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Need Constipation Relief? You may if straining a part of your bowel movements! Or if have fewer than one bowel movement for each meal eaten! Or if you are on the commode long enough to decide to read! |
Constipation Relief: Understanding Constipation
Constipation relief starts with understanding constipation. Clinical constipation refers to going three or more days without having a bowel movement. However, at Optimum Health anything less than one bowel movement a day falls under constipation. Why? Well, first consider what happens with less than one bowel movement per MEAL. Anything less than one bowel movement per meal eaten means that your bowel contents may be sitting in the colon too long where the bowel contents may end up too dry when they are passed. When too dry, the bowel contents can scrape the lining of your intestines and cause major problems such as hemorrhoids. Less than one bowel movement per meal can also give the toxins dumped into your intestines a chance to be reabsorbed back into your bloodstream where they can cause problems. Having less than one bowel movement each DAY drastically increases the possibility and intensity of all of these problems.
Constipation can be caused by not giving your body what it needs to create regular bowel movements. Your body needs fiber and intestinal microbes for regular bowel movements?
Bowel Movement = 4 Parts Fiber + 6 Parts Intestinal Microbes
Constipation Relief: Fiber
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Fiber is important for constipation relief though often overlooked with constipation relief. The fiber is the part of your food that your digestive system is not able to do anything with. Therefore, it passes into your intestines and then out when you empty your bowels. It forms about 40% of each bowel movement. Toxins that are dumped into your intestines buildup in the fiber and get passed out of your body with each bowel movement. Therefore, the fiber is helping to detoxify your body.
Fiber helps to bulk up your bowel movements triggering the brain to signal the emptying of the bowel contents. Without enough fiber, your bowels won’t fill up and give you the urge to pass your stool. This causes you to hold the content of your bowels too long. Therefore, your colon has a longer amount of time to remove water from your bowel content making your too dry. This extra time also allows the toxins that have been dumped into your intestines to have a chance to go back into your blood stream. When the toxins go back into your bloodstream they can buildup and rob you of your energy or be the source of many types health issues.
Constipation Relief: Microbes
Your intestines are lined with microbes (good germs) that help digest your food. This microbial lining is called the intestinal flora. The intestinal flora add a large amount of microbes to the fiber that passes through your intestines bulking it up and helping to hold in the moisture. These microbes form 60% of your bowel movements. Without these microbes you will not have the urge to pass your bowel contents in a timely manner. Therefore, too much water can be removed from your fecal matter causing it to dry out causing constipation. These microbes are also responsible for breaking down the lactose in milk. This means that painful gas can form if you ingest lactose without having the intestinal flora’s microbes to break it down for you. In some cases, not having the intestinal flora’s microbes added to help hold the water can cause water to pass through your intestines too quickly. This can lead to loose stools or diarrhea.
Microbes: How do I replace my intestinal flora?
The microbes in your intestinal flora can be replaced very easily and quickly. Originally, breast milk supported the developing city of microbes called the intestinal flora. Yogurt not only has the microbes (live active cultures) but it also has the substances needed to nurture the microbes as they develop into the colony of intestinal flora much the way breast milk does.
Eat yogurt that has plenty of live cultures every day for a few years and you will have your intestinal flora once again. If you want to replace your intestinal flora much faster, you can take our capsule of microbes (called probiotics) with your yogurt each day until your stool becomes loose. Initially, the probiotic capsule will give you all the microbes you need for the day.Once your intestinal flora is established, it will also give you all the microbes you need for the day. This will cause you to have too many good microbes each day which will cause loose stool. Therefore, this loose stool signals that your intestinal flora is thriving and producing plenty of microbes and lactase. That will be a time to celebrate as you will have succeeded in reestablishing your intestinal flora.
Microbes: How can I protect my intestinal flora?
Protecting your intestinal flora is essential. A high fiber diet is really helpful since good microbes feast on fiber while the bad microbes love refined sugar and animal fat. Garlic, green tea and ginseng are also helpful in fostering friendly microbes as they contain polyphenols which good bacteria love. Garlic is especially good as it also helps prevent the growth of bad bacteria. Eating fermented food such as miso, tempeh and yogurt is a wonderful way to support your intestinal flora. Bananas, chicory root, onions, leeks, soybeans, sweet potatoes, asparagus and some whole grains help support the colony of good microbes by providing natural sugars (fructooligosaccharides(FOS) and inulin) that the good microbes thrive on.
p style=”text-align: justify; padding-left: 30px;”>Again, chemotherapy and antibiotics have the unfortunate side effect of destroying the intestinal flora. Maintaining a high fiber diet with plenty of miso, tempeh and yogurt while being exposed to these and other things that insult your intestinal flora will help tremendously. Taking our Probiotic capsule with the miso, tempeh or yogurt 2 hours after chemotherapy and/or antibiotics can be extremely helpful. Just as the mother’s breast milk will nurture this dynamic city, yogurt is especially good at supporting and nurturing it also.
When will I notice relief from my constipation?
Though each person is different, most of our clients notice relief of nearly all problems within one week of beginning our program. They are able to go and enjoy some of their favorite foods again!
What if I don’t get constipation relief?
You may have something such as an impacted colon which will prevent the probiotic bacteria from reaching your intestinal lining where it would be able to recolonize.
Schedule an appointment for your initial consultation with a total body detox using an ionic foot bath to get started on your path to Optimum Health.
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