Welcome to installment #5. I’ve put together a few ideas that I’ve found helpful in my experience. I’m aware that there are many differences in opinion and sometimes conflicting evidence. As I say, I share from experience. But this is where the scientists step in and say “it’s all placebo”. Oh well…
Barley/wheat grass
This suggestion won’t help everyone, but may be extremely effective if you feel like your system is in stubborn lock down, and/or you experience harsh cramping. Barley grass and Wheat grass are most commonly purchased as a green powder. They are known to create are more alkaline environment in the gut, assist with healing/soothing fissures in the lining of the colon, and can reduce the body’s toxic load – particularly if you are commonly constipated. The two are very similar. One comes from the barley plant and the other from wheat. Levels of Gluten are nil to negligent, due to the fact that gluten is the protein that is found in the grain, rather than the grass of the plant.
Example of dosage: One teaspoon in the morning (in one of your cups of water) – absorbs best on an empty stomach - and 30mins to one hour before dinner. Increase immediately if you notice no change, or incrementally if you have a stronger reaction. Two teaspoons to one tablespoon per dose is great. But one teaspoon per dose may be enough for your body. Remember, this high dose of chlorophyll (green stuff!) is great for reducing the toxic load on the body when the bowel is being sluggish.
If you find the taste too revolting, try adding it to a smoothie and consume it at room temperature.
Why not ice? This leads us to the next section…
Temperature
Who doesn’t drink water from the fridge on a scorching day? What I am about to tell you may sound like sacrilege, but cold drinks and foods are not the friend of constipated people, and people who tend towards sluggish digestion. This is well understood by many schools of medicine including Aryuvedic and TCM, but totally ignored by western allopathic medicine. For much of my life I assumed that it was the content of my food and beverages that mattered, and temperature had little to do with it. Except when I had an upset stomach (which was very often), where I would drink water as hot as my mouth could take it. Heat seemed to calm my stomach better than anything else.
We talk about not doing strenuous exercise before our muscles have warmed up. This is because cold muscles are stiff and have less shock absorbing capacity. There’s less blood flow. Translate this to your colon. This suggests that ‘healthy’ smoothies at breakfast time and salads made from vegetables straight from the fridge at lunchtime, may be more difficult to digest than choosing warmer options. If changing your dietary preferences is not your preference, you could try a smoothie without ice and let your refrigerated food sit at room temperature for a hour or two (it won’t grow bacteria and kill you).
As winter approaches, it is wise to think about foods that promote warmth, such as ginger, cinnamon, garlic, slow cooked meats and root vegetables.
Bone broth or homemade meat stock
Awesome for building up the gut lining. Bone broth contains many essential minerals and collagen, that is easy for the body to assimilate. It is wonderful to include with a hot breakfast, drink between meals, or use as the base of a hearty soup. In order to make bone broth, you only need previously cooked bones, a splash of cider vinegar, and water, cooked slowly for 24-48 hours. You can add vegetables, but if you’re cooking a broth for say, 36 hours, you might add them about halfway through the cook time. If you can’t see yourself making your broth in the near future, New World and various health stores sell an organic powdered broth as well as a concentrate in a jar. Both are economic and time saving. You just add boiling water. On the other hand, the most economic option is to use bones from any meat that you buy. Obviously, if you’re not a habitual shank or roast chicken eater, you can buy soup bones or chicken frames.
Meat stock is easy to acquire if you enjoy slow cooked meat. You get left with a flavourful broth full of amino acids, minerals and even a bit of vitamin D.
Don’t give up on animal protein
People who give advice on constipation typically extol the value of plant-based eating, the need for plant fibre, and often demonise meat as something that will slowly rot in your gut and slow down your metabolism. At this point in my understanding, I’d say the latter statement is only true for a small percentage of the population. And for a portion of that percentage, it may be due to issues higher up in the digestive tract, such as lack of stomach acid. If this issue can be resolved, meat is not a problem to digest. Furthermore, a vegetarian or vegan diet promotes low stomach acid. This is ok if you thrive on such a diet. But it is my current understanding that fewer people thrive on this diet than mainstream diet advice suggests.
If you feel heavy and uncomfortable after eating meat, it might be helpful to consider what you ate it with. Some people find that the combination of meat plus starches or refined carbs is difficult to process. Then if you add a couple of wines and a dessert….why only blame meat? I would suggest for your night meal to have either low starch vegetables with meat, or some root vegetables and low carb veggies (have your meat at lunch time J). By simply reducing the energy demands on your digestive system in the evening, you may have a happier gut the next day.
Whilst plants can indeed be very beneficial in constipation – particularly fresh vegetable juice and barley/wheat grass - easily assimilated proteins and collagen are crucial for building the gut lining. Often constipation is a result of compromised gut lining, or causes it. In either case, is the body is unable to repair this tissue, and what many health practitioners term as ‘leaky gut’ can result from toxins leaking into the blood stream. These toxins may cause an inflammatory response in other areas of the body, such as the joints or muscles.
Some helpful reading material
Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Natasha Cambpell-Mcbride