beans, protein powder, veggies (but probably not enough), 2 or 3 pieces of fruit a day, and water.

Could it be that I may have been undereating for so long that my gastric emptying and fecal movement slowed way down in response. I weigh about 118 (former x country runner and just never gained after stopping running). Im guessing my cals hare around 2300 a day and I lift weights several times a week. I have tried eliminating grains/sugars/starches per advice from this site to see if it was a food intolerance issue but to no avail (wouldn't make sense because I was pooping fine when I ate these foods throughout my life and as a runner).

Im definitely not starving myself now or anything at 2300 cals for 118 pounds and am making steady weight gains, but the constipation is killing me (had to resort to using a fleet suppository couple days back after a 4 day stint of no movements.....you take for granted how good just being able to shit and clean yourself out is lol).

[Dave Van Skike]

more veggies is sort of basic but flax hulls work well for me.

[Gavin Harrison]

Originally Posted by John Haydon Boatner

Currently looking for ways to cure constipation. I take digestive enzymes and pro biotics. Is apple cider vinegar any help in dealing with constipation?

Foods I eat are lean meats, red meats, fish, eggs, all kinds of oils, sweet potatoes, some brown rice, some beans, protein powder, veggies (but probably not enough), 2 or 3 pieces of fruit a day, and water.

Could it be that I may have been undereating for so long that my gastric emptying and fecal movement slowed way down in response. I weigh about 118 (former x country runner and just never gained after stopping running). Im guessing my cals hare around 2300 a day and I lift weights several times a week. I have tried eliminating grains/sugars/starches per advice from this site to see if it was a food intolerance issue but to no avail (wouldn't make sense because I was pooping fine when I ate these foods throughout my life and as a runner).

Im definitely not starving myself now or anything at 2300 cals for 118 pounds and am making steady weight gains, but the constipation is killing me (had to resort to using a fleet suppository couple days back after a 4 day stint of no movements.....you take for granted how good just being able to shit and clean yourself out is lol).

Suggestions:

Originally Posted by John Haydon Boatner

some beans

Change that to, a lot of beans. I like baked beans, refried beans, pinto beans, string beans, etc. Loads of fiber, and some extra protein to boot

Originally Posted by John Haydon Boatner

veggies (but probably not enough)

Frozen veggies rock. They're easy to make and add to a meal.

Also, salads are good to have on occasion. Oh, and soups are good sometimes too, especially the ones with lots of veggies in.

I wouldn't worry about food intolerances sounds more like fiber deficiency. If you need to gain weight, don't worry so much about what you're eating.. just up your fiber intake! Fiber is important, I well respected authority on body building and diet (jk), Dan John, basically boils diet down to this: eat protein and fiber at every meal. Eat fiber, it keeps you regular.

[Jay Cohen]

I tend to eat low carb and fiber is challenging, so I sup with psyllium flakes. It's cheap, fills you up, stores well and works for me.

[John Haydon Boatner]

Thin is i get good amounts of fiber daily from sweet potatoes, beans, fruit, avocadoes (a fruit i guess), flax seed meal, etc. Prolly in the range of 30-45 grams daily. My water intake varies from llike 1-1.5 liters though. Hmmmm, my knuckles and feet have been dry and scaly for a while now. Maybe not enough water?

[John Haydon Boatner]

Was doing IF for a while FYI to try and do the whole lean gains deal but am now back to normal eating habits. For some reason I could only maintain (or unintentionally lose) weight doing the 16/8 thing. Just gonna go back to about 3 meals a day now with about 3 or so snacks/mini meals every 3 or 4 hours to gain.

[Garrett Smith]

More fat (including saturated and fish oil). Eat some prunes (not too many). Get some magnesium (~500mg/day). Yoga. Good cup of coffee in the morning, taken black.

Adding some sea veggies (kelp, nori, dulse, whatever you'll eat, or you can get tablets) on a regular basis to get some iodine in your diet could help show that a sluggish thyroid is to blame due to iodine deficiency, particularly if you have cold hands/feet and get very cold if you go too long between meals.

If you did the above stuff and didn't get a change in your BMs, I'd be very surprised.