Food that helps
Try to avoid getting constipated, as it can cause or worsen your bladder control problems. If you are unable to completely empty your bowels, a build up of faeces can obstruct your bladder or swell up and push down on the bladder making you feel like you need to go to the toilet more frequently.
Eating lots of fruit and vegetables (5-a-day) and filling up on fibre will help to keep you regular by absorbing water, making the stools larger, softer, easier and quicker to pass. Adults should be aiming to eat 18-25g of fibre a day, but I am sure that you will not be shocked that eight out of ten of us are not eating enough. High fibre foods will also help fill you up, so are also useful if you are watching your weight.
The first thing to do is to make sure you are eating the right sort of fibre. There are actually two types – soluble and insoluble. The most effective fibre for helping constipation is insoluble fibre (appropriately called ‘nature’s broom’ or roughage). This is mainly found in wholegrain breads, brown rice, wholemeal pasta, wholegrain breakfast cereals.
Top tips:
- Try choosing high fibre, wholegrain cereals, or sprinkling a high fibre cereal or laxative fruits – prunes, figs and dried apricots – on top of your favourite cereal.
- Check out food labels – a high fibre food has 6g or more per 100g serving and a source of fibre is when a food contains more than 3g of fibre or more per 100g.
- Choose wholemeal or wholegrain bread, rolls, tortillas, pittas and pasta instead of white varieties.
- Don’t forget to eat the skins of fruits, as this is where most of the fibre is found.
Please note – Don’t forget you will need to increase your fibre intake slowly and drink enough water to help it move along your digestive tract. Indeed, if you start eating more fibre and don’t match it with drinking more water, your constipation may get worse. Try to drink the recommended 1.2 litres, (or 6–8 glasses) a day – not all at once, as this may overwhelm your bladder, but spread throughout the day.
For further advice and tips to increase your fibre intake, visit the Fibre Foundation at www.getmorefibre.co.uk
Foods that hinder
Alcohol
Although more research is needed to understand the effects of alcohol consumption on urinary incontinence, it is important to keep to sensible limits for your overall health and avoid binge drinking, especially ‘shorts’ which some people find irritate the bladder.
Alcohol can act as a diuretic in the body, which means that it can increase urine production and the number of frustrating trips to the toilet. If you pay attention to what you drink, you will start to notice if alcohol, or which alcoholic drinks cause you problems.
Men should not regularly drink more than 3–4 units of alcohol a day.
Women should not regularly drink more than 2–3 units of alcohol a day.
What’s a unit? The number of units of alcohol in a drink depends on its strength and size. As a guide, the NHS suggests that a pint of (*ABV 4%) lager is 2.3 units, a 175ml glass of (ABV 13%) wine is 2.3 units and a 25ml glass of (ABV 40%) single spirit and mixer is 1 unit.
*Percentages given in brackets refer to Alcohol by Volume (ABV) of stated drink.
Don’t forget that maintaining a healthy weight is important for managing your bladder problems, and alcohol can also undo your efforts of trying to eat healthily, as it is high in empty calories (they have no nutritional value), providing seven calories a gram.
Calories content in some alcoholic drinks:
1 pint lager (574ml) 170 kcal
1 single measure of spirits (25ml) 55 kcal
1 glass wine (175ml) 120 kcal
To read more information about how alcohol can affect your health see the Drink Aware website – www.drinkaware.co.uk
Caffeine
Some people find that drinks containing caffeine or fizzy drinks, especially ‘diet’ drinks sweetened with artificial sweeteners like aspartame or saccharine and preservatives, can make their problems worse. Indeed, reducing caffeine intake to less than 100mg may actually help to reduce the frequency, urgency and the number of incontinence episodes.
However, although caffeine (especially when consumed in excess and in someone who is not accustomed to consuming food and drinks containing caffeine) may act as a mild diuretic and increase the frequency with which you need to go to the toilet, the majority of people can safely tolerate caffeine and far from being dehydrating, it actually counts towards your daily fluid intake.
Caffeine occurs naturally in a range of food and drinks such as coffee, tea and chocolate, and it’s also added to some soft drinks and energy drinks. Everyone should try to keep their caffeine intake to below the recommended 400mg per day – that’s 4–5 cups of tea or coffee a day. The Food Standards Agency advises pregnant women not have more than 200mg of caffeine per day from all sources.
The amount of caffeine in food and drinks will vary, but use the following chart as a guide to working out how much caffeine you consume each day:
Table of caffeine content:
Average cup of instant coffee 75mg
Average mug of instant coffee 100mg
Average cup of brewed coffee 100mg
Average mug of tea 75mg
Regular cola drink Up to 40mg
Regular energy drink Up to 80 mg
Plain chocolate bar
Chocolate (contains theobromine, a milder form of caffeine), Up to 50mg – milk chocolate has around 50% of the caffeine content of plain chocolate
Food and drink diary
If you do feel that you are drinking or eating too much caffeine and alcohol and they are exacerbating your bladder problems, then try and keep a food and drink diary for a month or so. Write down all the alcoholic drinks and caffeine containing food and drinks that you consume during the day, along with a note of the place where you were eating/drinking and any associated thoughts, feelings or symptoms (toilet visits and episodes of leaking).
Example of how to fill in your diary:
Time Type of drink and quantity Where and who with Thoughts/feelings/symptoms
7pm Two mugs of filter coffee Just home from work Feeling tired and needed caffeine fix
9pm Bar of chocolate Bedtime treat Fancied a bit of indulgence
This could help you become more aware of your caffeine and alcohol intake, identify patterns in your drinking and eating behaviour and give you a basis from which to plan change and set goals.
Caffeine free alternatives
If you usually turn away from herbal or fruit teas, then it is time to think again. They taste delicious, will help you to keep hydrated and, by lowering your caffeine intake, may help reduce the need to go to the toilet all of the time.
There is now a huge range of teas and coffees available, including caffeine free versions of your ‘builder’s tea’. Instead of caffeine rich cola drinks, choose caffeine free varieties, fruit smoothies, skimmed or semi skimmed milk, diluted fruit juice and squash, mineral water or plain water instead. Take care when stopping or cutting down on your caffeine consumption; do this gradually as cutting it out suddenly may trigger caffeine withdrawal symptoms, including headaches.
Too much fluid
Don’t overdo it! It is very important that you are drinking enough fluid to keep hydrated and healthy, especially if it is hot, you’re exercising or you’re following a high fibre diet to prevent constipation. However, drinking too much and too quickly can cause you to make a large amount of urine and can put extra pressure on the bladder – you may have to get to the toilet very quickly! Your bladder will work best when you drink the right amount of fluid.
You get around 20% of your fluid intake from food and the rest should be made up by drinking about 1.2 litres (or around 6–8 glasses) a day – not all at once but spread throughout the day. Keep a jug/bottle of water near to you and sip away all day – a glass an hour is a good way to spread it out. This could also help to counteract some of the ‘dry mouth’ side effects of prescription medications that are often used to treat an overactive bladder.
If you are bothered by night–time urination (nocturia), try drinking most of your fluids during the day and limit your drinking after dinner. Interestingly, research has shown that tea drinking in the evening may exacerbate your night–time bladder problem, although more research is needed before recommendations can be made.
Although water is best for your bladder, remember that fizzy, still and tap water, diluted fruit juice, diluted fruit squash, skimmed and semi skimmed milk and semi skimmed smoothies all count towards your fluid intake, but watch the sugar content in some drinks to help your teeth and waistline!
Too little fluid
Don’t underdo it and get dehydrated! Drinking too little water for fear of having an accident can be just as damaging to your bladder and overall health. Your bladder will get used to holding smaller amounts of urine and can become sensitive – especially if your urine becomes more concentrated as then it is more likely to irritate your bladder.
Check the colour of your urine. Pale yellow is normal. If it’s darker, you’re dehydrated. Concentrated urine may also lead to urinary tract infections in women, which can in turn cause urge incontinence.
In the short term drinking more may appear to worsen your bladder problems, but this is usually only temporary. In the longer term your bladder will adapt to holding more urine, will become less sensitive and irritable and will be less likely to harbour infections.
Food irritants
Although the evidence is not always there to back up their claims, some people do feel that eating certain foods and drinks can worsen their bladder problems. The food and drink irritants in question include spicy foods, alcohol, fizzy drinks, acidic fruits (oranges, grapefruits, lemons and limes), fruit juices, artificial sweeteners, caffeine containing chocolate, and coffee and tea.
Salt
Eating too much salt is not good for our blood pressure, but what you might be surprised to hear is that excess salt in our diet can cause our bodies to hold onto extra water – as much as 1.5 litres (or around two and a half pints) of fluid. Whilst it has not been shown if this would directly affect your bladder control, the extra weight of the fluid (around 2 – 3lbs) could indirectly make your bladder problems worse. Either way, we should all be cutting back on the amount of salt in our diets to no more than 6g a day (around a teaspoon) to benefit our health.
Most of the salt you eat is not what you add to your food, but is hidden in prepared foods like breakfast cereals, bread, some meats, meat dishes, savoury snacks and ready meals, so it is worthwhile getting into the habit of checking food labels when shopping as you could be easily eating too much salt without realising it.
The traffic light system and Guideline Daily Amounts on food labels are there to help you. Here is a quick way to tell if a food is high in salt by looking at the nutritional information on the label.
Per 100g A lot A little
Salt 1.5g or more 0.3g or less
Sodium chloride 0.6g or more 0.1g or less
Top tips to cut your salt intake:
- Try to limit using salt at the table or during cooking.
- Replace salt with herbs and spices, lemon juice, chilli, garlic, black pepper or seasoned olive oils to liven up the taste of your food.
- Cutting down on the amount of processed food and savoury snacks will also help to recondition your ‘salty’ taste buds.
- Try to choose lower salt food options where possible.
Healthy diet information
This section contains useful information which has been collated to help you maintain a diet that’s right for a healthy lifestyle. See the list of links below for further information on healthy eating, healthy snack options, BMI, fridge essentials and much more.
Which foods should you eat more of and which should you eat less of? Teach yourself about food groups, balanced meals, portion sizes, and how to cut down on sugar and saturated fats. Read more about eating well.
Here, Body Mass Index is explained. Information on body shapes, waist sizes, and the risks of obesity associated with these factors. Read more about healthy body weight.
Learn how to lose weight steadily and sensibly. Get information on BMI, calorie intake, food diaries, and the science behind weight loss. Read more about losing weight sensibly.
Snacking doesn’t need to be unhealthy. Learn how planning ahead, and snacking on foods such as fruits and cereal bars, can benefit your diet. Read more about healthy snacking options.
Eating out can be as healthy as you want it to be. Learn which foods to choose when dining out, and how you can make the whole experience healthier without compromising on enjoyment. Read more about eating out healthily.
Keeping the fridge stocked with healthy essentials is vital to a balanced diet. See which meat, vegetables and dairy products we recommend you always have in your fridge. Read more about healthy fridge essentials.
Get organised for a healthier diet with a diverse food cupboard. Learn which foods are best for making the basis of quick, nutritious meals – including vegetable oils, tinned fish and pulses. Read more about healthy store cupboard essentials.
Take our simple healthy eating questionnaire to see if you’re eating healthily or if there is some room for improvement. There are ten multiple-choice questions with advice and top tips along the way to help you boost your eating patterns for life. Good luck!