Prevention

Hemorrhoid prevention is all about looking after yourself. There are a number of easy changes you can make to your diet that can have a huge impact on how comfortable you feel ‘down there’:

• eat fresh vegetables, whole grains and beans. They contain fiber, which helps forms stools and makes the larger ones easier to pass
• drink lots of water each day. This will keep stools loose and easier to pass. Drinking coffee, tea, alcohol and soda all help to dehydrate you and make stools harder
• exercise regularly. This will aid your digestion and make moving your bowels less difficult
• do not strain yourself during bowel movement
• don’t lift heavy objects that strain the lower body
• don’t hold your breathe while passing a stool
• get off the toilet as you are finished, don’t sit there reading a book for ten minutes (though I know the peace and quiet is hard to find elsewhere!)

Eat certain foods that will help avoid hemorroids: oranges, apples, bananas, prunes, grapefruits, mangos, watermelon, grapes and cherries. They all aid the digestion process. Food like bread, white flour products, and sodas should be avoided as they can lead to constipation.

Drinking fruit juice can help, though be careful as drinking too much can actually help dehydration as the sugar in the drink ‘pulls’ water out of your body. Cherry juice is said to be effective as is blackberry juice and blueberry juice.

Physical activities like running, walking, swimming etc. should be added to your daily regime.

A very useful site to check out is www.healthcalculators.org. It contains all sorts of health calculators to help ensure you get a balanced diet. It includes a fiber calculator too.