Constipation affects more people than all the other colon complaints combined. It also increases the workload of the other excretory organs – the skin, the kidneys, the lymphatic system, and the lungs.
Generally, constipation (intestinal toxemia) can manifest as one or more of the following:
Fatigue low back pain nervousness
Sciatica allergies asthma
Arthritis malabsorption of nutrients
Headaches gastrointestinal conditions
Cardiac irregularities skin manifestations
Neuro-circulatory abnormalities Eye, ear, nose & throat diseases
Pathological changes in breasts Endocrine disturbances
Considered ‘normal’ by many health professions is a transit time of less than 24 hours. You can check your transit time by eating something like beets. Your transit time will be from the time consumed until all trace of the beets have passed out of the body.
Our body is designed to hold about 3 or 4 meals at a time. Requiring at least one bowel movement per day. Better yet, would be one meal in and one meal out = 3 bowel movements a day.
The consistency of the stool should be similar to crunchy peanut butter in color and texture. Food should not be recognizable and well formed.
To increase the health of your bowel there are several ‘rules’ to follow.
1. Drink water. Coffee, tea, soft drinks and alcohol are dehydrating and can contribute to unhealthy bowel conditions.
2. Increase your daily fiber. Eat whole foods such as berries, vegetables and whole grains regularly.
3. MOVE. Exercise, garden, walk, run, – anything in addition to your regular routine.
4. Eliminate processed food.
5. Answer nature’s call on demand. Avoid putting it off until ‘ a more convenient time.’
6. Eat some kind of fermented food 3 – 4 times per week or take a broad- spectrum probiotic.
This is a general list and by no means a ‘cure-all.’
I always concentrate on bowel health with my patients. Through my many years of clinical practice, I have witnessed amazing healing of many seemingly unrelated health concerns.