Did you know that some weight loss diets can help you treat hemorrhoids. On the other hand, there are some plans that have the opposite effect. As being overweight increases your risk of hemorrhoids by default (Mayo Clinic), you need to plan your weight loss menu very carefully to avoid this problem.
Best Diet for Hemorrhoids: Will It Help You Lose Weight?
The best diet for hemorrhoids treatment and prevention is a high-fiber diet. There are studies, which prove health benefits of increasing your dietary fiber consumption. They include:
- Reduced risk of heart disease
- Reduced risk of obesity
- Reduced risk of type 2 diabetes
- Improved gastrointestinal health
- Hemorrhoids treatment
- Improved general wellbeing (due to a better immunity as a result of better gut health)
Unfortunately, traditional Western diet is rather low on healthy dietary fiber. And it’s definitely one of the factors that contribute to the current obesity epidemic.
The good news is that increasing your fiber intake will help you lose weight. However, this will only work if you include the right fiber-rich foods into your diet. The best options are:
- Insoluble fiber: cruciferous vegetables, nuts, starchy vegetables
- Soluble fiber: apples, citrus fruits, legumes, psyllium, barley
On one hand, all these foods can be included in a weight-loss diet. On the other, some of them, like starchy veggies or nuts, might be too high in calories. Therefore, you have to develop your anti-hemorrhoids weight loss meal plan with extreme care so it has a healthy calorie balance overall.
Are There Good Weight Loss Diets That Are Bad for Hemorrhoids?
The majority of unhealthy fad diets, like the ones that eliminate entire food groups, might trigger hemorrhoids or make the problem worse. However, you shouldn’t be consider those plans by default because they are bad for your health.
The ketogenic diet plan stands out among these because it can be healthy if you go about it right. The basic idea of this diet is increasing your fiber intake while limiting carbs. Unfortunately, many people choose to achieve this balance by increasing their intake of meat and dairy and removing veggies and grains. That’s what leads to the complex relationship between the keto diet and hemorrhoids. That kind of unbalanced approach to the otherwise brilliant weight loss plan can result in a bad case of hemorrhoids. But you can easily avoid this if you start eating more nuts, seeds, and avocados to get healthy fats instead of red meat and dairy.
Weight Loss and Hemorrhoids Treatment: Foods to Avoid
Weight loss and anti-hemorrhoids diets have one very important thing in common. All these plans must exclude unhealthy foods, which are low in nutrients. The main ‘offenders’ among those are processed foods and dairy products.
Processed (white) bread and meats are particularly bad because they do not only contribute to rapid weight gain. They also speed up inflammation, which can make your case of hemorrhoids excruciatingly painful. In many cases, processed foods also contain a lot of salt. This is another factor, which makes hemorrhoids worse by influencing your blood vessels (FoodNavigator.com).
Overall, maintaining a healthy well-balanced diet, which is low in fats but high on fiber, will help you both lose weight and treat hemorrhoids. Therefore, there is no real need for you to use any specialized weight loss diets.