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Reversing Severe Constipation After Surgery
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This is my recommendation
Regular elimination of waste through bowel movements is absolutely vital to your health. If you are not eliminating regularly, you can experience uncomfortable symptoms such as bloating, gas, chronic constipation, lack of energy, pasty skin and disruptive sleep.
One of the most important things you can do to help yourself maintain regular elimination is to note those specific times when you tend to become constipated, your personal constipation triggers.
My personal constipation triggers:
How I Address Constipation Triggers:
Travel or work-related constipation:
When I'm traveling, or working at the computer, I try to remember to stop often and relax, and again, not eat badly. If I'm traveling on a plane, I get up and walk the aisle, even if people don't like it. I also go into that cramped little bathroom several times, and do some stretches, sitting on the dinky little toilet...cause people really wouldn't like that happening in the aisle, ha.Stress-related constipation
When I know I'm under a lot of stress, I try to remember not to compound the damage by eating badly. I will take a natural stress formula like Calms Forte, listen to soothing music, go for a walk in nature or get around some carefree children and listen to their laughter. Stress is probably the single-most common factor in chronic constipation because stress effects every process of the body, including digestion and elimination.Diet-related constipation
If I choose to eat red meat, refined flours or cheese, I take steps to prevent constipation, such as taking a natural laxative, drinking more water, and balancing with a high-fiber drink or food bar. If I eat meats, especially beef, I take an enzyme high in protease before the first bite (not always, and I can tell the difference for days when I forego the enzymes).If you suffer from chronic constipation, I hope that the tips I've gathered for you here will work for you, as they have for me.
How do you know if you are constipated?
Opinions vary widely on what constitutes constipation. Some doctors say, if you have one bowel movement every few days, you can be healthy. I do not believe that for a minute.The only way it could be considered "normal" to eliminate only once per two or three days, is if you only ate once per two or three days.
Food in, waste out. It's how the body is designed to work.
It's the rule in nature (just watch an animal eat something and you will, very soon after, see them eliminating). It's the same with babies. Food in, waste out is the rule of healthy bowel movements. If you eat three meals per day, you should have three movements.
How to stop chronic constipation
and restore healthy bowel movements
One of the other factors in constipation is simply chronic dehydration. Drink more pure water, all throughout the day, if you are experiencing constipation and see if it doesn't start to balance out.
Changes that will encourage healthy bowel movements:
Stop eating refined white flour
White flour is like putting glue in your stomach. It does not move through like whole grain flour that has fiber. If you cannot wean yourself off white flour breads, at least look for the "whole grain" white breads.
Stop eating refined white sugar.
I hesitate to say this because you may turn to artificial sweeteners like splenda, aspartame or sweet'n'low and I consider those about as unhealthy as eating refined sugar. Good substitutes are agave and stevia.
About Stevia: I have a lot of people say they can't stand stevia because it has a bitter aftertaste. Not all stevia has that. It may cost a little to experiment but there are brands that are not as bitter. For my money, organic amber agave tastes incredibly good, even better than sugar.
Reduce constipation by not eating meat
If you can't stop eating meat, focus more on organic chicken or fish and stay away from beef and pork, and eat whatever meat you choose to eat either baked, broiled or broasted, not fried.Basically, the body really can't digest cooked meats. I was watching Dr. Oz on Oprah the other day and he put it quite well, when he said that meat sort of just rots in the digestive system.
If you choose to eat cooked meats, particularly red meats, consider a digestive enzyme supplement high in protease, the enzyme responsible for digesting protiens. I recommend Enzyme Essentials PureZyme.
Reduce constipation by eating more
raw fruits and veggies, and whole grains.
This is not a new idea. It's just one that bears repeating because so many of us, despite the many encouragements to do so, still do not eat a lot of fresh foods. If you just don't particularly care for fresh veggies or fruits, there are freeze-dried powders that contain virtually all the nutrition of fresh foods. I take Red Lightning and Green Lightning. You can find them in your local health food store.
Restore normal peristalic action with regular colonics
Getting regular colonics can help the colon strengthen and restore normal peristalis in a sluggish bowel. Talk with your colonic therapist about how often you would need to have a colonic, based on the state of your colon. Also discuss colonic side effects such as cramping and make sure you are working with a sensitive therapist.
Coffee enemas are also great to get a sluggish bowel moving but be sure you use organic coffee, and also, make sure you get really good instructions on the percentage of coffee to use and the preparation. About 40 percent of the caffeine will absorb so don't use if you are not supposed to have caffeine. Having covered those basics, I'll share some things that have worked for me in shifting a state of chronic constipation: