206 The Complete Home Guide to Herbs, Natural Healing, and Nutrition
- A low-fi ber diet will hamper natural peristalsis; eat plenty of raw
foods and whole grains. - Mucus-forming, binding foods such as eggs, cheese, potato starch,
and other starches such as white bread, and pasta must be avoided,
because they gum up the colon. - Take plenty of benefi cial fl ora–rich foods: make rejuvelac (see chapter
4) and eat sauerkraut. - Plant proteins and fats, for example nuts and avocado, are important
and should form part of your generally balanced diet. - Drink plenty to enable the bowel to move properly. Urination follow-
ing a bowel movement signals that the bowel is completely empty. Two
quarts of fl uid, mostly water, a day is a minimum requirement for
good bowel movements. Always drink a cup of water and fresh lemon
juice fi rst thing in the morning. - Soups made with whole-grain organic wheat and lots of onions, gar-
lic, black pepper, and raw chiles will help.
f Everyday bowel management with herbs will be helpful; see discus-
sions about the use of strong herbs to get the bowel working and
about the softer bowel herbs, like barberry root bark, in chapter 9 and
the three-stage herbal colon cleanse featured in chapter 6. Your
bowel may be in need of a combination of these herbs from time to
time — even with a good diet and plenty of drinking water and exercise.
Often, constipated people become worse when they are sick, while oth-
ers may get diarrhea when they are fasting, nervous, or excited. So use
both types of formulas and recognize the interchangeability of the
two. You need to fi nd a balance that will work for you.
~ Always go to the toilet when you need to, and if possible use a foot-
stool to keep the bowel at a more natural height — more like squat-
ting.
~ Avoid excessive worry.
~ Do not sit a lot. Take regular exercise, especially if you are elderly.
Ensure that a regular walk is included in your daily routine. Cycling
and horseback riding are both excellent for massaging the bowel.
~ Hot and cold showers especially are benefi cial. Cover the whole body
but spend longer over the colon area.
~ Do not use drug laxatives.
~ Drugs, whether prescription or illicit ones like heroin and opium,
often overstimulate or completely freeze peristalsis. Antibiotics can
kill off benefi cial fl ora, causing constipation. Even small doses of an-
tibiotics can set the pattern for years of constipation.
diseases 206