Q
Dear Auntie Pearl, jinne Auntie, I’ve got a moerse problem – I’m so flippen constipated Auntie, I just can’t figure out what’s making me so dik and it’s really making me feel so uncomfortable, and I really need some help.
My sister tuned me I should eat healthier and that I vriet too many gatsbies and slaptjips and other fried foods.
Can she be right? Jinne Auntie, I do smaa k a gatsby. Thank you.
From Dikkes.
A
Jinne Dikkes, it sure sounds like you are stuck between a rock and a hard place and the hard place is your bowels, poplap! Shame, skies nuh, Auntie doesn’t mean to lag at your maag, but don’t just dismiss your sister’s wyse woorde, there can be some truth to her words.
So let’s get down to business – to help you, to do your business.
So die dik ding dokters tell us, that if you have less than three bowel movements per week (in other words, if you poo less than three times a week) and/ or if you just manage a few small, hard bits of stool that hurt when it passes, then you are a constipated and you have a probbie.
Usually what you put in, is what you get out (if you get what Auntie’s saying) so Auntie can tune you a few quick fixes, but it’s not to say they’re gonna help, sometimes there are deeper, more serious problems, but let’s hope you just need to eat better.
Eat a well balanced diet, hartjie: Make fibre your new BFF – it literally keeps things moving, if you know what Auntie means. Think wholegrain breakfast cereals like All Bran, wholewheat pasta, wholegrain bread and oats, fruit like berries and oranges, veggies like broccoli, carrots, peas and sweetcorn, and potatoes in the skin.
Go speak to your pharmacist, Dikkes: You can ask them about the many kinds of herbal laxatives you can buy over the counter to get some relief. It stimulates the nerves in your maag to speed up bowel movements.
Listen to your sister, mister: Fried foods (like gatsbies, burgers, slaptjips, fried chicken en so aan) are high in fat and low in fibre. Fats also take longer to digest and move through your stomach, but fruits and veggies typically take under 24 hours to move through your system.
Dehydration (drinking too little water) can actually make you constipated, so make sure to drink enough water. You literally dry up from the inside – so get wet and drink some water. And if water makes you moeg and you can’t stand the taste, try some sparkling water – not sparkling cool drinks, nuh, water!
Go old school: Die ou mense het altyd geglo in pruime. So get some prunes and eat them. Prunes and prune juice are nature’s remedy for constipation.
Start moving: Moving (exercise) will literally get your bowels moving! Dikkes, do you exercise at all? If not, start and see if it makes a difference – try just going for regular walks. Exercise may reduce the symptoms of constipation in some people.