Constipation getting the better of you?

Constipation is not a joke. It makes us miserable and affects those around us. As toxins build up inside they often mess up our moods as well because our bodies are in a toxic state.

Struggling to go to the toilet is a problem for so many of us. Using laxatives is not a long-term solution. There is enough science to confirm this and yet so may have to rely on laxatives to get relief. Other solutions people use are enemas.

Getting the food from point A – your mouth – to point B your exit hole is quite a process and there are supposed to be friends along the way. From your mouth to your rectum there are billions of microbes who keep us healthy. These microbes help us absorb the nutrients from the food we eat, they also break down the food particles. During the breaking down process nutrients are made bio-available and absorption takes place through the gut lining.

When we are constipated this process becomes interrupted.  We don’t absorb all the nutrients our bodies need as there is a back-up and the processed food isn’t able to travel as well as it should and be expelled. Our bodies reabsorb what should have been excreted and this is toxic. I used to suffer from constipation and can remember how on day 3 my mood would shift and the b1tch in me was in full control by day 4. As the body becomes more toxic, so our moods become affected. If we have any other inflammation happening in our bodies, which is very likely if the constipation has been chronic for a while, then these area’s will also become more inflamed as we become toxic.

The inflammation could look like joint pain, allergies, headaches, skin issues, sinus, depression and many more, so it’s not just constipation that’s a problem anymore. Most of us have tried several things to sort it out but everyone doesn’t address the root cause.

The root causes of constipation can be summarised as follows in many cases:

• A high carb and refined sugar diet
• Gut dysbiosis an imbalance in the microbes in the gut
• Not eating enough prebiotics. Prebiotics are the insoluble fibres that feed the gut microbes
• An incorrect pooing posture

None of the above-mentioned root causes can be fixed with laxatives and enemas and the underlying constipation will continue. But they can easily be corrected by firstly changing your poo posture with a poop stool. By lifting your legs from a 90ᵒ angle to a 35ᵒ angle you will release the puborectalis muscle. This muscle clamps closed the rectum keeping our poop from being released. We were designed to evacuate while squatting but modern toilets has removed need to squat. The modern easy to use toilet which we all appreciate has interfered with our evacuation process.

Secondly add probiotics to your diet to help releive constipation. This will fix the gut dysbiosis by reintroducing the good bacteria you need back into the gut. These bacteria help with the food production mentioned earlier, they also help with the production of your neurotransmitter serotonin. You can buy off-the-shelf probiotics which have been prepared in a lab or you can get your probiotics from fermented foods. Milk kefir has the most probiotic strains of any food and the way the probiotics are fermented in the milk kefir they are pre-digested so they arrive in your gut ready to work and alive. Shelf probiotics are not pre-digested and not guaranteed to be alive anymore. Properly made kefir, made with live kefir grains will guarantee the maximum number of probiotic strains. NuMe S.A makes all our kefir using live kefir grains. For those following a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle you can drink water kefir or coconut milk kefir. Fermented veggies like Kimchi and sauerkraut will also help add probiotics and they contain prebiotics too. Drinking 100mls a day will usually get things moving-a-long after a week. I drink kefir several times a week and no longer have a constipation problem.

Thirdly make sure you are feeding your gut microbes with pre-biotics. These you can get from fibrous foods like onions, garlic and asparagus or you can take a prebiotic supplement. And forth would be to reduce the amounts of carbs and sugar in your diet. Eating a low carb diet has proven to reduce inflammation in the body and brain which are great additional benefits. I find that when I overindulge in starch and sugar that I become slightly constipated, and my inflammation levels go through the roof resulting in painful joints.

I hope these tips help you as they helped me.