Constipation is more than a troublesome condition. It is an
insidious drain on the health of millions of people.
As bowel transit time is increased, the doo doo becomes
hardened and difficult to pass due to dehydration.
The body slowly reabsorbs the fluid content in the feces and
along with it many soluble toxins.
This βautobulkificationβ is the reason people are suffering
from constipation have coated tongues, foul breath, lack of energy, and
difficulty in thinking. These poisons affect every area of the body.
Fiber deficiency and constipation are associated with
diverticulitis, appendicitis, and colon cancer.
The small, hardened doo doo is very difficult for the normal
intestinal peristaltic actions to deal with effectively.
With the lack of bulk added by fiber in the diet, the
intestine resembles a tube of toothpaste that is almost empty. The same
difficulty you have in getting out that last bit of toothpaste is exactly the
problem your intestine has.
The peristaltic contractions are more forceful but less
effective and tend to create small out-pockets or diverticuli in the intestinal
walls.
Associated with both diverticulosis and constipation is a
change in the normal bacterial flora. As a result, bile acids normally found in
the doo doo and excreted are altered by prolonged exposure to these abnormal
bacteria, and become carcinogenic. So, now you can see the cause-and-effect
relationship behind low-fiber diets and colon cancer.
Most people habitually use laxatives to regulate bowel
movements when constipation is a chronic problem as it causes a strong
intestinal action due to the irritant qualities of the laxative. The
unfortunate aftereffect, however, is that the bowel reacts to this unusual
stimulation by becoming less active just after each use. What results is two to
three days when no further bowel movement has occurred, a second dose of
laxative is used, and on and on for years, even decades.
Enemas have a similar effect and laxatives, which contain
mineral oil, only cause the bowels to become over stimulated and weakened, but
actually rob the body of all fat-soluble vitamins.
Bear in mind that constipation can have early beginnings.
The normal breastfed kid will have a bowel movement about 20 minutes after the
start of a feed. Itβs a hard lesson to learn especially if the infant is fed
without a diaper on.
Over time, as solid foods are introduced, that bowel action,
which is a true physiological reflex, becomes less sensitive and can affected
by the type of foods consumed.
When a mother learns about this, foods like bananas are used
to harden the doo doo and slow the transit time, or they use prunes and papayas
to soften the doo doo and encourage a bowel movement.
When the kid is finally weaned and nightmare alley is
introduced (cowβs milk), the bowel movements become less regular and harder to
regulate. Then, when the kid is toilet trained, less attention is placed on
regularity and constipation is just around the corner.
Unless the kid is weaned to proper foods like whole grains,
fruit and raw vegetables, the early years can set the stage for a life of
constipation problems.
Also, in early childhood, with the parents on hectic
schedules, the essential call of nature can be habitually ignored or postponed.
This then causes the body to stop sending messages to the brain until it has no
other choice, due to bowel overload, to take a dump.
So, whatβs regularity? Unfortunately, it varies with the
individual. I remember doing radio shows and asking people to call in
anonymously and tell me how often they go doo doo. I suddenly found out that once
a week was normal for many. But the
consistency of the bowel movement is somehow more important that how many times
a day or week one goes.
If the bowels move once or twice a day and the stool is hard
or difficult to pass, thatβs constipation, no matter how regular the person is.
Then will lead to βloaded bowel syndromeβ, where nearly the entire transverse
and descending colon are filled with hard doo doo.
Another useful index in bowel transit time, or the time it
takes for food to pass through the body. In diets composed of unrefined
cereals, fruits, and plenty of raw vegetables, the transit time is usually 12
hours or so.
On a refined diet this could extend to 24, 48, or 72 hours
or longer. I had a man call in and tell he would have a bowel movement once
every two weeks. Good grief! Another tidbit that many people are clueless about
is that it takes about five to seven days for flesh to pass out of the body.
Since the nature of a dead body is to rot, where do you think all those rotting
poisons are proliferating in those five to seven days? Cancer, arthritis, and
heart disease, anyone?
Yes, there are other factors that play a role in
constipation besides diet. Lack of exercise removes the mechanical action of
the muscles on the intestinal contents, slowing down bowel action. This also
reduces normal circulation throughout the digestive tract. Eating while under
stress paralyzes all digestive functions, including peristaltic action. But,
and thereβs always a but, diet and diet alone is the most prominent cause as
well as the cure for constipation.
So, if the main cause of constipation is a fiber-deficient diet, then both
prevention and cure must lie in an unrefined high-fiber diet.
If constipation is habitual and of long duration, the
weakened bowels have to strengthened first and reeducated. even before a
high-fiber diet will stimulate regularity.
To improve intestinal actions, specific short cleansing
fasts or mono diets with herbal aids, and chiropractic adjustments should be
undertaken.
In the case of
long-standing constipation, a good 3-day fruit juice fast with nightly enemas
is good, especially where the habitual use of laxatives or enemas are the main
contributing factor to intestinal weakness. Depending upon the severity of the
case, colonics will be beneficial. After the fast, a 3-day apple mono diet
should follow. This would consist of four to five meals of raw apples with
apple juice between the meals.
What I told the βonce-every-two-weekβ guy to do was to soak
a combination of figs, prunes, and raisins overnight. In the morning I told him
to drink the water and add some non-fat plain yoghurt to the fruit, add some
bran, and eat it all. So, the following week he called in on my show again and
revealed his progress. On the first day, nothing happened. On the second day he
had so much gas nobody wanted to be near him. On the third day he said he had
to flush the toilet three times. He then told me he went vegetarian and had a
bowel movement with soft doo doo after each meal.
Aloha!
Sources:
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