5 Foods to Avoid with Hemorrhoids - For Internal, External and Thrombosed Hemorrhoids

Hemorrhoids are one of the more common ailments with approximately 50% to 75% of adults experiencing symptoms.

Many people are unsure as to how to treat them or even what causes them. With advice like “stay hydrated” or “eat more fiber,” this can get a little confusing.

Questions that people often ask include such things as “Why should I eat more fiber? and "Why should I stay more hydrated?“ 

Let’s take a look at some things that can cause hemorrhoids and see if you can get a little better understanding of the cause and effect when it comes to different foods and the management of hemorrhoids.

Why Can a Poor Diet Cause Hemorrhoids?

Eating more fiber is important for most people. But, sometimes your diet may not give you enough healthy fiber. While processed foods may taste good, they are low in fiber and negatively affect your bowel movements by making them stiffer.

Anytime this happens, it can be make you constipated and create more stress on the anal veins worsening your hemorrhoids.

So, What types of fiber are good for hemorrhoids?

Let's take a look at two different kinds of fiber that can help this situation.

1. Soluble fiber - This is a convenient form of fiber which makes your stool soft and well formed. It is convenient because you can dissolve it into a glass of water. Because of it’s efficiency, this type of fiber causes little irritation during bowel movements.
2. Insoluble fiber - This form of fiber will help keep things moving through and out of your system. It also helps to balance your intestinal chemistry. Insoluble fiber is what your grandparents might have called “roughage”, or the insoluble material typically found in veggies. 

Here Are Some of the Best Foods to Eat When You Have Hemorrhoids

• Legumes - Like split peas, clack beans, lentils or even baked beans
• Oatmeal - Brown rice, bra flakes or anything with whole grains in them
• Vegetables - Like green peas, broccoli, and artichokes
• Fruits - Such as raspberries, apples, bananas, and pears
• Nuts - Small amounts of almonds and pecans that are high in fiber

While there are good foods that will help prevent or reduce your hemorrhoids, there are also foods that tend to worsen hemorrhoids.

You should reduce your intake of these harmful types of foods while increasing your intake of the good foods.

This balance will help soften your stool making your bowel movements smoother and less painful. 

Please don't rely on stool softener for a lengthy period of time as this could cause long term health problems. 

What are the Worst Foods for Hemorrhoids to Avoid:

• Red meat
• Processed meat
• Refined carbohydrates
• Fried food
• Alcohol
• Caffeine
• White breads and bagels
• Dairy products
• Spicy foods
• Citrus fruit
• Excessive fiber

Any diet that is high in red meat or processed meat can cause hemorrhoids. These types of meats tend to stiffen up your bowel movements because they are high in fat content and low in fiber.

Anytime you have to take a laxative, this will always have an effect on the hemorrhoids.

When the stools are loosened, it causes a higher acid content that can cause irritation and pain.

While high fiber foods are good for you, refined grains lack the fiber that aids digestion.

This will cause them to set in your stomach and intestine and not be processed. 

Many dietary products can also cause a problem as they can promote constipation and irritate hemorrhoids. Even though this is not the main intent, they can still push you system out of balance and cause a problem.

Salt being dehydrating is also dangerous, especially if you are in a flare-up as the extra fluid loss could send you into constipation irritating your system.

Fried foods even though they may be good tasting, have a high fat content and are full of oils.

Usually the foods were unhealthy before they were fried and all of this together can cause a problem.

Is Spicy Food Bad for Hemorrhoids?

I imagine one of the questions that you're asking is will spicy foods have a negative effect on your hemorrhoids?

With spicy foods, although they do not contribute to hemorrhoids or cause them, can make your bowel movement a more painful experience. If you know you're having a flare-up, you might want to lay off the spicy foods for a couple of days.

Does Alcohol or Caffeine Cause Hemorrhoids?

Some of you may also want to know does alcohol or caffeine cause hemorrhoids? If you're anything like me, when it comes to having an ice cold soda on a hot day, there's nothing better.

However if you're having a flare-up of hemorrhoids, you might want to give it a miss.

Caffeine and alcohol will both dehydrate you. If you're right there on the edge of being dehydrated to begin with, they can push your system over the edge and start causing stiffer bowel movements.

Stiffer bowel movements (constipation) can trigger a hemorrhoid attack.

What are the Worst Foods for Hemorrhoids?

If there's one thing that we are trying to get across is that there are many components that can be good or bad for hemorrhoids, but everybody is different.

If you suspect that you have hemorrhoids, you can try the things that we have suggested, a few at a time.

The one thing that I would really like to be understood is, do not self-diagnose.

There are other conditions more serious than hemorrhoids that could be causing the symptoms which might be mistaken for a hemorrhoid problem.

So even though you think you are experiencing hemorrhoids, get a doctor's opinion.

If it is hemorrhoids, some of the foods that we've mentioned here could help you to control your symptoms.