Beat constipation by: Avoiding refined foods, eat concentrated foods with high fibre plant foods.
Think BLM, or bulk, lubrication and moisture. Every meal must in some way provide your gut with BLM or do not eat it! BLM creates the optimal conditions for gut health. In general natural, whole, unprocessed plant foods create BLM whilst refined or concentrated foods do not. Natural, whole plant foods are high in fibre whilst all refined foods, white flour, white rice, de-skinned potatoes and all animal foods have no or little fibre. A diet of white flour, meat and white rice is therefore the ideal diet to become constipated!
Refined and processed food products have become so integrated in our culture that they are often eaten at every meal. Read the ingredient list of your food products. If the first 5 ingredients are one of the following foods it is best to avoid it all together: white flour, white sugar, white rice, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, trans fatty acids. These foods have either been stripped of some or all of their vitamins, minerals and fibre and have been altered in such a way that they are more harmful to the body than usefull. In their place you can use whole grains, brown rice and natural sweeteners such as honey, dates, stevia or xylitol. If you still decide to eat a refined food, ensure that it is accompanied by a greater quantity of high fibre food.
Concentrated foods include all animal protein and de-skinned potatoes. These foods can be a nutritional part of a healthy diet, however their digestion leaves little or no bulk and therefore does not place enough pressure on the intestinal wall to stimulate movement. It is thus important to combine these foods with high fibre plant foods. At the very least half of your plate should consist of fresh, crisp vegetables or salad. You can sprinkle this with flax seeds for extra fibre if needed. Animal protein includes milk, eggs and meat.
A special note on milk, for centuries man has been drinking unpasteurised cow and goat milk. It is only the last couple of decades that man has moved to pasteurised milk to compensate for unsanitary production methods. Today’s sanitization is sufficient to make pasteurization completely unnecessary. Pasteurization destroys the enzymes in milk including phosphatise, an enzyme needed for calcium absorption. Beneficial bacteria, lactic acids, colloidal minerals and vitamins B12 and B6 are destroyed. Milk proteins denature or change structure. The results is pasteurized milk is a great deal more allergenic, mucous forming and difficult to digest. You can purchase unpasteurized cow or goats milk at farmers markets. Goats milk more closely resembles human milk and easier to digest. If you cannot buy non pasteurized milk you can try using raw nut milk, seed milk, coconut milk, hemp milk or another dairy free alternative. We would not recommend soy milk, or any unfermented soy products, as it contains too many anti-nutritive properties.
