Constipation ... a 'Fast' Remedy
For good health, you need a bowel movement at least once a day. Twice is better. Medically oriented websites note that merely not having a bowel movement on a particular day doesn’t mean you’re constipated per se. As a raw-foodist of fifteen years’ experience, I’ll say this: Unless you’re fasting, not having a bowel movement daily is constipation.
Regular evacuation of your bowels is essential for being healthy, for maintaining ideal weight (or getting down to it), and for having clear, youthful skin. For more on that, read my article: The Straight Poop.
So what if you can’t go? What do you do?
Quick Remedies
There are some quick remedies, some of which you’ll already aware of. Eating prunes. Drinking cabbage or carrot juice. A tablespoon of raw honey—which offers laxative properties—thrice daily. These remedies will likely relieve symptoms. But you should start getting to the root of the problem.
Where to get the best fiber?
If constipation occurs other than very rarely, you’re almost surely eating wrong. Your remedy here: raw foods. Vegetables and fruits. Go raw or close, and you’ll get all the fiber you’ll ever need, plus (inside those fruits and vegetables) a great supply of the best water there is—biologically active water.
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“Massage” your digestive system
If you’ve ever spent more than a couple of days in a hospital bed, you’ll know they start handing you stool softeners. Why? Because inactivity causes all that digested food to build up inside. It’s the motion imparted to your bowels by your moving about which “massages” the bowels and gets that food moving through. And there is no exercise more effective or natural than yoga.
Rest your digestive system
You also need to give your digestive system a complete rest once in a while, so it has a chance to heal itself. There’s only one kind of complete rest for the digestive system: fasting.
If you’re already pretty thin, fasting sounds genuinely scary. Consider what one correspondent wrote to me when I suggested fasting as a solution to constipation:
I do like a mini fast now and again. Right now I don't eat till noon, then drink green juice and have a raw meal at night. I'm pretty underweight at the moment, so a full-on fast seems kinda scary—when I do fast, it makes me weak and dizzy…
If you feel weak and dizzy while fasting, this is a likely indication that your body is toxic. And if you’re constipated at the same time, that weak, dizzy feeling may well derive directly from impacted stool.
Here’s the tough part: You’ve got to be willing to endure a little discomfort now for greater results later. It’s understandable. We want it now and easy. We don’t want to feel “weak and dizzy.” We want immediate results. And we want the symptoms to go away. But to gain real health, you have to go through a detox process as you heal, so later you’ll get truly, deeply healthy. So yes, early on you may feel a tad weak, may feel a faint, generalized kind of dizziness. I suggest you just try to deal with it—good things are coming.
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Stop eating at night
If a day long fast doesn’t appeal to you, extend your night rest. Eating at night isn’t a good idea. In my book Quantum Eating I explain the circadian rhythms which govern our body’s workings. To become and stay healthy, we need to eat according to those rhythms. Try eating in the morning, instead. Go to bed on an empty stomach, giving your digestive system its needed nightly rest. Quantum Eating is about eating raw foods and not eating at night. I believe it’s the best anti-aging program. Try it and see for yourself.