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The Complete Home Guide todiHseerabsse, Nsatural Healing, and Nutrition
206
A low-f ber diet will hamper natural peristalsis; eat plenty of raw
foods and whole grains.
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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.
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Take plenty of benef cial f 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 f uid, mostly water, a day is a minimum requirement for
good bowel movements. Always drink a cup of water and fresh lemon
juice f 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.
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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 f nd a balance that will work for you.
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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.
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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.
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Hot and cold showers especially are benef cial. Cover the whole body
but spend longer over the colon area.
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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 benef cial f ora, causing constipation. Even small doses of an-
tibiotics can set the pattern for years of constipation.
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