Ask a Healer Colon Health Series

Chronic Constipation Causes and Cures - Restoring Normal Bowel Movements
© Neva J Howell, All Rights Reserved
Natural constipation remedies
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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 and bloating, 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 and normal eliminatory health is to note those specific times when you tend to become constipated, your personal constipation triggers.


My personal constipation triggers:

Traveling long distances by car or plane, or sitting for long periods without moving such as doing computer work for more than an hour without stretching.

Being under unusual stress for more than a week, or eating while emotionally stressed.

Tied in with being stressed is insomnia. When I don't sleep good, I don't eliminate properly.

Eating red meat, at all, and particularly if more than once in a week. Red meat is hard to digest and stresses the digestive system as well as putrifying in the intestinal tract which inhibits proper elimination too.

Eating refined flour products in any amount and particularly if more than once in a week. White flour products have had the natural, bulk-producing fiber stripped and are basically like glue in the intestinal tract.

Eating cheese at all, and particularly if more than once in a week.

Eating fried foods or foods made with refined sugar. Refined sugar holds food in the colon far longer than it needs to be there, leading to putrification which can encourage gas and bloating as well as a constipated state.

Eating high-fiber foods without adequate water. Although touted by doctors as a sort of across-the-board answer for chronic constipation, there are situations where too much fiber can cause a person to be more constipated. One such situation is when fiber is added but more water is not also added to the diet.

A high-fiber diet is great but if you don't greatly increase your water intake as well, you can end up very constipated because fiber bulks up and, absent sufficient fluid, becomes hardened, dry and hard to pass.

Part Two: What causes constipation
Part Three: Symptoms of constipation
Part Four: How to cure chronic constipation
Part Five: Natural constipation remedies
Related: #1 recommended constipation remedy
Part Six: Colonics and Coffee Enemas

Eliminatory Health Disclaimer: While normal bowel movements are greatly influenced by factors such as diet, exercise and lifestyle, there are also medical conditions involving eliminatory health that should be ruled out in the event that bowel problems are considered to go beyond what would be normal situations of being constipated or bloated. Some conditions that may cause, bloating, intestinal distress, abdominal pain and constipation include Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Krohn's Disease, Diverticulosis, Leaky Gut Syndrome, Colon Polyps and other eliminatory health problems including cancer of the colon. Be sure to see a doctor if you experience symptoms warranting medical attention.