Constipation with Diet As Home Remedy

Ask 10 people what is constipation and you will get 10 different answers. There are some people who have bowel movements once a week or every 10 days and only then with the aid of a powerful laxative. This pattern is accepted as normal because it has become a habit and they don't know any other way. Any of us would view this as normal function of the bowel if that is all we had known since we were children.
Among persons in good health who have "normal bowel movements" this activity can vary quite a bit. Some may move their bowels three times a day and others every two days and exhibit good health in both instances. The best rule of thumb for determining a normal stool is that it should be somewhat soft and pass out easily without any strain or pain. The accumulation of fecal matter between bowel movements should not be such that it causes discomfort and bloating of the large intestine.

Constipation is when the stool is small and hard and physical straining is necessary to evacuate it. Under these circumstances, the muscles in the abdomen must tighten while at the same time holding a deep breath causing the diaphragm to extend downward. This causes strong pressure in the abdominal cavity to aid in enforcing the feces out of the large intestine. This exertion and straining is required because the normal peristaltic pushing action of the colon is not sufficient to push out the hard compacted fecal matter. One obvious sign of this effort is that the neck muscles and the muscles in the face tighten up as we push and strain to have a movement. It is also common for the face to turn red. However, most persons don't understand the irreversible physical damage caused by these forces. This is true even if the straining does not last very long.

Constipation is not due to any emotional problems or at least not in the beginning. However, spending one's life with such problems with moving one's bowels might cause one to lose emotional stability. Constipation is a result of eating foods which have little or no fiber. These foods include all animal products, dairy foods, fats such as corn oil and butter, and highly refined grains such as white rice and white bread. When the feces is hard and compacted the laws of physics dictate that the colon must work much harder to push it along. When more bulk from high fiber foods is present, the feces is softer and more expansive creating a stool with more diameter. The colon has more leverage on the larger diameter and does not have to work nearly so hard to push this through.

Fiber is the most important requirement for maintaining healthy function of the bowels. Fibers are found in plant foods and are a type of complex carbohydrate which is non-digestible. After all the digestible aspects of a plant food (carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, proteins and fats) have been extracted and absorbed by the small intestine, what remains are the non-digestible fibers as well as a large volume of beneficial microorganisms. This forms the bulk of the stool. In addition, these fibers have the ability to absorb and hold water further increasing the volume of the stool. As the volume of consumed high fiber foods increases, the greater will be the bulk passing through the intestines, and this will cause the frequency and the volume of bowel movements to increase.
A plant-based diet that is composed of whole grains, vegetables and fruits is the best and surest cure for the problem of constipation. Grains provide numerous types of fibers such as hemicellulose and cellulose which have the capacity to absorb and hold a large volume of water. Natives of Africa who live on a diet that is grain based, have an average of three large unformed bowel movements each day. If you pursue a healthier plant-based diet, eliminating or greatly reducing meat and dairy (which have no fiber) you too can enjoy frequent, effortless and painless bowel movements. And, you will avoid serious, painful and even life threatening complications such as diverticulosis and hemorrhoids.

Another aspect that is extremely important is to stay away from the proteins found in milk and dairy products. We can make a complete dietary transition in every way and still fail to achieve normal bowel function simply by doing something as small as having a little milk in the morning cereal. Dairy products are the number one allergen. More people are allergic to dairy than any other food and this can cause a lot of problems for the bowels of people who are sensitive to it.

Persons who have suffered for years from problems with their bowels and who have been abusing laxatives may possibly have extended their colons to twice the natural length and have produced extra redundant coils of bowel tubing that loop around in the abdominal cavity. People in this category may need additional help. The colon of a person who has been a chronic user of laxatives is habituated to getting the message to contract from an exte
al stimulant. For some time the colon has not responded to the natural messages to contract that are provided by the body. These messages are initiated by the expansion of the colon wall as it fills with the remnants of previous food intake. An individual who has such a laxative dependency must first be persuaded to give up the laxatives and then wait with patience while the stretched colon fills with enough bulk to give the normal stimulation to have a bowel movement. In the beginning it may require several days to fill a very large stretched colon. In time the bowel wall muscles will begin to contract normally and a bowel movement will commence. This process will continue without laxatives after the natural cycle of emptying and filling has begun with foods that are high in fiber.

To end your chronic constipation, begin a diet based on unrefined,whole-food starches, vegetables and fruits. Drink 10 glasses of water each day instead of the normal three or four. If additional help is needed one should next consider adding prunes to the diet. As a next step, add bran and flax seeds. For example, you might add 2 to 4 tablespoons of flax seeds to each cup of rice or other grain before cooking.
If even more help is needed, you might consider lactulose which is a non-absorbable sugar and sold under various brand names such as Chronulac and Granulac. This substance pulls water into the colon and will put an end to constipation in even the most stubborn cases. This is only available with a prescription from a doctor.