In the current rhythm of life, where we go everywhere in a hurry, we eat anything or without stopping to repair exactly what we are eating, constipation is something that accompanies many people.
The normal thing is to think that by taking fiber we will solve any problem of constipation, however we will see that it can increase the problem rather than solve it.
What is constipation? How to know what and what is not normal when going to the bathroom?
It is understood by constipation when a person has three or fewer bowel movements in a week. In addition, the stool is hard and dry producing a painful evacuation in some cases.
Most people are constipated at some time, but you must be careful so that constipation does not become chronic. The normal thing would be to evacuate once a day and accustom the body to a schedule for it.
We can start talking about chronic constipation when the difficulty in having a bowel movement lasts for several weeks and even months. This type of constipation can greatly affect the daily lives of people who suffer from it and cause other symptoms.
Our intestinal health is essential to have good physical and mental health. People who suffer from constipation that lasts over time tend to feel heavy, have discomfort and this causes them to be more irritable when interacting with other people.
If we talk about a specific difficulty in evacuating that lasts only for a few days, these are specific cases that are usually the most frequent for various reasons.
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Why does constipation arise?
There are many factors that affect our intestinal health: the fast pace of life, stress, travel, and the most important: diet.
When we talk about constipation, the word we usually associate with is "fiber", I lack fiber and that is why I do not go to the bathroom well. In reality this has been shown not to be exactly the case. Diet does affect how we evacuate, but not for more fiber we will go better on the belly. What fiber does is increase the fecal bolus since we cannot digest it and everything that we cannot digest is evacuated through the feces.
Most likely, if you suffer from constipation, it is that we are eating a diet where inflammatory foods, carbohydrates, sugars and / or fiber are very present. At the same time, healthy fats are almost non-existent or we take very little and also little animal proteins.
When eating low in fat, the gallbladder becomes lazy as it becomes unaccustomed to emptying. (This is also the reason why stones are generated in the gallbladder). When the bile is working properly, the gallbladder empties every day, but this requires the consumption of fats. Bile is a natural lubricant for our intestines.
If we do not have a gallbladder, because they had to remove it, the pancreas and liver are responsible for generating these digestive enzymes and bile.
As well we can suffer from constipation if we have heavy digestions. These digestions are usually due to a lack of acid in the stomach that prevents us from digesting food well. There are many people who suffer from low acidification and have related problems such as reflux, heaviness, etc. to fix it is as easy as taking vinegar. In the following article we explain in detail everything related to this topic: We talk about apple cider vinegar: Is it good? Which one to take?
What we should not do is take antacids if we have heavy digestions.
How to solve constipation?
For specific cases it is best to take a supplement such as herbal teas or TCM oil to help our intestines move and evacuate. However, this should be somewhat sporadic and laxative medications should be avoided as they negatively affect our intestines and can make the situation worse in the long run.
Laxatives should be the last resort. Before taking them it is better to go to the doctor to have a wash done. Laxatives are not only very harmful but they are also addictive.
Solving constipation involves making a fundamental change in our diet. There are many foods that are inflammatory and damage our intestines. Hydrogenated oils must be avoided as they damage all bacterial flora.
We were talking about the function of the gallbladder. When we have been suffering from constipation for a long time, what we owe is reactivate the production of bile and digestive enzymes. If we succeed, the bile will do its lubricating function and the fecal mass will be able to move without problem.
With changes in eating style we can suffer a season of constipation, but to reduce this problem we can help ourselves by taking magnesium at night or taking coconut oil or MCT.
With MCT oil you have to be careful as it is very effective and can give us stomach pain, with half a teaspoon should be enough.
In very important cases of constipation, we must re-educate our body and for this we must reduce the content of vegetables high in fiber to avoid generating very large fecal boluses since we do not digest the fiber. This is for a few days only, then you can go back to taking the vegetables. If we reduce vegetables it is important to take electrolytes, for this we can take bone broth, salt, potassium and magnesium.
You have to eat a varied diet with little fiber, acidify the stomach, consume good fats and animal protein. If we make this change by reducing cereals, which we abuse today, we can solve constipation and many problems related to the digestive system and our intestinal health.
Must also consider if we suffer from any type of food intolerance such as dairy or gluten since this also affects our intestine. If this is the case, the first thing we must eliminate these drugs and help ourselves with probiotic and prebiotic foods.