Young woman eating apple

The best thing you can eat to keep your colon healthy is fiber.  Fiber aids in easy digestion, along with regular bowel movements, which leads to a clean colon.

As fiber is a staple item to good colon health, you should read labels and choose the right foods.  A woman should eat 21 to 25 grams of fiber a day and a man 30 to38 grams a day.

How much fiber is in the typical foods you eat?

The best foods for a high fiber diet include fruits, vegetables, and grains.  In making the right combination of foods, you can very easily sustain a high fiber diet.

Here are some examples of common foods and their total fiber in grams:

• Apple with skin                                4.4 grams
• Strawberries (1 cup)                      3.3
• Banana                                                 3.1
• Orange                                                 3.1
• Raspberries (1 cup)                        8.0
• Spaghetti (1 cup) whole wheat   6.3
• Bran flakes (3/4 cup)                     5.1
• Brown rice (1 cup)                          3.5
• Bread, whole wheat or rye          1.9
• Split Peas (1 cup)                            16.3
• Black beans (1 cup)                        15.0
• Artichokes (cooked)                     10.3
• Sweet corn (1 cup)                         4.6
• Broccoli (1 cup)                               5.1

As you can see with these numbers, in just adding some of these food items to your diet, you will already be a step ahead of the game.  If you have a strong diet consisting of mostly fruits and vegetables, you can be on your way to a healthy colon.

There are many arguments that suggest that a vegetarian diet is the best for a healthy colon.  Meat is hard to digest, while vegetables are easy to digest.  You can see from the numbers above, this may be true as the high fiber foods are all vegetarian.

Although these foods are good for you health, you cannot move immediately to an all fiber diet or you may have the opposite results, such as bloating and cramping.  You should gradually increase fiber in your diet over a period of a few weeks.  While doing this, your body and your digestive system can adjust.  Along with changing your diet, you also need to increase your water intake.  Fiber works better when it absorbs water.  With the water, your stool will be soft versus without water, it can lead to constipation.

As always, you should consult a doctor if you have any problems, but if you gradually ease into a healthy diet with high fiber components, you can be on your way to a healthier colon.

Suggested Reading

• How can you safely cleanse your colon?
• How Can Foods Heal Your Colon
• Foods and Your Colon: What to Avoid and What to Eat
• Can you Cleanse your Colon with Diet Alone?
• Can my diet help control Candida growth?
• Keeping Your Colon Healthy