Constipation: It’s No Laughing Matter

There is staggering number of people who suffer from constipation.  Each year, Americans alone spend more than $1 billion dollars on over the counter laxatives.  What causes constipation? Let’s start with a ‘food flowchart’. Once we eat food, it combines with the digestive fluids in our stomach then moves into our small intestine.

By the time it hits the large intestine, our body has absorbed the nutrients from the food we have consumed. The large intestine then ‘removes’ the water from the remainder of food and turns it into stool. When we are constipated, it’s often because the colon then absorbs too much water and makes the stool dry and hard. It’s difficult to pass these hard, dry stools since they stick to the colon walls. Water is the key to keep everything moving.

In addition to the pain of this condition, not having regular bowel movements could lead to other conditions. When you don’t defecate regularly, the toxins in your body begin to enter your blood stream and can affect your organs.  If you regularly experience constipation, here are a few life style suggestions that may help reduce or even eliminate future flare ups.

More water please! – Drink 8-10 at least glasses of water every day, more if can. Water is so essential for your overall well-being. Water helps with digestion but it’s important to consume water throughout your day, not just with meals as water can dilute digestive juices.

Time for a stroll – You don’t have to take long walks, 10 minute walks a couple times a day will help. The most important time is after dinner, though. Walking then can help aid digestion and can also give you a better night’s rest!

An apple a day and other friendly fruit – Along with the many nutritional benefits it provides, incorporating two or more servings of fruit into your daily diet fruit can help lessen future flare ups. Try to work any combination of: apples, avocados, blackberries, figs, orange, papaya, pears, prunes, raspberries, and/ or strawberries. These fruits are well-known to give you little or no gastric distress while providing you with the natural fiber needed to keep you regular.

Changing of the seasons.

It’s a good idea to use an all-natural colon cleanser for every season. Fecal matter can be trapped in your system even with regular bowel movements, so a seasonal cleansing is an important part of your digestive health. Not fond of castor oil? Here are some other all-natural home remedies that many have found to be helpful.

Mango – a ripe mango can help alleviate symptoms. Be sure it’s ripe though as a green mango can cause gastric pain.

Figs – eating figs each morning can help reduce or eliminate future constipation. You can also mix figs with licorice tea if you’d prefer a liquid home remedy.

Fennel – place fennel seeds in warm water before bed for morning relief. Using fennel seeds each evening can also help regulate you long-term.

Lime juice – mix warm water with lime juice and ½ teaspoon of salt.  Lime’s high acidic value helps get things moving again.

Epsom salt – mixing a ¼ teaspoon of Epsom salt in 4 ounces of water may help elevate your symptoms.