Keeping Your Insides Healthy

It’s a bit of an uncomfortable topic for some people, but gut and bowel health is not often spoken about. I was shocked to learn that one Australian dies every 2 hours from bowel cancer. If detected early enough, bowel cancer is treatable. There are lots of ways to reduce your risk of suffering from bowel cancer, and other gastrointestinal conditions for that matter.

Bowel cancer generally refers to a malignant growth in the lining of the colon or rectum. The condition can develop from polyps – tiny growths in the gastrointestinal tract. If cancer is detected before it spreads, survival rate after 5 years is 90%, so early detection is crucial. Symptoms to look out for include:

• A recent, persistent change in bowel habit to looser, more diarrhoea-like motions, going to the toilet more often, or trying to go (ie. irregularity in someone whose bowels have previously been regular)
• Blood (either bright red or very dark) in the stool
• Diarrhoea, constipation, or feeling that the bowel does not empty completely
• Frequent gas pains, bloating, fullness or cramps
• Stools that are narrower than usual
• A lump or mass in your tummy
• Weight loss for no known reason
• Persistent, severe abdominal pain, which has come on recently for the first time
(especially in an older age group)
• Feeling very tired
• Vomiting

Be aware of changes to your bowel habits and you should see your doctor if you are noticing significant changes or suffering from any of the mentioned symptoms. The scary thing is that bowel cancer is being diagnosed in younger patients, so no longer is it considered a condition for the older community. This is possibly due to a diet low in fibre, fruit and vegetables in Western countries.

As always, prevention is better than a cure! There are lots of things you can do to keep your digestive system healthy and reduce your cancer risk, like eating lots of whole foods – fresh fruit and vegetables, wholegrains and nuts/seeds. A high fibre diet is proven to reduce the risk of bowel cancer, but what exactly is fibre?

Fibre comes from plant materials, therefore animal products, like meat, dairy and eggs, do not contain any fibre. It is a material that our bodies cannot breakdown or absorb. Most people do not consume enough fibre in their diets, as it is recommended we consume about 30g of fibre daily to keep our bodies, and digestive system especially, working properly. This doesn’t necessarily mean we all need to start the day with a huge bowl of All Bran! A balanced diet will provide you with plenty of fibre to keep your body happy.


A diet rich in wholegrains, fresh fruits and vegetables will allow you to reach this recommended daily amount quite easily. Incorporating 2 cups of steamed mixed vegetables into your dinner will provide you with almost half of the daily recommended amount. Fibre is also quite abundant in breakfast cereals, which is why breakfast is so important! So go for fresh fruit and veg, and choose wholegrain products to keep you digestive system healthy.