It's not "all in your head" ... it IS in your gut Apart from troublesome bowel habit, such as going too much, experiencing urgency, or going too little and a feeling of incomplete evacuation, another issue can be bloating and excessive gas. Fermentation of fibre and other types of carbohydrate by ‘friendly’ bacteria in the large intestine (colon) can produce lots of malodorous gas, which may make for very uncomfortable work and social situations. And then there is the burping and stomach gurgling that can add to this misery of a gut that ‘talks’ too much. Gut transit time affects poo consistency
The speed at which food and poop moves along our gut varies, depending on a range of factors, including the particular foods and fluids we’ve eaten and drunk in the past day or two. At the extremes, this journey may be too fast, leading to the passing of loose or liquid stool several times a day, or the transit time may be too slow … resulting in hard stool … that takes … forever …to pass and is done so irregularly. Can it be normal to go three times a day? A US study a few years ago found that 96% of people have a bowel movement somewhere between three times a day and three times a week. And there seems to be some variation between the sexes when it comes to stool consistency, with most men passing poo somewhere between stool type 3 (‘cracked sausage’) and type 5 (‘soft blobs’), whilst women tend to pass stool between types 2 (‘lumpy sausage’) and 6 (‘mush’). There’s even a poop scale, known as the Bristol Stool Form Scale. Whichever extreme of bowel habit you might be at, asking your doctor to refer you to the in-house dietitian at your practice would be a good move, especially if you have lots of gas and bloating. The dietitian will guide through a process that may otherwise have you chasing your tail if there are a number of factors contributing to the problem. Try a simple approach to management of gut symptoms ... At its simplest, the approach to resolving a tendency to produce hard stools that are difficult to pass and perhaps only a couple of times a week is to consume enough fibre and drink enough fluid. And to do this consistently every day. Getting your 5-a-day every day would be a sensible start, and also switching to a wholemeal bread and high-fibre breakfast cereal every day. Drinking enough fluid to pass pale yellow pee 5-6 times a day is quite a good indication of drinking enough fluid. Try this for a week and see what happens … Garlic and onion are often the culprits! Resolving loose frequent stools, especially when excessive gas is a major issue, is trickier, but avoidance of onion, garlic and pulses is all that some of my patients need do to greatly reduce flatulence – easier said than done, because garlic and onion seem to be in every savoury processed food on the planet (as powder, puree, dried - have a read of ingredient lists). Too much coffee, too much fat, too much spicy food, too much alcohol and other dietary and non-dietary factors can contribute to frequent loose stools, so it can be a challenge knowing how to identify the culprit. Getting a handle on this extreme of bowel habit is much easier with the guidance of your GP practice’s dietitian. And the good news is that most people can get satisfactory improvement in the pattern of their bowel habit, by trying a range of things to slow down intestinal transit time or speed it up, depending on whether its currently too fast (loose, frequent stool) or too slow (hard. infrequent stool). Tony Hirving Dietitian
1 Comment
Renoldia Paul
6/3/2023 08:50:04 am
I think reading about this drug sound like a dream come true, for anyone that has type 2 diabetes, and you know this will really help you but if you stop taking the drug you will regain that that was lost , in my own opinion I think it’s not a win it’s a loss instead why not adapt a healthier long life habit that will continue to benefit you without any drug. And the amount of weight that you will lose when on this drug is not impressive
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