What to eat for constipation during pregnancy

Constipation is a disease that many people will suffer from. Although this disease is not harmful to the body, it can cause trouble to people. What can women eat to relieve constipation during the confinement period after giving birth? First of all, we need to understand what causes constipation in mothers during the confinement period. Secondly, we can eat some high-fiber foods that can promote gastrointestinal motility for conditioning. Let’s learn about the details together.

1. What to do if you have postpartum constipation

What to do with postpartum constipation has always been a big problem that is difficult to overcome. What to do with postpartum constipation?

1. Analyze the causes of constipation and adjust your lifestyle.

Develop the habit of regular bowel movements; quit smoking and drinking; avoid drug abuse. When you feel the urge to defecate, you should do so promptly to avoid suppressing your bowel movement. Long-term and repeated suppression of defecation can lead to an increase in the defecation reflex threshold and disappearance of the urge to defecate, leading to constipation.

2. Promote a balanced diet, increase dietary fiber appropriately, and drink plenty of water.

(1) High-fiber diet: Dietary fiber itself is not absorbed, but it can absorb water in the intestinal cavity to increase stool volume, stimulate the colon, and enhance motility. Foods rich in dietary fiber include wheat bran or brown rice, vegetables, and fruits rich in pectin such as mangoes and bananas (note: unripe fruits contain tannic acid which will aggravate constipation).

(2) Replenish water: Drink plenty of water. It is recommended to drink more than 1500 ml of water per day to keep the intestines sufficiently hydrated, which is beneficial for the excretion of feces.

(3) Provide sufficient amounts of B vitamins and folic acid: Enriching foods with B vitamins can promote the secretion of digestive juices, maintain and promote intestinal peristalsis, and facilitate defecation. Such as whole grains, yeast, beans and their products. Among vegetables, spinach and cabbage contain a lot of folic acid, which has a good laxative effect.

(4) Increase the intake of gas-producing foods: Eating more gas-producing foods can promote intestinal peristalsis and facilitate defecation, such as onions, radishes, garlic sprouts, etc.

(5) Increase fat supply: Appropriately increase high-fat food. Vegetable oil can directly moisturize the intestines, and the decomposition product fatty acids can stimulate intestinal peristalsis. The kernels of dried fruits (such as walnut kernels, pine nuts, various melon seeds, almonds, peach kernels, etc.) contain a lot of oil, which has the effect of lubricating the intestines and promoting bowel movements.

3. Moderate exercise mainly consists of medical gymnastics, which can be combined with walking, jogging and abdominal self-massage.

(1) Medical gymnastics: mainly to strengthen the abdominal and pelvic muscles. Exercise method: Standing position can do high-leg walking, squats, abdominal and back exercises, kicking exercises and rotation exercises. Lie on your back and lift one leg or both legs at the same time, lift them to 40°, pause for a while, and then put them down. Alternately flexing and extending your legs to simulate cycling. Raise your legs and draw circles from the inside to the outside, and do sit-ups, etc.

(2) Brisk walking and jogging: can promote intestinal peristalsis and help relieve constipation.

(3) Deep abdominal breathing: When breathing, the amplitude of diaphragm movement increases compared to usual, which can promote gastrointestinal motility.

(4) Abdominal self-massage: Lie on your back on the bed with your knees bent. Rub your hands together to warm them up. Place your left hand flat on your navel and your right hand on the back of your left hand. Massage in a clockwise direction with your navel as the center. Do it 2-3 times a day, 5-10 minutes each time.

(5) Suction-push defecation method: Place your hands on your abdomen and contract your abdominal muscles to make your stomach flatter and your waist wider. This is called "sucking". Then do the opposite action and push your abdominal muscles toward your palms. This is called "pushing". After doing 10 suction-pushing actions, do a pushing action for a long time (3-5 seconds) at the end. When doing this exercise, relax your pelvic floor muscles.