Eating fruit and vegetables can help relieve constipation, but eating them the wrong way can worsen the condition, a nutritionist said yesterday.
Chi Mei Medical Center nutritionist Chu En-chi (朱恩琪) said people often eat banquet-style foods during the Lunar New Year holiday, adding that as such foods are usually prepared with meat or fish and are high in fats, salt and calories, some people might have digestive tract problems after the holiday.
Constipation is a common problem and many people believe that eating fruit and vegetables, which are high in dietary fiber, can help relieve the symptoms, she said.
“However, eating them the wrong way can worsen the problem,” she said.
“If people do not drink enough water, the dietary fiber will not be able to absorb water and expand in volume, so the stool will be small and hard, and will move slowly through the intestines,” Chu said, adding that the intestines absorb water from food to rehydrate the body, so the stool might become dry and have difficulty passing though the end of the digestive tract.
She someone who weighs 60kg should drink at least 2.1 liters of water per day, along with dietary fiber intake, to relieve constipation.
Chu said there are two types of dietary fiber: soluble and insoluble.
Soluble fibers can lower cholesterol and glucose levels and insoluble fibers can speed up the rate at which stool passes through the digestive tract, she said, adding that both need water to function properly.
She suggested that people who are not used to eating food high in dietary fiber increase their fiber intake gradually to avoid abdominal distention, diarrhea or gas; drink plenty of water along with high-fiber food; and exercise regularly to relieve constipation.
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