FOOD THERAPY: CONSTIPATION RELIEF & PREVENTION

What is constipation?

There are 4 basic types of constipation described are:

• infrequent stools
• hard stools
• difficulty passing stools (straining)
• sense of incomplete emptying after a bowel movement.

The reason behind each of these “types” of constipation is different, and the strategy for each needs to be customized. Constipation can be followed by diarrhea. This pattern has been associated with the more serious condition of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). And the most serious case of constipation is complete impaction, where stool hardens in the rectum and no passage of stool results.

As we age, our bowel movement reduce. While most people have a bowel movement once a day, slightly less than 50% of the adult population seem to enjoy the regular pattern. The other half are irregular and do not have bowel movements every day.

 

Quick Constipation Assessment 

• Healthy bowell movement: regular daily bowel movement.
• Constipation is considered a real problem when there are fewer than three bowel movements per week.
• When constipation is serious, people will experience less than one bowel movement per week.

Medical experts hold the position that there is no medical reason to have a bowel movement every day. Additionally, they have determined not having a bowel movement for 2-3 days does not cause discomfort, only mental concern for some people. Medical researchers and doctors support there is no evidence that “toxins” accumulate when bowel movements are infrequent or that constipation leads to cancer. This statement is contrary to natural and traditional Chinese herbs practitioner(s).

It is important to discern acute (recent onset) constipation from chronic (long duration) constipation. You need to approach your health practitioner with your constipation concerns regarding the following:

• Acute constipation needs immediate assessment because a serious medical illness may be the underlying cause (e.g., tumors of the colon).
• Additionally, constipation needs to be assessed if it occurs with serious symptoms such as rectal bleeding, abdominal pain and cramps, nausea and vomiting, and involuntary weight loss.
• In comparison, the assessment of chronic constipation may not need attention, especially, if simple aid brings relief.

 

OK! THE NATURAL MEDICINE EXPLANATION 

WHAT IS THE UNDERLYING CAUSE OF CONSTIPATION & WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO CORRECT THE IMBALANCE?

While the medical model describes and defines the condition of constipation, it is not clear the underlying causation. To say there is an inflammation or infection behind constipation may fall short for our purposes. Though there may be inflammation, its important to understand the precondItion and unseen phenomena creating this toxic condition.

The anology of weather and environment will serve us to understand what is happening with constipation. When its hot and dry, we have dessert conditions. What happens is that everything dries up. When the environment is cold and damp then the condtions are boggy-everything is moist. When these conditions occur in the elimination tracts, then our fecal matter is transformed. If our descending colon and rectum are too hot then its dries our elimination. The result is that it becomes dry and hardened. It also slows down due to excess friction and lack of lubricating mucous.

FOOD THERAPY FOR CONSTIPATION

To counter this drying process, eat cooling foods such as: salads, green beans, spinach, etc. and cooling fruit like melons,pineapple, etc. 

Cooling Veggies Asparagus Bamboo shoot Bitter Gourd (Wild cucumber) Bok choy Broccoli Button mushroom Cabbage Califlower Celery Cucumber Eggplant Green bean (string) Lettuce Mung bean Peas Pumpkin Seaweed Spinach Sweet corn Swiss chard Summer squash Tomato Yam Zuchini

Cooling Fruit Apple Banana Grapefruit Kumquat Loquat Mandarin orange Mango Melons Pear Persimmon Plum Pomegranates Red Bayberries Star Fruit Tangerine All citrus

Cooling Protein Abalone Adzuki bean Clam Crab Cuttlefish Duck Duck eggs Egg White Kidney Beans Oyster Sesame seeds Sweet Apricot Seed Tofu Water chestnut White bait Whole Egg

Cooling Addl. Foods Honey Olive Royal Jelly Tea (Green, Oolong, Lapsang souchong, and black) Soy milk Soy sprouts Tofu Tempeh Mung beans & sprouts Alfalfa sprouts Millet Barley Amaranth All seaweeds Wheat & barley grass Yogurt Kudzu

 

 

COOLING HERBS FOR CONSTIPATION 

Additionally cooling herbs will quickly cool and soften stools such as rhubarb rt. and cascara sagrada. Though these herbs, by themselves, are not balanced, when you combine them with toxic countering herbs, you will have an excellent formula for your descending colon. If your stomach is weak and/or lacking energy then cold herbs alone have to be counter-balanced with qi increasing or energizing herbs. This is where a herbalist specialized in Traditional Chinese Herbs will be of optimal benefit to your health.

COOLING NORTH AMERICAN HERBS

Comfrey Malva Marshmallow root Chickweed Basil Oregano Marjoram Mint Gotu Kola Scullcap Lobelia American Ginseng Passiflora Valerian Hops Wintergreen Chamomile Borage Aloe vera Kelp Spirulina Catnip Lemon Balm Honeysuckle flowers *External Use

Golden Seal Feverfew Thyme White willow Birch Dandelion Cramp bark Hyssop Cascara Amaranthus Wood Betony Parsley Bonset Elderberry Sorrow Myrrh Slippery elm Eyebright Cleavers Yellow Dock Pau D’arco Blue Flag Fenugreek White peppercorn Gentian

Fumitory Mountain Grape Balm of Gilead Burdock Black Walnut Psyllium Sarsaparilla* Greater Celandine* Seneca Snakeroot Barberry Oswego tea Rhubarb root Senna Centaury St. John’s Wort Lavender Wormwood Oregano Marjoram Lovage Lemongrass Nettles Cilantro Figwort

WHY AREN’T ALL FORMULATIONS WORKING? 

Yes, all these herbs work and I have seen many of them included in Constipation or Colon Cleansing products. But with almost 50% of the people from 50 years or older their digestion tracts are weak and bloated due to the toxic American diet. If they were to take these cooling herbs, they would experience pain or think they were in an inflamed state but it is quite the opposite. Their colon is is cold and therefore feels pain. I have seen 100s of people who come asking can you do something for my inflamed colon.

The latest natural medicine propaganda is, you need these cooling herbs to reduce the inflamed toxic heat state. I promise you it is not the case. It is essential that middle and senior agers need warming, energizing herbs and food for the fatigued stomach and colon areas while providing cooling in the descending colon and rectum. In essence, both strategies need to be employed, at least, for a constipation formula to work for the prior mentioned populations. There are more items to add but this is enough to deliver the essential concepts around constipation.

 

NATURAL MEDICINE: WHAT REALLY WORKS? 

STIMULATING and Energizing Herb Formula that WorkS OVERNIGHT!

CASCALIN

CASCALIN provides overnight constipation relief. Cascalin, quickly balances the elimination tract by directly feeding the deficient tissues of the colon. One spoonful and the digestive tract naturally, softens the blockages due to excessive heat in the region.

The herbs in this formula cool and lubricate the tract thus releasing impacted matter. Additionally, the fomula nourishes and re-establishes peristalsis. CASCALIN provides for natural healthy elimination flow.  

 

Mark Hammer, C.M.H.  Master Herbalist   Longevity Mountain   5/09 

Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This reference is a list of dietary supplements and is not intended to diagnose, cure, prevent or treat any diseases. The information here is not provided by medical (allopathic) professionals and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. Please consult your physician before beginning any course of treatment. However, billions of people have used these products without complication. These traditional Chinese herbs & formula have been used in conjunction with allopathic medical regimen, successfully without interference in the restorative process. Complications in the use of herbal remedies has occurred when manufacturers unkowledgeable in the practice of herbalism but more focussed on the profit aspect have provided product too high in concentration. Hopefully, more master herbalists trained in Chinese, Ayurvedic, Tibetan, North and South American herbology can share the more subtle rather than gross practice of herbalism. Appreciatively, more allopathic physicians and institutions are embracing the wonders of natural herbal medicine in their practices.