Diabetes Health Tips: Prevention, Treatment & More

Depression after a heart attack can impair recovery. Seeking support from a mental-health professional can help both your emotional and physical well-being.

If you experience constipation because of gastroparesis, a form of neuropathy that causes delayed stomach emptying, avoid high-fat and high-fiber foods, and ask your health-care provider for individualized nutrition recommendations.

Not necessarily. Chemical laxatives can be harmful because the colon begins to rely on the chemical stimulation to pass a bowel movement, losing the ability to do so as well when the chemicals are not present. Fiber supplements used as laxatives do not cause this problem.

To increase your fiber intake, try starting the day with a high-fiber cereal and eating fruit for snacks. Limit the amount of foods you eat with almost no fiber, such as cheese, meat, ice cream, and many processed foods. If you are not used to eating high-fiber foods, add them gradually to your diet to prevent gas, bloating, or diarrhea.

Soluble fiber, which dissolves in water, slows stomach emptying, delays the entry of glucose into the bloodstream, and lowers blood cholesterol levels. Insoluble fiber stimulates the muscular contractions that keep the digestive process moving. Both soluble and insoluble fiber can soften and add bulk to the stool, easing or preventing constipation.

To help prevent constipation, increase your fluid intake, exercise regularly, avoid laxatives unless prescribed, and eat more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

Medicines and supplements that can cause constipation include calcium, iron, diuretics, antidepressants, and some pain medicines. Various other medicines can cause fluid loss that results in constipation.

Constipation can be caused or worsened by a sedentary lifestyle and a diet low in fiber and high in fat. Exercise improves muscle tone throughout the body, including the digestive tract. Additionally, not responding to the urge to have a bowel movement can cause the stool to dry out in the colon, resulting in constipation.

No. Going a day without a bowel movement does not signify constipation; each person’s digestive system has its own natural time frame. A problem is present if you have difficulty or pain passing a stool or extreme infrequency in doing so.

In most cases, basal insulin should be taken at the same time of day, every day, at the prescribed intervals.