Fats are an important component in our diet. But it is good to understand the different types of fat so that we can properly incorporate them into our diets. I will provide you some examples of the different types of fats and recommended portions to maintain good health. Keep in mind that 30% of your daily diet should include fats, from which only 10% should be from saturated fats.

High monounsaturated fats are the kind that you can eat most often. In this group, we find foods such as:

1/3 Avocado (10 gm)

Olive, canola or peanut oil (14 gm or 1 tablespoon)

Nuts (14 gm) (1 cup contains around 108 gm)

Tahini paste (8 gm or 1 tablespoon)

High polyunsaturated fats are another type that you can eat more often. In this group, we find the following foods as examples:

Mayonnaise (11 gm or 1 tablespoon)

Margarine (11 gm or 1 tablespoon)

Walnuts (18 gm)

Corn soybean, safflower, or sunflower oil (14 gm or 1 tablespoon)

High saturated fats are the type of fats that you should eat less often. In this group are the following foods:

Butter (14 gm or 1 tablespoon)

Bacon (2 slices – 80 calories, 60 from fat)

Cream cheese (1 tablespoon)

Sour cream (1 tablespoon)

Coconut oil (1 tablespoon)

High trans fats are the type you should avoid, such as:

Fried foods

Commercial baked goods containing hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils (shortening and partially hydrogenated soy bean oil)

When suffering hemorrhoid inflammation, it is recommended to avoid excessive high saturated and trans fats because they can contribute to constipation. Choose healthy foods such as veggies, fruits, foods rich in fiber and nuts. These foods provide you with all the nutrients your body needs and will help speed up your hemorrhoid relief.

During a hemorrhoid treatment, it is good to know what kind of fats are beneficial for you and which ones you should avoid. For example, nuts, seeds, oily fish, olive oil and lean meats are a great source of healthy fat. Butter, margarine, processed foods containing trans fats, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils and fatty cuts of meats, such as ground beef, sausage and luncheon meats are not recommended when you are healing or treating hemorrhoids.

It is important to keep in mind that you will be able to eat those fats again once you recover from your hemorrhoids. But avoiding them temporally may make your hemorrhoid treatment more efficient.

Important things to know after you recover from a hemorrhoid flare-up are that if you eat too much fat, it may create an increase in fat storage in adipose tissue and thus increase your cholesterol level.  On the other hand, if you eat too little fat, it may cause an essential fatty acid deficiency, which causes skin problems, hair loss and poor wound healing.

Fats are essential for our bodies.  They provide energy, energy storage, insulation and contour the body.  There are five types of fats;  saturated, polyunsaturated, monosaturated, omega-3’s, and omega-6.

Fat helps protect organs such as the kidneys, heart and liver and plays a role in balancing our hormones.  The layer of fat beneath the skin, insulates the body from temperature changes, helping to preserve body heat.  It also acts as a long-lasting fuel for low-intensity exercises and helps with vitamin A,D,E and K absorption.

Eating too much fat during a hemorrhoid treatment can increase healing times.  Fat can play a role in constipation and if you are more prone to hemorrhoids than others you should stay away from fatty foods during hemorrhoid inflammation.  Eating too much or too little fat is a problem.  The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a 30 % caloric intake from fat.  But discriminating between which types of fact we eat is crucial.  Types of fat like omegas 3s found in (nuts, seeds and oily fish) are essential to a healthy diet.

Now you are asking well how much of the delicious fatty foods should you eat from that 30%?  The recommended amount is 10%.  So enjoy butter, Margarine, or fatty cuts of meat but do so in moderation.

Nowadays we live in a fast-paced environment and our nutrition can be poor due to the fact that we are so busy and don’t have time to cook. Most of the time, we eat fast food where the calorie intake is high but the levels of nutrition are low. Consequently, we start having digestive disorders such as diarrhea, hemorrhoids, stomach pain, irritable bowel syndrome and constipation, among others.

The following is an example of the calories we ingest when we eat this kind of diet:

French Fries (small size) 210 calories

Hamburger (small size) 600 calories

Hot Dog (small size) 325 calories

Onion Rings (small size) 180 calories

Cheese Burger (small size) 530 calories

Pizza (1 slice) 875 calories

Burritos (1 portion) 500 calories

Bagel (1 portion) 140 calories.

We need some carbohydrates in our daily menu. There are a lot of other foods too that can satisfy our appetites with low calories and high nutritional value for our bodies and health. Here are some examples:

Brown rice (1 portion) 130 calories

Rice (1 portion) 140 calories

Noodles (1 portion) 70 calories

Potatoes (boiled) 70 calories

Potatoes (roast) 140 calories

Spaghetti (1 portion) 101 calories

Bread wholemeal (1 slide) 80 calories

During a hemorrhoid flare-up, avoid fast food and try to balance your meals. Eat veggies, fruits and carbohydrates in moderate portions and you will see how quickly it helps to relieve the pain and inflammation.

Summer is time for fun and beach time.  Specially if you live in seasonal climates and you have to endure nasty frosts and cold winters.   But the heat of the summer can at times get to us.  We suffer fatigue and dehydration a lot faster than we are used to.  We struggle to dress for work and keep our bodies from sweating and our minds focused.

Some of us may even drink for coffee to overcompensate for the fatigue and lack of ability to focus.  All these things including sweat make hemorrhoids and other anal conditions like anal fistulas, anal itching etc., more frequent than in any other season.

My recommendation is that if you suffer from these conditions, you keep wipes in your bag and change underwear when necessary.  Keeping the area clean and dry are key for anal health and quality of life.

If you are suffering from anal itching I suggest you wear linen, cotton and try to wear skirts if you are a woman and loose clothes or shorts if you are man as much as you can.  If your condition is severe, try adhesive strips to aid in keeping the area dry (Anuelaf AD) and go to your doctor if the condition persists or if you have not been diagnosed.  Most anal conditions benefit from early detection and treatment.

Hemorrhoids are veins located in the anal wall, external or internal.  These veins may become inflamed either because we don’t eat enough fiber, are stressed out, have had a baby or other underlying physical conditions.

1.   Use adhesive strips to lift your buttocks away from the inflamed area. This technique allows you to avoid friction on the vein and allows the vein to return to its natural position. (www.anuleafad.com)

2.   Use a drug-free ointment before bowel movements to avoid further irritation on the hemorrhoid.

3.   Cleanse the area well after bowel movements, as bacteria from a stool can increase inflammation.

4.   Take warm sitz baths after bowel movements, as these can be painful and sitz baths aid in calming burning and inflammation.

5.   Re-apply adhesive strips after sitz baths (Anuleaf AD).

6.   Discontinue hemorrhoid treatment when the vein has reverted back to its natural position as opposed to when you have no pain. Oftentimes pain is gone but the vein is still protruding and this condition increases your chances of having hemorrhoid pain return within days.

As promised in my last entry, below are examples of recommended amounts of carbohydrates based on age, height and weight. A report by the National Center for Health Statistics states that the average American man weighs 166-191 pounds, with height ranges from 5’8”-5’9” and woman 140-164 pounds, with heights of 5’3”-5’4”.

To determine what foods and how many calories you should eat per day, I suggest visiting www.mypyramid.gov, a great resource that provides worthwhile nutritional information. For example, if you are a woman aged 27, your height is 5’3”, weight is 120 pounds and you exercise fewer than 30 minutes per day, you should be eating 1,800 daily calories, divided among grains, veggies, fruits, milk and proteins. The following amounts are recommended: grains (6 ounces), veggies (2.5 cups), fruits (1.5 cups), milk (3 cups) and protein (5 ounces).

In my case, weighing 110 pounds at 5’3”, the recommendation is 1,600 calories per day, divided among grains (5 ounces), veggies (2.5 cups), fruits (1.5 cups), milk (3 cups) and protein (5 ounces). For my husband, who weighs 160 pounds and is 6’0” tall, the intake of calories suggested is 2,400, distributed among grains (8 ounces), veggies (3 cups), fruits (2 cups), milk (3 cups) and protein (6.5 ounces).

As mentioned previously, nutritionists recommend that the intake of carbohydrates be 50-60% of suggested total daily calories. For example, in my husband’s case, where recommended calories per day total 2,400, he could eat 1,320-1,440 calories in carbohydrates.

Everybody also has to consider the amount of exercise they do and how fast their metabolism is for accurate caloric analysis. For me, 1,600 daily calories would put me over my ideal weight of 110 because I don’t exercise strenuously, so I actually eat 1,200–1,400 daily calories and eat a little more when I exercise more.

Unfortunately, travel and hemorrhoids are common companions. Part of the reason we travel is to free ourselves from our daily routine and that can sometimes be detrimental to our bodies. The body takes a beating when it changes sleeping and eating schedules. It takes time to adjust and by the time it has, you are likely ready to come back home.

It is important to know that this situation happens to a lot of people but most of us don’t enjoy talking about it.  Health precautions keep us from being able to eat foods that have been in touch with local unfiltered water which often includes fresh fruit and salads, essential fiber-rich foods.

For this reason, it may be smart to keep your meals in the hotel fiber-rich, maybe eating more veggies and whole grain than usual in the morning. Eating cooked veggies in restaurants is also essential. Hotel restaurants in foreign countries often have two menus: a local one and a continental one. Always keep a good balance between the two. I have suffered from being a little too adventurous and wanting to taste every local meal. Keep in mind that your body will respond to new spices, giving you indigestion or other problems such as diarrhea or stomach pain.

Even if you keep these in mind, you may still experience discomfort, as the body is very sensitive to changes in diet and habits. Bringing a stool softener, wipes, drug-free ointment and Anuleaf AD with you on your trip will help prepare you for the worst and make you heal faster should you experience hemorrhoid inflammation. The best way to achieve hemorrhoid relief is to treat the inflammation immediately, as it will provide faster recovery.