Given that the diet of most Americans is composed primarily of processed foods and that eating these types of foods contributes greatly to the problem, it is no wonder that over the counter constipation remedies are some of the best selling at pharmacies and grocery stores.
As many as 15-20% of Americans suffer from chronic constipation. Millions more have intermittent issues with it.
Some folks have little hope of going to the bathroom on any given day without their morning dose of Metamucil or a bowl of All Bran. This is a very unhealthy situation indeed!
Why Fiber is NOT the Best Constipation Remedy
Eating more fiber as suggested in conventional circles as a remedy for constipation is not a wise move. Fiber eaten in the quantities recommended can seriously damage the colon over the long term. Think of using fiber to resolve constipation as the “roto-rooter’ approach to solving the problem.
OUCH.
Konstantin Monastyrsky, author of Fiber Menace, warns that high fiber diets produce large stools that stretch and damage the intestinal tract as well as upset the natural balance of beneficial bacteria. The end result of years of eating a high fiber diet as a band aid approach to constipation is more severe constipation, Crohn’s disease, IBS, hernias, colitis, and ironically, even hemorrhoids. Incidentally, he also warns against getting a colonoscopy which tends to do more harm than good!
Mr. Monastyrsky writes that it is simply unnecessary to consume fiber in order to have normal stools. In fact, many healthy traditional cultures ate diets that included little fiber.
Fiber from grain based foods is the most damaging of all. Consider yourself warned. The result of the USDA endorsed high fiber diet is long term digestive distress far and beyond the annoyance of constipation!
Natural Remedies for Constipation
As one gradually transitions from a high fiber to a low fiber, traditional diet, care must be taken to eat plenty of whole animal fats and bone broths that strengthen the intestinal environment. In addition, any temporary issues with constipation can easily be handled with the no fiber strategies outlined below.
Tip: As you are working to resolve slow moving bowels, witch hazel on a cotton pat will sooth and shrink the tissues to help heal rectal irritation, swelling or hemorrhoids.
Exercise (rebounding)
Exercise has long been known to relieve constipation and promote regular bathroom habits. If jogging or being a gym rat is not your thing, however, it is easy to exercise in the comfort of your own living room with a simple rebounder or exercise ball.
Rebounding stimulates lymphatic activity extremely well and gets things moving very quickly.
Even better, if your kids have a trampoline in the backyard, spend some quality family time with them and tone up your colon at the same time by spending a few minutes bouncing with them each day!
Cleansing Herbs
There are many herbs that assist with elimination problems. Triphala and Slippery Elm are probably my two personal favorites, but in lieu of becoming an herbal expert, it is easier to just pick up some detox tea from the healthfood store. These teas have a number of different herbs in them and work brilliantly for that occasional colon sluggishness.
Taking a few detox teabags with you when you travel is also a good way to keep things moving when the stress of travel, changing of time zones, and sitting for long periods on airplanes or in cars can throw bathroom habits off schedule.
Probiotics
A good balance of beneficial bacteria in the gut is essential to a healthy colon that eliminates regularly and without straining. These probiotics are best consumed on a daily basis in frequent, small doses in the form of lactofermented foods and raw, grassfed dairy but when this is not possible, a probiotic supplement can be used instead.
Not all probiotics are created equal, however, so be sure to get a good quality brand. Check out my Resources page for vetted brand ideas.
Vegetable Juicing
A glass or two of fresh veggie juice can work wonders with softening up the stools and making elimination a breeze. Be aware that V-8 juice or any other type of vegetable juice in bottles is not helpful at all.
The juice must be fresh, ideally made no more than 20 minutes before consuming. As a result, vegetable juicing and refrigerating to drink later is not a good idea either.
Also use caution when drinking plain veggie juice on an empty stomach particularly if it is heavy on carrot juice which is high in sugars. Stirring in a bit of cream as traditionally done in France will significantly slow down the blood sugar spike from drinking fresh juice on its own and assist with absorption of the wonderful colloidal minerals from the vegetables.
Enemas
When all else fails to relieve constipation, the tried and true enema works fantastically well.
The enema has been used since Biblical times and was even advocated in the Essene Gospel of Peace (from the Vatican library). Used to flush the colon of impurities and assist with regularity, this safe home remedy has been all but abandoned in recent decades in favor of over the counter drugs.
Many alternative cancer treatments make liberal use of the coffee enema to detoxify and cleanse the colon. However, a plain water enemas is simple, fast, and highly effective at treating an occasional bout with constipation.
Enema bags can be purchased at the drug store for about $10. Even easier, ready to use, saline enemas are available for about the same price. Be sure to get one without chemical additives, however!
What a simple, fast, and easy at-home answer to a series of high priced colonics with a hydrotherapist! These professional treatments can cost upwards of $75 each putting it beyond many people’s budgets and squeezed schedules.
Nothing literally illustrates the old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” better than the old fashioned enema!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
More Information
Relieving Baby Constipation Naturally
Sarah Pope has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. Her work is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.
Her work has been covered by major media including USA Today, ABC, NBC, and many others.
A Bounty of Florida Summer Produce
Five Strategies to Combat Constipation – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/xR5CwNB
I am so glad that you are addressing this problem. I became acquainted with the idea of the a coffee enema through a friend who was a fan of Charlotte Gerson and her work. I admit it took me a couple of years to get the courage to try it, but really it is a great tool for the home health tool box. You can order supplies from the store at http://gerson.org. Also good info explaining the how and why.
The biology behind the benefits of coffee enemas occur because the liver combines toxins with bile and excretes the toxins with the bile flow. The caffeine, theobromine and theophylline in coffee dilate the bile ducts to facilitate bile flow. The palmitates in coffee increase the action of glutathione-S-transferase by 600% in the liver and 700% in the small intestine. It is this enzyme that is responsible for the detoxification of free radicals and it’s also this enzyme that inhibits the re-absorption of the toxic bile. The quart of fluid held in the colon encourages the bowels to quickly move the waste out of the body by increasing peristalsis. Only coffee administered through the colon has the effects of bile duct dilation and glutathione-S-transferase stimulation.
I never thought the big C was my problem until I went on GAPS, especially the intro part. I quickly learned my BMs were nowhere near normal and I needed help. Namely: enemas. I dreaded them and simply refused them. Until I had no choice… and guess what?? They’re not bad. And you feel so good afterwards!! I’ve been on GAPS for almost 6 months and I now have a daily BM. The last 2 days I had 2 BMs a day! (Sorry if this is TMI). Adding dairy kefir and increasing ferments was key for me.
Hi Magda, many folks are constipated and don’t even realize it. Much of this is due to doctors promoting the idea that a BM every few days or even once a week is ok. Such insane advice and what keeps folks in the dark about the truth of their condition, plugged up and on the road to extreme illness from all those toxins putrefying in their gut 24/7.
Sarah,
Could you give your 2 cents on this, please?: My 5 month old’s stooling pattern suddenly changed about 2 weeks ago. Instead of multiple dirty diapers daily, she now is once per day, sometimes every other day. Is this healthy/normal? She is a breastfed baby. Could my diet be influencing her stooling pattern, or is a change in her stools normal at her age?
Thanks!
I’m not seeing any probiotic recommendations on your resources page. I imagine you recommend bio-kult, but I was trying to see if there were any others listed. Am I missing something??
GapsDiet and Cultures for Health are both listed.
Hi Sarah,
I believe eating enough fat, especially good animal fats, is also essential in relieving constipation.
Yes, this is mentioned in the post. When the fiber based carbs are reduced, healthy fats should fill that gap.
Gentle bouncing on a mini trampoline is another option — supposed to be good for the digestive organs and lymph circulation.
My 8 year old son suffered from terrible constipation for years and the last month we’ve been eating real fats, healthy fats, real milk, kefir, butter, etc. he has not been constipated at all. In fact, it’s become a joke because he goes so quickly and it looks normal now– he likes to call me in to show me. All this debate about whether or not raw milk has health benefits–this is proof enough for me.
Magnesium seems to help. It must be a dietary deficiency.
Ciao, Pavil
Water, water and more water! When my kids get constipated I make them drink 8 oz of water every 30 minutes. Works every time! Read this in a natural healing book.
Fats have been really helpful at our house, i.e. coconut oil! And also drinking enough water. I read that if you are having trouble having a bm, that you should drink 3 glasses of water on an empty stomach (on rising) and that gets things moving. Kind of wakes up your system, so to speak.
Thanks for sharing this- info that everyone needs to know but no one really wants to talk about! 🙂
Hi Sarah,
This was a great post. I am so glad you exposed fiber for the problem it can be. I know so many folks who are wedded to eating tons of fiber everyday and all they have are hemorrhoids and polyps…and all sorts of digestive problems!
I also love how you mentioned about adding cream to veggie/fruit juices. My mom has always done this. She is in great health (she’s in her late 80’s) and has never had a problem with constipation. A wonderful juice we make here – – – and especially good when you are battling illness…is apple, celery, ginger, cinnamon, and turmeric…and raw cream and honey. Juice an apple, a few stalks of celery, and a knob of ginger – maybe about an inch. Warm the juice VERY gently on the stove top adding in the ground cinnamon and turmeric. Once the spices are dissolved, remove from the heat and pour into a coffee mug. Stir in a bit of honey to taste (or maple syrup which is especially tasty) and top it off with a splash of raw cream. This is very healing and will also prevent constipation which sometimes accompanies illness.
Love,
Mary
thanks for that article 🙂
I’ve been taking Natural Calm lately, which is a magesium citrate powder. It’s non-addictive and has a bunch of other beneficial results. One of which is it helps you to “go.” I definitely recommend it.
Beware the Fiber Menace!
Because there are 1000s of strains of probiotics, taking a supplement is really an inefficient way to get your probiotics since they usually only contain one or two strains in dried, capsule form. On my website, I give my Perfect Trifecta for Intestinal Health which includes garlic, clay water, and kefir. The garlic kills the unfriendly bacteria in your gut and feeds the friendly bacteria, the clay water attracts and eliminates the unfriendly bacteria (while providing over 80 trace minerals), and the kefir adds friendly bacteria to your gut, which the garlic then feeds. Consuming water kefir, home-made yogurt, and milk kefir (along with other fermented foods) introduces many strains of friendly bacteria to your system instead of the few found in most probiotics. It’s a daily routine that heals and maintains the gut.
~ Kathy
The probiotic she is recommending is one that contains many more strains of probiotics than most, which is why she says to choose carefully and look at her resource page. But she also says to focus on fermented foods, not supplements.
You actually don’t need much water unless you go the conventional fiber approach. I think that drinking too much water is not good for the body and this is also discussed in Fiber Menace … folks got hooked on the water thing as they needed it to swell all that fiber in their diet. If you eat a traditional, low fiber diet you don’t really need much water in the diet and you stay nice and hydrated.
What about when following a low carb diet for weight loss. I was told by other low carb paleo adherents that smaller stools or going every other day is common as long as it isn’t hard and pebbly when you don’t have a lot of excess bulk to pass from plant matter. Is this not true? Should I be going a lot more?
Paleo diets are also lowfat … eating lowfat is constipating so I do not find going every other day to be reasonable or normal in any way.
Just a note: you’re quit correct that Loren Cordain’s original “paleo diet” book was low fat, but there are many advocates of paleo out there that do not adhere to this approach and encourage lots of fat. Since “possibly maybe” didn’t say, we don’t know her personal approach to fat. I can get constipated on a high fat diet, but I’ve always had poor gut flora and I suspect that this is a big culprit, as well as a mag. deficiency.
I eat about 60-70% of my calories as fat. 🙂
I eat about 60-70% of my calories from fat and it’s mostly animal/coconut sourced. I also drink a few cups of bone broth a day, meat, some fermented veggies, my cooked veggies are always smothered in coconut oil or grassfed butter, and I take CLO and butter oil.
I’m definitely not doing the Cordain style paleo. haha I guess I’m more primal but who needs labels!?
IMHO, you should still work toward going every day, although the initial says in some low carb diets may make that more difficult. The solutions presented here are all compatible with low-carb however (except kefir with paleo) and you should be able to implement them as needed without slowing your progress. I have low-carbed for years, and constipation is often a problem for me–unless I keep on top of it with these methods. I third magnesium, too! Works wonders.
well, it appeared I needed to increase my water intake to reduce my pollen allergy… all the food changes improved it a little, but the major change was made by drinking more water. Dehydration can be a problem sometimes. I’m not saying to drink 3 quarts a day, just to increase the water intake slowly to see if the situation improves.
And I drink kombucha and water kefir regularly… usually that’s enough to regulate my digestion, but sometimes I tend to forget drinking water in addition to those and then constipation comes back.
What I suggested was to naturally relieve an occasional issue.
My husband and I read about that last approach in a children’s herbal book as a way to help a fever. I thought it was the grossest thing ever. However, we have used it with our children and have had 100% success using a garlic enema for a fever. Just a few cloves of garlic blended with warm water. Strain out the chunks of garlic. I still think it’s gross, but I can’t argue with the success we’ve had with it.
Yes, and coffee enemas are miraculous for relieving a migraine or a regular headache with no meds.
What book is that? Sounds like a good one!
“The ABC Herbal” by Steven Horne I learned about onion juice for earaches in that book too. I learned of the book and bought it through bulkherbstore.com There is lots of great stuff on the site!
That’s “initial days.”