Over the years, I have seen thousands of clients who can’t pass bowel movements properly.
Signs and symptoms of constipation include the following:
Frequency of bowel movements: Healthy people pass one or, more commonly, two bowel movements per day. If you are eating lots of good foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean protein, nuts, and seeds, drinking enough water, and chewing your food properly, you should be having two bowel movements per day. You should be passing at least twelve to eighteen inches of stool every day.
Most healthy people have a bowel movement shortly after they get up and again later in the day – usually after lunch.
Less than three to four bowel movements per week is considered constipation.
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Hard, lumpy stools: Passing small nuggets of stool or bowel movements that are small pieces compressed together indicates constipation. Normal bowel movements are long and cigar-shaped. They should easily slide out, leaving you feeling like you’ve had a complete evacuation.
Straining to have movements: If you have to strain or lean backward and forwards to get the bowel movement out, then you’re constipated. You should not have to force a bowel movement. Bowel movements should come out very easily with minimal effort.
Trying to force out a bowel movement puts a lot of pressure on the colon. Increased pressure in the colon can contribute to the formation of diverticuli and precipitate pain.
Incomplete evacuation: If you feel like you still have stool in your rectum after going to the washroom, that is also constipation.
Abdominal Pain: Many people with ongoing constipation complain of abdominal discomfort. It may be because stool is starting to build up in the transverse and lower colon.
Selecting the right foods, chewing properly, and having healthy levels of beneficial bacteria in your colon are all crucial to avoiding constipation.
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