All About YOU: Be Psylly to Save Bathroom Time

If your bathroom has become the place where you get your reading done, it's time for a spoonful of psyllium.

Psyllium -- pronounced "silly-um" -- is a fiber supplement made from a Mediterranean plantain. A daily dose helps keep things moving right along.

Drink Up
Psyllium, found in products like Metamucil, bulks up stool and improves digestive flow by sucking water into the bowel. (Here's how your heart health might benefit from it, too.) Make sure to take a rounded teaspoon with lots of water, or you'll feel as if you just ate concrete. Or do what YOU Docs Mehmet Oz, MD, and Michael Roizen, MD, do: Add psyllium to a breakfast drink. Like this Banana-Cocoa Soy Smoothie.

More on When It's Slow
If you're bothered by the occasional "backup" (as most of us are), try these other tips for getting things going:

• Don't skip meals. Eating moves waste through your gastrointestinal tract. (Learn why six meals a day may be better than three.)
• Make friends with fiber. (Here's our list of the top fiber-rich bread brands.)
• Put your best foot forward. (Check out all the get-active options in our Shape Up, Slim Down Center.)
• Quench it. Stay hydrated with noncaffeinated, nonalcoholic beverages. (Read how to gauge your body's need for H₂O.)

Constipation, diarrhea, or alternating bouts? Find out what it might mean.

YOU: The Owner's Manual, Updated and Expanded Edition -- An Insider's Guide to the Body That Will Make You Healthier and Younger. Roizen, M. F., Oz, M. C., New York: HarperCollins, 2008.