Category Archives: Questions & Answers

Questions & Answers

Does Magnesium Improve Constipation?

 

Magnesium is excellent for constipation. In fact, magnesium has been used for a long, long time as a constipation aid. When I renovated this house, we took an old wooden shed off this property and found a whole heap of bottles underneath. These bottles were from about a hundred years ago. One bottle had an old faded milk of magnesia label on it.

Milk of magnesia, or magnesium sulfate, has been used for constipation for about one hundred and fifty to two hundred years. Heavy users of magnesium sulfate can develop a kidney problem, so you need to be careful not to overuse it. If you are going to use magnesium for constipation, you need to figure out the dose that works for you.

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Magnesium citrate is another form of magnesium that is very good for cleaning out the bowel. When you ingest magnesium citrate, it goes through the digestive tract and attracts water into the bowel via osmosis. As more water enters the bowel, the stool becomes looser, and it’s easier to pass it out. Often my clients will take 500 milligrams of magnesium citrate twice a day. Magnesium citrate isn’t quite as strong as magnesium sulfate.

Magnesium oxide is found in colon cleansing products. It oxygenates the bowel while attracting water. Magnesium oxide is a very useful product that I often recommend using for a bowel flush before starting a detox program. It doesn’t make sense to follow a detoxification protocol if you have constipation issues. Taking magnesium for seven to ten days will help you do a bowel purge before the detox.

I think magnesium is a fantastic supplement to have in your diet, even if you’re not constipated. Magnesium is a godsend for people who can’t sleep properly, are irritable, have fatigue, or struggle with blood sugar dysregulation. About 57% of your bones are magnesium. You need magnesium for the proper regulation of the heart, the muscles, and the nervous system. I particularly like magnesium as a supplement for people over the age of fifty. Take 500 milligrams before bedtime with a little bit of water and see how that goes. It should help you quite a lot.

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Questions & Answers

Heavy Metal Toxicity: Test Then Treat

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Before embarking upon heavy metal detoxification, you need to do some testing. Please don’t assume that you have a problem with heavy metal, make sure you confirm it through appropriate testing.

A hair analysis is a good starting point for heavy metal detection. Take a sample from the nape and have it analyzed at a reputable lab.

Most conventionally trained doctors will argue that a blood test or biopsy is what’s needed to diagnosis heavy metal toxicity. Blood tests will only provide a measure of recent exposure – they don’t tell you how much metal is being stored in the body. These doctors often haven’t been trained in toxicology.

I once had a man bring his mother to see me in my clinic. She has a lot of weird symptoms, and I sent away a hair analysis. Turns out, her lead level was 600 times normal. It was off the chart. This lady had been melting lead to make fishing sinkers for her husband. She also would swallow some of the lead shot that was left in the ducks her husband shot and brought home for dinner. She was eating lead pellets.

Before coming to see me, this woman had seen a neurologist who diagnosed her with Parkinson’s syndrome. She didn’t have Parkinson’s syndrome – she had lead toxicity.

We spent about six months detoxifying this elderly woman.

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Detoxification protocols vary with age. With a person in their 30s or 40s, I would do hair analysis and then a urinary provocation test. In the urinary test, the client swallows a sulfur-based compound. Urine is collected for a few hours afterward. Heavy metals are measured in the urine.

Both hair analysis and urinary provocation tests are cheap and reliable ways to test for heavy metal detoxification.

A word of warning – watch out for the one-trick-pony doctor who believes everything is a result of heavy metal toxicity. Rely on proper, reliable testing from labs like Doctor’s Data or Genova Diagnostics, both of which provided hair analysis.

The four metals that cause the most problems with toxicity are arsenic, mercury, cadmium, and lead. Aluminum, copper, and zinc can also occur in overly high amounts.

If heavy metal toxicity is confirmed, be careful when it comes to cleansing. There are simple ways to do it and complicated ways to do it. You don’t need a lot of expensive products to clean the body of heavy metals.

Also, remember that heavy metals aren’t the only issue when it comes to toxicity. There are about 50,000 other chemicals that could be affecting your body right now. A better solution is to stop smoking, stop drinking alcohol, and lead a cleaner, healthier lifestyle. All those lifestyle changes will improve your body’s ability to process toxins.

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Questions & Answers

Best Foods To Eat If You’re Constipated

When it comes to managing constipation with your diet, I think it helps to have a cheat sheet. You can use this sheet when you go shopping. The list of best foods for constipation includes five different categories of foods:

· Foods that lubricate the intestine

· Foods that promote bowel motility (motion)

· Soothing Herbs

· Foods that enhance bowel flora

· Bitter foods

We’ve all been told to drink more water and eat more fiber if we’re constipated. This advice seems straightforward enough, but it can also be confusing. What type of fiber? How much water? So, let me provide more details.

1. Foods that lubricate the intestine: These foods are a little bit high in good oil or fats. One of my favorite foods in this category is walnuts. Walnut oil is also a good option. Walnuts contain certain acids that stimulate bowel motions. Having two or three walnuts a day can make all the difference in the world. Other nuts like almonds and Brazil nuts can also be lubricating. Just don’t eat too many and chew them very well. Okra, beets, cauliflower, alfalfa sprouts, apricots, apples, peaches, prunes, pears, are other lubricating foods.

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Lubricating foods are very good for very hard, pebble-like, and difficult to move stool.

2. Foods that promote bowel motion: This category of food is good at bulking up the stool and easing it through the intestines. The result is that you will have more frequent and large bowel movements. Foods in this category include cabbage, papaya, sesame seeds, coconut, sweet potato, asparagus, kiwi fruit, and oat bran.

3. Soothing herbs: These foods are good for hemorrhoids and anal fissures. If you’ve had an operation on the digestive tract, these soothing herbs can be beneficial. Herbs in this category include marshmallow root, ground flaxseed, licorice root, and slippery elm bark. Slippery elm bark powder is a fantastic stool bulker. It also helps to build good levels of beneficial bacteria because it is mucilaginous.

4. Flora enhancing foods: This category of food includes miso, sauerkraut, kombucha, and kefir. Just remember to start out slowly with fermented or cultured food. They can cause side effects if you eat too much, too soon.

5. Bitter foods: These foods stimulate the liver and gallbladder to work more effectively. Many people don’t have proper bowel movements because they have poor bile flow. Bile softens the stool, so it’s important for preventing constipation. Bitter foods that are good for constipation include endive, chicory, radicchio, mustard greens, brassica vegetables, dandelion leaves, dandelion root, and grapefruit.

Remember to take this cheat sheet with you when you go shopping. It will help you make the best choices for managing your constipation.

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Questions & Answers

Chronic Stress: How Does It Impact Your Gut?

Stress most certainly causes constipation.

When you are under stress, your fight or flight mechanisms are activated. The fight or flight response is geared towards getting you away from a threat. As a result, stress hormones increase the blood flow to your limbs. After all, you’re going to need your legs to run and your arms to fight. Blood flow to the head and heart also increases because you need to think clearly and keep blood circulating when you’re in danger. You want your senses to be on high alert when faced with an imminent risk.

At the same time, as certain parts of your body get more blood flow, your digestive system gets less of a supply. Digestion simply isn’t the priority when you’re preparing to fight or run for your life. With less blood flowing to your intestines and digestive organs, the production of digestive enzymes drops right off.

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In cave people days, the stress was a dinosaur. Now, the stress could be your partner, your boss, or traffic. Stress could also come in the form of parenting several children, juggling too many tasks, dealing with financial issues, or trying to finish your Ph.D. in the evening,

What the fight or flight response means is that chronic, low-grade stress can result in your digestive system being chronically “under” supplied with blood. One of the results of slowed digestion is constipation.

Often people think their diet is the cause of their constipation when really it’s the stress in their life.

If you have a stressful lifestyle, relaxation techniques can help reduce the impact on your bowels. Don’t let constipation continue unchecked. Don’t normalize a stressful lifestyle. Both can lead to massive problems down the track.

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Questions & Answers

Popcorn: A High Fiber Food That’s Good For Your Gut

I’ve been asked before if popcorn causes constipation.

In fact, no, it doesn’t. Popcorn is a high fiber snack that can contain up to six grams of fiber per cup. You could even call popcorn a high fiber supplement. Of course, how healthy popcorn is depends on how much butter, salt, sugar, and caramel you pile on top.

I make my popcorn in a big cast iron saucepan using a bit of good quality olive oil. I make sure the oil is good and hot before I put the popcorn in the pot. Once it’s done, I add a tiny bit of sea salt to the popcorn. That, my friends, is a perfectly healthy snack. Popcorn made with healthy oil, minimal salt, and no butter is an excellent source of fiber. It’ll be even better for your bowels if you drink some water with your bowl of popcorn.

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Once you start adding a ton of toppings to your popcorn, you’re changing its nature. In the case of caramel popcorn, it probably is constipating.

I’m lucky enough to grow my own popcorn. It’s quite easy to grow. I readily endorse popcorn as a fantastically good snack to eat. Prepared properly, it not only doesn’t cause constipation, it can help treat it.

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