Should I be constipated or eat bran and fruit?

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lordburnside

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I am struggling with my diet at the moment . I was probably eating too many eggs so got constipated.
I cut down on eggs and decided to buy some bran - hopefully will not affect my HBA1C.
I thought I had better eat some fruit too so I am having a pear with bran every morning instead of bacon and eggs.
The rest of my diet is more or less as before plus a bit more veg. I have had a crusty baton once a week and chips twice (I know its a sin)
Also a few glasses of wine. No exercise to speak of because of poor weather and laziness.

So looks like I need to get back on track again. Going for walks tonight and over the weekend.

Next blood test is in a months time - hoping for a 39 but think it may be a 45 if I dont behave myself.
 
The carbs and cals book is great to see whats healthy to eat (or not). Plus also has photos to show actual portion sizes, which is very useful.
Pears are one of the fruits that has a fair bit of sugar, general advice is to eat berries as they have less sugars.
More veg will deffo give you more fibre.
Chips twice a week! Eek! you are a maverick? 😎
 
Excercise can help get you moving in more ways than one
 
Hope you find the tweaks your are making help you get back to regularity @lordburnside I’m sure the extra veg will be helping too.

I think @rebrascora uses things like psyllium husk as a form of BG-friendly fibre.
 
I do on work days eat a pair a day but the miniature child sized ones (from Lidl) but mostly my fruit consumption has been replaced by Berries Strawberries, Raspberries & Blueberries, eaten with a few chopped nuts and seeds served with Greek Yoghurt, I’m actually quite enjoying it also, occasionally sprinkle some milled flaxseed if my system is telling me I’ve not eaten enough fibre

also ensure your drinking plenty of water every day (most people don’t)
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Hope you find the tweaks your are making help you get back to regularity @lordburnside I’m sure the extra veg will be helping too.

I think @rebrascora uses things like psyllium husk as a form of BG-friendly fibre.
Click to expand...
Yes, I use a mixture of chia seeds and psyllium husk both of which are high in soluble fibre and very low carb. I have them in a glass of flavoured water as it is important to take plenty of fluids with fibre supplements like these. They both absorb water to form a sort of gel which provides a bulk of soft fibre that gently moves through your digestive system pushing everything else with it. It is not aggressive to your system like some laxatives. It can also help to make you feel full if you are struggling with hunger on a diet plus the soluble fibre is beneficial for lowering cholesterol. They don't really taste of anything, so you can add them to whatever food or drink you like. I think @Eddy Edson puts chia seeds in his coffee.
I also use them both to thicken soups and stews or if I buy frozen berries and there is a lot of juice when they defrost which makes my breakfast fruit and yoghurt a bit runny, so again a bit of these added will thicken it up and be beneficial for digestion. It doesn't take much. I have about 10mls of each in a large hi-ball glass of flavoured water or a teaspoon of one of them in my yoghurt to thicken it. It takes about 5 mins for them to start absorbing the water and swelling to form the gel, probably faster in hot food/drink.
 
As someone who has lived with long term constipation (sorry for that detail), I find if I need to move things along, so to speak, the most helpful thing to me is to increase fats for a day, or maybe 2 if needs be.

By increasing fats, I don't mean I pour myself a glass of olive oil, or cut a slab of butter in two, but it means I'll add butter to veg, or have a glug of cream, or some clotted cream on some berries. A generous portion of cauli cheese can be helpful too.

Of course we're all different, but this is just my lived experience.
 
I struggled with this issue during the first year after diagnosis. I quickly learned that remedies from the chemist are not useful in the long term so I did some research. Eventually I opted for a multi-pronged approach which works well for me.
  • At breakfast I have homemade muesli with greek style yoghurt and approximately 10g chia seeds.
  • At lunch I have a side salad with approximately 30g mixed nuts added for extra fibre.
  • At dinner I add approximately 10g chia seeds to whatever sauce I am having. I also increased my vegetable intake and cut back on meat.
  • Lastly, recently I started to bake my own oat flour bread with psyllium husks in the recipe.
These steps taken together have eliminated the problem for me, with no great effort, since they are now part of my daily routine and I scarcely give them a thought.
 
Thanks all for the advice. Continuing with pear and yoghurt for breakfast but I may move to a little muesli instead which I used to live….
 
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