Traditional Foods for Sluggish Colon

[CandyLandQueen]

Hi friends! So I am 5 months post-partum and still struggling terribly with constipation. In fact, I had this issue long before I was pregnant. I feel like I have tried all of the standard recommendations: I've eaten 40-50g of fiber/day, daily bone broth, homemade daily kombucha, a scoop of homemade fermented sauerkraut daily... 90% of my diet is homemade, at least 70% is plant-based. The only thing that has seemed to help is taking ionic magnesium daily, like Peter Gilman's CALM powdered mag/cal blend but it really feels like a band-aid on the wound. I average 3liters-1gal of water every single day.  Admittedly, I haven't done all of these things at the same time, but as a new mother it's been a challenge to balance all of my home food projects with a new babe. Honestly, my system is so freakish that I could eat 5 prunes everyday for a week and not produce a loose movement. It doesn't seem to make a difference :(

Any thoughts out there?

My sister-in-law is suggesting colon hydro-therapy, any tried that?    

Thanks!

[PumaBearclan]

Hello, I'm sorry to hear of your constipation :( In my reading about health over the years, colon function seems to be a common issue.

I know that my comment is not recommended by medical professionals. However, from what I've seen in forums over the years, a high fiber diet actually causes constipation. Many people with complaints like yours have benefited from a low-fiber high-fat diet. In low-carb forums especially, where fiber is not a big part of the diet, many people have reported improvement.

Interestingly, for inflammatory bowel conditions, medical professionals recommend a low fiber diet. I personally do not think that fiber is good for the body. I think that it delays evacuation while harboring bacteria that should not colonize in the body. Additionally it dehydrates the colon. It also depletes the body's vitality through attempts to digest it.

Drinking lots of fluid also doesn't make sense to me because nearly all of it is eliminated as perspiration, respiration, and urine.

My opinion is that much constipation is caused by stress. The digestive tract is a minor nervous system; it actually contains as many nerves as a cat's brain. The vagus nerve in the back of the throat is directly stimulated by eating, drinking, and breathing (also speaking and smoking, which is why the throat is a locus for stress and stress relief stimuli). There are yogic practices (hatha yoga) you can try to relax your throat, chest, and abdominal wall. Such as the Lion, you can google images to see.

I hope that your health is soon restored.

Puma

[IsaFrench]

i agree with the stress factor (experienced that big way last week + DD2 did too after an emotional shock a few months back)

recently, i baught psylium powder , which i hope will help (am only starting with 1 teaspoon a day for the moment)

and also fell back on my standard (for where i live, can be baught in health food shops, when i tried buying some in the US a few years back, pharmacists looked at me funny & were talking about poisonning issues/hospital use only .....)

activated charcoal powder => one table spoon a day

(can drink it with a straw if you don't want to have all the black particles in your mouth, it's gritty too .... or can buy in capsules or pills sometimes too ....)

diluted in a glass of water

=> within 12 to 24 hours, you should get some movement down there, it will be all black, which shows that it went through ....

in the past, i had success with my green soup = half frozen spinach + half frozen green beans boiled for 30 minutes, with some fresh coriander or basil or whatever herb you like/have, thrown in just before liquidizing, 2 or 3 bowlfull of that soup every day, helps things along (being liquidize, it doesn't seem too hard for the colon ...)

[CandyLandQueen]

Thanks for the tips! I do have a regular yoga practice and I'm not a particularly stressed person, so I don't think that's it :) I'm going to try the colon hydrotherapy and see if that helps. I've got an appointment with my naturopath Dr.