Well Close Medical Group
www.wellclosemedicalgroup.com 18th May 2013

Healthy bowels

Around 400BC, Hippocrates, one of the ancient Greek physicians, wrote, "Death sits in the bowels". Today, cancer of the bowel is responsible for thousands of premature deaths a year. The role of diet in maintaining healthy bowels is indisputable and every year, it appears that more and more is understood about the development of disease in the lower end of the gut.
 

The digestive system

The gut is a commonly used word meaning the whole of the digestive system. The journey on which food goes, can take up to 3 days, from beginning to end. We pop food into our mouth, give it a chew and off it travels, down the oesophagus, into the stomach, where it gets a real 'going over' from gastric juices. From the stomach it passes into the small intestine, which is about a 6-metre length of incredibly complex muscle. This is the real workhouse of digestion and where complicated enzymes break the (by now) slushy semi-digested food down into its basic nutrients. These nutrients (along with large volumes of water) get absorbed back through the intestinal wall into the blood stream and are used by the body.
What is left of the food is passed, from the small intestine into the large intestine (colon) where it meets with millions of bacteria. These bacteria can break down some of the remaining undigested waste material. The colon acts a little like the 'spin' on a washing machine cycle and up to 1500mls water is absorbed back into the body, along with valuable minerals.
What remains after all this activity, is waste material (technically called faeces or 'stools', but to children and adults alike, known affectionately as 'poo'). Ideally, our faeces should be soft and bulky, (like a sausage, with either a smooth or cracked surface), but many people know, only too well, that this is not always the case.

So what diet will help?
  The most common advice to all sufferers of constipation is to increase the fibre in the diet, i.e. increase the foods that contain bits that are not digested. These bits are then left behind in the colon. This 'fibre' or undigested waste material, absorbs water, generally swells and is more likely to stimulate the muscles to expel it.
Recently there has been significant change in the terminology that is used to describe this fibre.
In order to keep the advice simple, the terminology used in this advice will not be 'technically accurate' (as per current terminology). However it remains 'user friendly' and the advice is appropriate and accurate.
  • wholemeal/granary/ 'high grain' white bread when possible, instead of white bread
  • potatoes in their skins (jacket or boiled) when possible, especially instead of chipped or mashed potato
  • higher fibre cereals e.g. Porridge, muesli, branflakes, 'shredded wheat' type cereal instead of low fibre cereal
  • beans (e.g. kidney beans, black eye beans, baked beans etc.), lentils and peas, including split peas, on a regular basis. Try using these foods to replace some meat
  • wholemeal pasta and wholegrain rice as an alternative to white pasta and rice
  • replace half quantity of white flour with wholemeal flour in recipes. The taste will be little different!
  • plenty of all vegetables, lightly cooked or raw, - you cannot go wrong with these!
  • plenty of fruit - instead of, or as well as, other snacks. Dried fruit is a useful alternative to fresh fruit.

Above all drink plenty of water, or water- based drinks. at least 8 - 10 cups of fluid a day are important. do not count alcohol, coffee, tea or any other caffeine containing drinks. Water is best (tap or bottled). diluted cordials and fruit teas are also helpful.
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