CONSTIPATION - Obstructed or blocked bowel; difficult defecation, infrequent passage of stool, obstipation and severe constipation (no movement). Latin meaning of constipation means “ to press together”.

Hardness and impaction of feces. If a person suffers from chronic constipation you can be sure that every tissue and cell is similarly affected.  Chronic constipation is not a disease but a symptom that leads to disease.  It is the cause of much illness and although constipation itself may not kill you, the condition it will bring on may.  Please read Spoiled Rotten and Reclaim Your Inner Terrain for further details.

Improper diet, lack of exercise, drugs, cancer, emotional stress, not answering nature’s call, laxatives, intestinal obstruction (diverticulitis, spastic colon, intestinal atony, depression, poor pelvic support, antacids, inactivity of nerves, loss of nerve impulse, chemical additives, overeating, improper food combining, hot and cold drinks, tea and coffee may cause this.  Last but not least a B vitamin deficiency especially B-1 (thiamine) due to improper diet.

J.E.G. Waddington, M.D. says, “Many a misdiagnosed constipation sufferer has been rescued from an ill-advised operation simply by correctly administered intestinal cleansings and judiciously prescribed adjuncant therapy.”

A forty-day raw food plan is a great help in reversing the problem.  Foods eaten are fresh raw fruits, and vegetables, fresh sprouted grains, seeds and raw nuts.  All these foods are eaten in a fresh and uncooked state.  Cooked whole grains are also beneficial in bringing the bowel back to a normal state.

Dr. William Hunter, “The fact that chronic constipation might exist in certain individuals as a normal permanent condition without apparently causing ill health, is due solely to the power and protective action of the liver.  It is only an evidence that some individuals possess the cecum and the colon of an ox, with the liver of a pig capable of doing any amount of detoxification."

ILLNESSES CAUSED FROM AN IMPROPERLY FUNCTIONING COLON

Hiatal hernia, tumors, peptic ulcer, gastric ulcer, gastritis, stomach cancer, hemorrhoids, constipation, diarrhea, pancreatitis, appendicitis, diverticulitis, cancer of the pancreas, colitis, Crohn’s Disease, cirrhosis of the liver, colon cancer, and gallstones.  If any part of the body becomes infected, the cause of this infection likely started in the colon.

Poor appetite, loss of memory or concentration, neuritis and neuralgia, (causing reflex pain throughout the body), cold feet and hands, bad breath, lack of interest in life, skin problems, protruding abdomen, depression, lack of sexual response, fatigue, over weight, gas, belching or flatulence, craving for food, not feeling good, anxiety and worry, headaches, insomnia, irritability, abdominal discomfort, nervousness, menstrual problems, nausea, swelling of legs, anemia, increased body odors, sagging posture, tender abdomen, brittle nails and hair, dark circles under eyes, malnutrition, coated tongue, sallow complexion, blood pressure up or down and low back pain, lack of endurance, disinclination for work or play, headache, irritability, anorexia, flatulence, nausea, mental and physical depression, anxiety or fearfulness, malnutrition, poor circulation, low blood pressure, high blood pressure, neurological conditions, neuroses, neuritis, loss of memory, protruding lower lip.

Lower back pain is mainly caused by chronic constipation.  The transverse colon falls down into a U shape and the impacted material lies in the middle, or it gets impacted in the two flexures – the splenic and the hepatic flexures.  This, in turn, irritates the nerves and pushes on the spine.  People who have cleansed their colon and returned the pH balance to normal have found that most of the time their back pains are relieved. 

There are two types of constipation:  

1. One type is when the feces that pass from the body are overly packed together.  

2. The other type of constipation is atonic which is when the haustras or the muscles in the colon wall have lost their tone. The debris has dried out and is impacted in the bowel and can no longer be relieved by peristalsis or through the muscles in the bowel wall.  "Spastic" means that the bowel shuts down and strangles itself, and fails to release the debris, which then becomes hard and impacted just the same as it would if in a flaccid state bowel or an atonic bowel.  

Hiatal hernia is usually accompanied by constipation.  Symptoms include burning pain under the breastbone, regurgitation of stomach contents and lower esophagus, feeling of fullness, which begins soon after eating, and belching or hiccupping.  The pain is sometimes like a heart attack, and it is a problem which occurs with fifty per cent of the Canadian population over the age of 40.

As mentioned, constipation brings on enlargement of the large intestine.  It begins in the recto sigmoid area, but if left unattended, the whole colon will be enlarged and this is called a mega colon.  The average circumference of a colon is four to six inches, but a mega colon can have a circumference as large as fifteen inches.

If one ingests too much salt or insufficient water, the body reabsorbs water from the stool to maintain cellular water balance.  This, in turn, will shrink and dry the stool making it harder for the person to pass.  As well, the salt acts like a magnet, drawing debris into the pockets and causing impactions.  The colon then becomes swollen and lacks the power to eliminate.

Straining while trying to have a bowel movement can bring on angina and can rupture blood vessels.

Laxatives are of no benefit to the human body.  The body rejects the laxative, and thereby only expediates the loose debris in the colon.  Stagnant material from the coating of the walls, which caused the sluggishness in the first place, is not eliminated.

CONSTIPATION LEADS TO OVERWORKED KIDNEYS

With chronic constipation, the kidneys will start eliminating toxins for the colon and it becomes overworked.

When the kidneys breakdown, Polyuria develops and urea is dumped into the tissues.  When the tissues overload, diarrhea is triggered.  The body assists its weakest part by getting sick to relieve the toxic burden.  Constipation therefore can lead to diarrhea and eventually colitis, diverticulitis, or some other inflammatory disease.

1. The fluid is directed to the kidneys for filtering to stop absorption of toxins into the system.

2. Eventually all the fluid from the colon is directed to the kidneys, which causes polyuria.  Symptoms are excess weight and anemic complexion. (Polyuria is urinating into one’s own body).

When the colon does not do its job, all organs suffer.  Uneliminated waste material soaks back through the colon into the lymph glands throughout the system.  When these glands become overloaded with toxins, disease will set in.  Cellular mutation will take place and abnormal growth will form in the body.  It is not hard to understand why the sensitive mammary glands are one of the first targets for disease.  One of the largest sites for lymph elimination is the underarm.  If the lymph is congested, the toxins flow into the mammary glands.  The breast will also take on toxic overload when underarm toxic elimination is decreased through the use of antiperspirants.

Lymph is also dumped into the colon wall.  If the colon is backed up with debris, lymph congestion cannot be relieved.  It will back up within the lymph system causing even further congestion, and affects the liver.  The toxins taken up by the liver are excreted as part of the bile.  When the bile toxins become excessive, the bile backs up into the intestine and the result is nausea.

The first step in cleaning up the lymph is cleaning up the colon and liver. The Wolfe Clinic carries a wide variety of energy medicine equipment to assist the detox process, including:  Photon Genie, AromaSpa, Accuciser, and G-Force 4 Rebounder.

PUTREFACTIVE

Toxins and poisons are given off by the body but may become dry and hard as the material becomes glued to the pocket of the colon wall.  A person must do a colon cleanse to get this matter out.  Most people have a transit time (for food to completely pass through the intestinal tract) of seventy-two hours.  After a colon cleansing, however, this time is reduced to twenty-four to forty-eight hours (digestion and elimination).

An English doctor tested a lady by giving her a marker pellet.  Every day she moved her bowel after taking the pellet, but it took one week for the marker pellet to come out.  Even though your bowels may move every day, you can still be constipated.

In a healthy normal body there should be little or no putrefaction happening.  The amount of putrefaction within the body depends on how long the debris has been in the body (transit time).

CONSTIPATION AND THE ELDERLY

The elderly suffer from constipation the most due to decreased activity and increased consumption of easily prepared food, such as tea and toast.  Constipation is the main cause of sickness and death for the elderly.

PROTEIN AND CONSTIPATION

Protein can tend to be constipating for many reasons.  Unlike fruits or vegetables, it has no roughage to mop up the waste material and keep it moving. The slow-moving protein food should always be eaten with vegetables to help move it along through the digestive process.  Just like your car cannot operate without gas, your colon cannot operate without roughage.

CONSTIPATION TIPS

1. Orderly daily habits – Create a cleansing and rebuilding program for your digestive tract. 

2. Stop overeating! Always leave the table feeling like you could eat more.

3. Properly combined foods.  Eat whole, unprocessed, chemical-free food.

4. Eat at regular times.

5. Give up all stimulants.

6. Get proper rest and sleep.

7. Chew food thoroughly. Hint: if you find whole corn niblets in your stool, you're not chewing enough!!

8. Do not eat unless you are quiet and content.

9. Exercise is a must!

10. No straining of stool.

11. A four to ten inch elevated object, such as a footstool or pillow, should be placed in front of the toilet for you to rest your feet on while sitting for a bowel movement.  This allows for a more natural squatting position (better pelvic position) for elimination.

12. Massage abdomen 10 minutes morning and night and prior to movement (tennis ball might help).

13. Answer nature’s call after every meal. A person should go to the washroom twenty to thirty minutes after eating a meal even if they do not feel like they have to, in order to establish a regular bowel habit.

14. Positive Mental Attitude.

15. Lighten up – don’t tighten up

LAXATIVE TYPE FOODS

Vegetables - celery, cabbage, leeks, spring greens, onions, kale, parsnips, brussel sprouts, beets, spinach, carrots, cauliflower, summer greens, lettuce, red and green peppers, endive, watercress, and chicory.

Fruit – apples, pears, tomatoes, raspberries, black currants, grapes, oranges, pineapple, grapefruit, melon, raisins, figs. Fruits can be a lifesaver in getting rid of constipation and increasing the intestinal transit time; however, dried fruit can be part of a gas problem.  We will review diet at a closer look in an upcoming newsletter. 

To get on track with your digestive tract, a consultation with The Wolfe Clinic could be your greatest step.  Correct information is invaluable when combined with proper high quality products and continual support for your nutritional program. 

The next newsletter will focus on what the average person is experiencing when it comes to Bowel Management and the detrimental effects it is having on their body’s system.

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