The FastDay Forum

So on the general feeling that there is evidence that some of us get a bit slower in the old bowel department and that we mostly use mass to measure progress.

Progress is fairly slow so could it be that eating a higher fat or higher volume on feed days occasionally makes a difference, just because it gets us going better and we are consequently lighter?

I'm assuming that a higher fat diet is more slippery (where's Phil's poo chart when I need it?) and so there's a bit more lubrication and volume is obvious?

I had a happy day of curry, naan and cake yesterday, which has brought an end to several weeks of "slowness"...

Sorry if this is too much information but there does seem to be a lot of bunged-up-ness going on. The Varady study was quite short and they had people on different intakes of lipids so I was just wondering?

Possibly one for Nerdy Corner?

I eat a lot of fats & oils and am never far from mobility problems. I think a pound of poo is about as big as the extra load gets.

Love it! I think it's true though we do need to eat a bit more fat to keep things moving along as it were...

I find I don't have any problems that way either, full natural fat food and a couple of curries a week sorts me out, I love Indian food.

I bought some prunes in desperation today as I'm fed up of being bunged up. The trouble is that on fast days they will use up a lot of calories, I think 6 prunes equate to around 130 calories

Well before I started 5:2, I occasionally had problems with constipation. The quickest answer I found was half a litre of pure orange juice! If no result in about 4 hours, sink the other half of the carton...

Not sure if it has to be orange juice, but I know it is high in vitamin C and your body only needs so much. Any extra is automatically filtered out, so to speak.

At least orange juice is fresh, natural and not like taking tablets. Apparently tablets can either give someone who rarely uses them embarrassing issues, or become less effective if used too regularly.

I wonder if it's a reduction in sugar that causes the slowness. I'm eating a lot less chocolate,sweets and biscuits now and find things are often sluggish. A lot of chocolate is always a laxative for me!
Also, after I had my second child I was given lactulose as a stool softener and that has a lot of indigestible sugar and worked a treat.

For me a pot of low fat greek yogurt gets results within two hours of consuming. Every single time.

Thanks goodness!

I think the key is generally to have plenty of fiber. Oats in the morning, beans and veggies at other meals. I ate this way before the diet, and constipation hasn't been a problem for me. Admittedly a few days I haven't had to go, but I wasn't constipated...just didn't feel the need.

No theories on the fat. I've never been a fan of fatty foods, but I don't avoid fat. I do cut back a little on it on fast days just to avoid some calories.

Supposedly coffee helps to move things along...bowels as well as energy levels.