The fiber content in potatoes helps prevent constipation and promote regularity for a healthy digestive tract.
Like soluble fiber, the resistant starch in potatoes acts as a prebiotic – food for the helpful bacteria in your large intestine. Like insoluble fiber, it can prevent or treat constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.
Some of the recommended foods for constipation include both types of fiber. For example, potatoes and apples have soluble fiber inside, and insoluble fiber in the outer skin.
Potato (without the skin)
The skin of a baked potato is nutritious, but it may contain more fiber than your system is up for handling when you're dealing with less-than-favorable runny stools. While you're still having diarrhea, stick to peeled, plain potatoes instead, to bulk things right up.
You may think that cutting back on food will help “clear out” your colon. That's not the case. Do this: Eating, especially healthy whole foods that contain fiber, helps your body move stool.
Eating a lot of high-fat meats, dairy products and eggs, sweets, or processed foods may cause constipation. Not enough fluids. Water and other fluids help fiber work better, so not drinking enough liquids can contribute to harder stools that are more difficult to pass.
Foods that help ease constipation
Consider adding some the following fibre-rich foods to your diet to help ease constipation: High fibre cereals such as: bran flakes, Weetabix, porridge, muesli and shredded wheat.
Try natural laxatives that work fast for constipation relief, which include: aloe vera, leafy greens, chia and flax seeds, high fiber fruits, probiotic foods, and coconut water. Also make sure to drink plenty of water/fluids when consuming natural laxatives, since these work with high fiber foods to help soften stool.
Cheese, ice cream, and other dairy products have high calcium content, which carries high-binding properties and may lead to constipation in some people, says Christine Lee, MD, a gastroenterologist at Cleveland Clinic. “Dairy also lacks fiber, which potentiates its constipating power,” she says.
Kimball says any yogurt — not just those that advertise they're good for gastrointestinal health — can be a good source of probiotics that help relieve constipation. “I usually look for a low-sugar Greek yogurt,” she says.
The normal length of time between bowel movements varies widely from person to person. Some people have them three times a day. Others have them just a few times a week. Going longer than 3 or more days without one, though, is usually too long.
If you eat a lot of high-fiber foods but experience slow digestion, you may still feel bloated or constipated. The slower your food moves through your digestive tract, the more time it has to absorb water and create hard, difficult-to-pass stools.
100% whole grain bread is high in dietary fiber, and fiber carries water straight to your stool to soften it. Watch that the bread you're buying starts with the word “whole”. Multigrain or seven-grain bread is not whole-grain; they're still made with enriched white flour and will worsen constipation.
Dulcolax® Stool Softener is a stimulant-free laxative made to relieve occasional constipation. Each tablet contains 100 mg of the #1 doctor-recommended stool softener ingredient — docusate sodium.
For many people, eating more high fiber foods can help ease constipation. These foods include: most vegetables, including carrots, peas, broccoli, and okra.
Eating potatoes without removing the alkaloids leads to the development of symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomachache, feeling of weakness, dizziness, and dyspnea about 20 minutes after eating, and food poisoning may develop although it is generally mild.
Cooked potatoes of all varieties are examples of easy to digest foods. Sweet potatoes are especially gentle on the digestive tract because they are mostly made up of insoluble fiber, which speeds up digestion and promotes regularity.
According to Boyers, the starch in potatoes is resistant to digestion, which means it travels to your large intestine and acts as a probiotic, AKA food source for your essential gut bacteria. It also helps create fatty acids that protect the gut lining and prevent harmful substances from leaking into the bloodstream.