Bathroom issues

slea · Post by **slea** » Wed 26 Apr 2006 21:03

This is not the most fun subject to talk about, but I am having a constipation problem. I don't know what I am doing wrong, but I don't take in hardly any constipating foods. In the last five days I've had one brownie and that is all of the wheat products and wheat munch foods I have had. I had a sprouted corn tortilla three days ago and besides that all I eat is fruit, juices, nuts, oo, yolks and salmon. This has been going on for a few months. Before I first started this diet I had no constipation problems on a SAD diet. When I began the acne diet, my bowels moved two or three times a day compared to once on SAD. Now it's worse than when I was on SAD. I took an herbal laxitive, casadra sagrada, after I went three days w/o one!

I used to go like clock work every morning. My stomach is also a little hard. Not too much but a little. I just feel gross if I don't go once a day. I drank a few ounces of coffee today to help and sometimes that doesn't even work. And I don't like to use stimulants. I've been tracking my food intake on fitday and I know I'm getting enough fat. I'm at 65% of my daily calories from fat. Help!

CurlyGirl · Post by **CurlyGirl** » Thu 27 Apr 2006 10:47

Slea, if your digestive tract is getting backed up, your body is trying to tell you something, i.e. that you are eating something wrong. Perhaps it was the sprouted corn tortilla, perhaps the brownie, perhaps something else, but your bowels have clearly been anaesthetised by some substance you ingested. Laxatives don't help you absorb fewer anaesthetising substances, they only irritate the bowels (see the chapter on constipation in the Wai book). My advice is, don't take any more laxatives, and perhaps don't eat any munchfoods again until your bowel function is properly restored. Then, gradually 'test' various well-cooked (soft, fibreless) munchfoods to see what reaction you get from your body. Also, beware of whether you might be consuming animal foods together with fruits - yolks and most fruits don't mix, and it is best to eat the salmon on its own - sugars from fruits stimulate the bowels, and any previously-eaten animal foods will need to be bacterially decomposed, thus causing gasses and cramps in the presence of sugar.

slea · Post by **slea** » Thu 27 Apr 2006 16:00

Thanks CG. My concern is, why did I not have this problem when all I ate was junk? Now, I eat better than I ever have, and I am having a problem? I used to eat bread three or four times a day, now I eat it maybe three times a month in very small amounts. I rarely eat dairy and if I do it's fat products like sour cream, cream cheese or butter. If I eat cheese it's less than a spoon full and maybe twice a month. I just can't see how one munch food can do this to me when all I used to do is eat munch food! I did go back and re-read the post and that is why I posted this is becasue to me, I am following the rules for constipation. I am just frustrated because I know this is keeping my rosacea flared up and my cellulite in place. Wai said constipation can prevent weight loss and cause cellulite. I can eat a large meal and I feel no urge where as when I used to eat a large meal it was a sure deal that I would go to the restroom. I will do the elimination thing and see what happens.

avalon · Post by **avalon** » Thu 27 Apr 2006 16:22

Could it be you were letting go of your SAD food more often, because it was SAD. I don't go as often as I've heard I should go. I recently read an article, truth, that some people don't go every day, or every two days. I might go every three days or so.

You might be digesting more of your food than you used to, which would mean fewer movements.

Post by **Oscar** » Thu 27 Apr 2006 17:00

Let's also not forget that a 'healthy' SAD has lots of fiber, which artificially induces bowel movement.

Chin-Chin · Post by **Chin-Chin** » Sat 06 May 2006 20:02

I have the same problem since on this diet. I'm not really sure if it's a problem, as I've always heard that it's better to go everyday. I try to go everyday, but it takes conscientious effort.

I definitely think it's healthier to go everyday, no?

YouTube · Post by **RRM** » Sat 06 May 2006 20:17

slea wrote:I used to eat bread three or four times a day, now I eat it maybe three times a month in very small amounts.

That is the reason:
If you smoke weed on a daily basis, you need more and more of it to have some effect on you, whereas when you only smoke 3 times a month, a single joint will have a big impact.
The same goes for other sedating (or inciting) compounds.

Chin-Chin wrote:I definitely think it's healthier to go everyday, no?

No, you need to go as often as your bowels need to be emptied.
I only go once in 3 days, and its a small one, as there is nothing more to dispose of! (There isnt much indigestable stuff in fish and yolks. I drink lots of juice, and use a strainer as I dont fancy the fiber)

avalon wrote:You might be digesting more of your food than you used to, which would mean fewer movements.

Exactly.

Cairidh · Post by **Cairidh** » Sat 06 May 2006 20:21

wild animals and wild humans (aborigines etc) go after every meal

YouTube · Post by **RRM** » Sat 06 May 2006 20:25

Cairidh wrote:wild animals and wild humans (aborigines etc) go after every meal

Thats certainly not true for all animals.
Aborigines are not raw foodists, as far as I know.

I edited your post as your advice was not according to Wai's view.

Cairidh · Post by **Cairidh** » Sat 06 May 2006 20:30

I wrote that message before you'd posted yours. I got absorbed in a website about prunes so by the time I clicked submit, you'd already submitted yours.

Wai allows munchfood of brownies and tortillas, why not green smoothies?

YouTube · Post by **RRM** » Sat 06 May 2006 20:36

As munchfood? Sure, but you adviced green smoothies to go more often, while in Wai's view the dogma that you need to go more often is only correct if there is more to dispose of. If you have little to dispose of, why would you want to ingest more fiber so that you have more fiber to dispose of?

Cairidh · Post by **Cairidh** » Sat 06 May 2006 20:40

I didn't mean permeanantly, I meant for Slea while she's suffering from constipation, to cure her of it.

YouTube · Post by **RRM** » Sat 06 May 2006 20:46

Cairidh wrote:I didn't mean permeanantly, I meant for Slea while she's suffering from constipation, to cure her of it.

If someone suffers from constipation, she needs to decrease the intake of that what makes her constipated. That's a cure.
A laxative (as green smoothies are) is not a cure, it just temporarily eliminates the symptoms.

slea · Post by **slea** » Thu 11 May 2006 17:05

Okay, RRM. I guess I am not constipated then. I have only skipped one day this week, which is usually normal when I am eating really raw. I have noticed the longer I am at 100% the smaller and less frequent I go. I see now it's because I am assimilating more of what I am taking in. Thanks!

CurlyGirl · Post by **CurlyGirl** » Thu 11 May 2006 17:28

Oh good, slea, that's wonderful news.