How to overcome constipation, a toxic colon and diarrhoea once and for all.My husband has a stressful job. He’s the sales manager of an ever growing company. The expectation to exceed the target (let alone meet it) for that month is always there. Now don’t get me wrong, he enjoys it immensely. He works with a fantastic bunch of people who all pull their weight. No one slacks. But the pressure and therefore the stress is still there.Why do I tell you this? Well let’s just say stress affects your body in many different ways. For my Husband, Ben, it affects his stomach and digestive system. Which leads me onto my point.
I’ve been reading this book – How to overcome constipation, a toxic colon and diarrhoea once and for all, written by Peter Jackson and I’ve got 10 copies to give away to those that need a little extra help. Now by the title you would think it was all about, well, poo. But it’s not. Well it is, but its not.
Read on and see how this book has changed my husbands life.
Right from the very moment you put something in your mouth it will affect your bowls in many different ways depending on a very small yet extremely important fact.
How long do you chew your food?
In this day and age we are very busy. Much of the food we eat is ‘on the go’ so that’s bad for us… and even if it is home made, if we don’t chew enough then its still causing our body stress.
The point of chewing our food is not only to break it down so we can swallow it comfortably, but to get our saliva into the food. Our saliva is packed with enzymes that help break down the carbohydrates for absorption. It is actually recommended that you chew your food until it has turned to liquid! (meal times have just got longer!)
Next, it travels down to the stomach where the breaking down really begins. Now if you haven’t chewed your food until it is liquid then your stomach is going to have to break down the lumps. If the food is the ‘Wrong type of food’ (I will get on to that later) then your stomach acids (gastric acid) will find it impossible to dissolve the bonds between the food molecules properly causing your body more stress. Obviously some things take a lot longer to break down and therefore sit in your stomach for several hours before being moved on to the small intestines.
After the stomach comes the small intestine and it is said that 80% of the nutrient absorption takes place in the small intestine. So this is an important place.
If the food you have eaten is either the wrong type of food or hasn’t been broken down enough whilst chewing or by your stomach acids then this can be where the trouble really begins. Your intestines produce a mucus to help lubricate the digestive tract making it easier for the unwanted food to slip through the colon. HOWEVER if the walls of your colon are coated with unwanted waste from previous attempts of digestion then your gonna get into some trouble!
One of the main points of your colon is to absorb water from the waste on its way through. However if it cant come in contact with it as the walls of your colon are coated then you will end up with what is known as diarrhoea. And this will continue until you start to look after your inners a little more and think about what you are eating.
What should I eat? Wrong foods, right foods.
Well we all know that plenty of fibre is good for us. (especially those that are having a little trouble in the ‘passing’ area) but did you all know there are 2 different types of fibre? I certainly didn’t until I read this book.
- Insoluble Fibre
- Soluble Fibre
What’s the difference?
>Well, in a nut shell, insoluble fibre will push things through your system but in a fairly rough manor. For example, you may eat, say bran flakes (made from wheat bran) and they will go through you fairly quickly but in fact they are what’s known as roughage. As they travel through they will have a scratching affect which could make any sensitive situation worse.
Soluble fibre… now that’s a different story. Found in many fresh vegetables, beans, pulses, whole grains and fruit. A great source of soluble fibre is oats. When oats travel through your system, instead of having a scratching affect, they have a cleansing affect. This means that they clean your colon on the way through, keeping the walls free from anything that is clinging where it shouldn’t be, making the process a lot more comfortable
‘Bad Foods’
Things containing wheat, gluten, dairy, or red meat and sweet things.
What can I eat???
The point isn’t that you need to get rid of all these things completely, but that you need to know just how much of something you are having. Wheat for example manages to sneak into so many things nower days it’s almost unbelievable! and dairy is not far off either. Our bodies aren’t made to handle the amount of wheat and dairy that many of us consume.
Dairy- People believe that you need to have dairy to make sure you get enough calcium, but actually calcium and magnesium are a double act, so without one the other wont work. you can get a lot of what you need for calcium and other minerals from the following
- Sardines
- Almonds
- Watercress
- Parsley
- Sunflower seeds
- Quinoa
- Walnuts
- Salmon
- Eggs
- Brown Rice
- Chicken
- Kelp
- Molasses
And if your still in doubt then you can always take a calcium & magnesium supplement.
Meat - Now if you are a meat eater then this bit is going to be a little hard for you to swallow. It is recommended that you do not have red meat and pork more than once a month! Both meats are linked to higher risks of colon cancer so from this point alone you should really consider how much you have. It is actually recommended to have at least 2 days that are completely meat and fish free to give your body time to fully cleanse itself.
Back to my husband. I have made a few subtle changes to his diet over the past few months. First I started with his breakfast. He was eating bran flakes. Now he eats oat based muesli. This is obvious. I have swapped the insoluble fibre with a soluble one. Not only that, but it also has nuts and dried fruit in it. This is definitely a much better start to the day.
Once he had got used to that I changed his lunch. He was having a standard white bread sandwich every day, with some fruit and sometimes a piece of cake! Now he has a wheat free pasta dish with vegetables followed by fruit… (and I get the feeling he manages to sneak the odd cake now and again) but the main thing is that the wheat from the bread has gone, and so has the cheese.
Tea times… now this is a slightly harder one to tackle. He is a meat lover. However if you fill the plate with veg and keep reminding them to chew until its liquid then by the time it gets to seconds (in other words getting more meat) they are actually feeling full from dinner and having learnt a little self control he no longer gets more meat. Its a step in the right direction.
We are not perfect, but we certainly have learnt a lot form this book and there are still more areas we can tackle. One thing Peter Jackson’s book does remind us of is that you change one thing at a time… that way its not so overwhelming. As a testimony to the small changes, Ben would say he’s felling a lot better on the inside already 
If you live in the UK and would like to be entered in to the hat to have one of the 10 copies I’m giving away then simply send us an email with the subject A toxic Colon plus your name and you will be put in the hat!
All the best
Laura
