21 Foods That Cause Constipation

Constipation is caused when stool builds up in the intestines and gets trapped. Often, this is the result of dehydration. When you are low on hydration, the stool becomes dried out, which makes it hard and prevents it from being able to move properly through your plumbing.

More often than not then, constipation is a matter of what you don’t eat. If you aren’t getting enough fiber, then your stool will be overly ‘mushy’ and can end up sticking to the inside of the intestines. If you don’t drink enough fluid, then you get the aforementioned problem with the dehydration. Not enough oily, fatty foods and the stool can lose any lubrication and become hard and lodged in place.

But constipation can also be a matter of what you do eat. There are certain foods that are more likely than others to lead to constipation and if you’re someone who is prone to the condition, then avoiding these foods could just be a smart strategy for you. In this post we will take a look at what some of these most common causes of constipation are so that you can try to avoid them and keep things moving along nicely! Likewise, these foods might make constipation worse if you’re already struggling with the problem, so that’s a time when you’ll definitely want to avoid them!

1.  Bananas

Bananas are a controversial first choice for this list. Why? Because in some ways, they can actually be good news for your constipation. That’s because they contain potassium, which has the useful advantage of absorbing fluid. When the potassium makes its way into your stool, there’s a good chance it could encourage it to absorb more fluid, thereby helping to make the stool softer and more likely to pass easily.

So why are they on this list? Well, because an unripe banana is an issue. That’s because they still have a large amount of starch, which the body has a hard time to digest. Constipation is commonly caused by bananas in the case of young infants and likewise, it can make matters worse if you are already very dehydrated.