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Foods That Cause Constipation: Part 2 of 9 about Elimination


Robyn Openshaw - Jul 19, 2008 - This Post May Contain Affiliate Links


Yesterday, pee.   Today, poop.

Green bowel movements are completely normal (that’s the plant fiber in all those greens  you’re eating!).   Take a look at the horse poo you see along the road, if you live where you can see horses.   It’s indicative of what they eat (alfalfa, all plant foods).   You can read about indigenous people who  have no toilets and therefore “squat” outside.   They don’t worry about human waste removal like we do, because it’s not toxic and disgusting, like it would be here in the U.S.   The poop of indigenous people who eat mostly raw plant food looks like horse poop: lots of it, lots of fiber in it,  greenish, no odor.   Brown feces are simply a result of bile pigments coming from the liver, also normal.

What you should be concerned about is dark, hard, smelly, putrified poop–that’s what most of America is experiencing.   (And that, I believe, is why we’re so shamed about the topic of elimination–feces of people eating the S.A.D. are, in fact, disgusting!)   That’s what eating meat gets you: rotted stool that took days (or with pork, even weeks) to digest.   Accumulation of decaying material in the digestive tract, euphemistically known as constipation, is the single biggest threat to our health, the “modern plague,” according to Dr. Jensen.

I helped run a babysitting co-op for 10 years while my children were small, and I was always horrified when I had to change other babies’ diapers–the smell was astonishing.   I was at a party last week where everyone watched a little boy straining, his face beet red, trying to have a bowel movement in his diaper.   This little boy is fed a steady diet of hot dogs and potato chips, zero-fiber foods.   I never once saw any of my children do that.   Many parents have come to think of that phenomenon as normal (people thought this was funny at the party—I just felt bad for the little guy).   It’s not normal.   Straining at a bowel movement is this, plain and simple: constipation.

People get painful hemmorhoids–that’s when your bulging veins pop out of the anus instead of staying inside like they should–when their colons are overtaxed with low-fiber foods and they must exert lots of force to eliminate.   And that’s just one of many side effects of eating a low-fiber diet.

Diverticulitis is a very dangerous disease caused by chronic constipation, where pouches of the colon sag, lose nerve/muscle tone, and become breeding grounds for bacteria that eventually rot the colon.   Foods that cause constipation?   Meat is mentioned above, and constipation is well catalogued in any honest review of results of the Atkins Diet, since anyone on that diet is excessively eating animal proteins.

But Dr. Jensen and his researchers also constantly noted that those suffering from the worst colon problems ate lots of WHITE BREAD, which functions like the gluey mess that it is, slowing and gumming up your digestive system.   He said anyone eating refined flour better be eating lots of vegetable roughage at the same time (and he recommends whole millet, rye, cormeal and rice instead).

People who eat lots of plant food have soft but formed stool.   People who have been eating an almost exclusively plant-based diet for a long time, and have been through all the “cleansing” so they are now rather clean, have . . . are you ready for this? . . . poop that doesn’t stink.

Chime in about this, if you’re brave!   You can always post on my blogs as “anonymous” if you like!

Here are all the posts in this series on elimination:
Part 1: Green Feces
Part 2: Foods That Cause Constipation
Part 3: Relieving Constipation
Part 4: Natural Laxatives
Part 5: Relief For Intestinal Gas And Bloating
Part 6: Chronic Constipation
Part 7: Best Colon Cleanse
Part 8: Body Cleansing
Part 9: More Experts On Colon Cleansing

Posted in: Detox, Health Concerns, Relationships, Whole Food

11 thoughts on “Foods That Cause Constipation: Part 2 of 9 about Elimination”

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Okay, this is totally TMI:

    the problem I’ve had with uhh… bowels, has been blood in my stool-not hemerrhoids, because i’m not constipated but actual blood…. er….. well IN my stool…?

    I talked to my doc about it, because it’s happened a few times in the last year or so, but a month after starting GS, for a day, i had quite a bit-like, if I could measure it was probably about 2 tablespoons… (gross, i’m sorry!!), and he of course recommened a colonscopy…i wussed out and couldn’t go.

    Before I had my thryoid fixed, I had times when I felt like my insides were being torn out of me, during a movement and constipation has never been a problem, even during pregnancy, but neither has diarrhea.

    I attributed the blood this time to adding the GS-maybe i was eliminating something that had been in there for a while, but I’m wondering if this has happened to anyone else? Maybe a cleanse would be a good idea or a bad idea? Part of why i didn’t want to do it was because of the cleanse they wanted me to do before the scope! BTW-I’m only 28-i don’t think diverticulitis makes a lot of sense at my age.

  2. Robyn says:

    Blood in the stool, of course, is indicative of a number of different possible things. I can’t diagnose, of course–but with those issues, a diet kind to the digestive tract becomes that much more important. So you’ve got that AND your little daughter’s issues to motivate you! I also wouldn’t rule out diverticulitis even if you’re young–these issues are now seen in younger and younger people.

  3. Heather says:

    I realize that this is late but I had to chime in, I’m new here and just started reading this series. It’s an interesting concept about poop not smelling. A bit off topic but some what related- I took my 90 lb dog off of dog food nearly a year ago and feed her a 100% raw food diet. All she get’s is raw meat, whole chickens, organic beef, organic eggs, and the occasional green tripe to make sure her vitamins are balanced. Now this would kill any person but her body is made to eat meat, she has a short acidic digestive tract that efficiently digests meat – not the crap and fillers they put in dog food. Needless to say, her skin cleared up, her eyes cleared up, she lost her excess body fat, her yeast infections in her toenails went away, she no longer gets urinary track infections, her behavior changed, and she’s still a pain but she looks amazing. And believe it or not, HER POOPS DO NOT SMELL. I don’t even pick them up in the yard anymore, they are the size of a poodles because she is eating what is biolgically appropriate for her and she actually metabolizes and absorbs 95% of the nutrients. The morning sprinklers just dissolves whats left and washes it into the ground. Anyway, my point is that if you can feed a dog a diet that leaves no smell in it’s feces a person should be able to do the same. It’s important to remember what is biologically appropriate for us. So if anyone scoffs at the mention of “sh*t that doesn’t stink” just invite them over to my house and they can check out the dog poo! My own poo is a different story completely but I’m working on it! 🙂

  4. Jenna says:

    Hey Robin,

    I am doing a cleanse I bought online called Colonix by Dr Natura. I’m on about day 10 and I don’t see any major changes other than that I feel very bloated and fat and really not very well at all. I eat a decent diet, not high enough in raw veggies, but low amounts of processed foods, if any. I’m not sure if I should keep on with the cleanse, stop it or alter some part of my diet to aid the cleanse. Any suggestions?

    Jenna

    1. Robyn says:

      I looked at that cleanse but haven’t used it or seen any research on it, so I don’t know. Perhaps one of the ingredients is bothering you. Call their customer support?

  5. Carol says:

    How long can beeturia last? I ate beets 2 days in a row about 3 or 4 days ago and am still experiencing it. Bowel movements the first few days were normal, but this morning, 4 days later, my stools had purple clinging to the outside. Just relocated out of state and have no doctors yet. Do I need to find a doctor and have this checked out? I recently went off topomax for migraines because of severe GI side effects, and also went off proton pump inhibitor for acid reflux because of side effects.

    1. Robyn says:

      Nothing about that is indicative of a need for a doctor, but you might want to take HCl supplements until your stomach acid normalizes (through eating whole foods, mostly raw).

  6. Mark says:

    Question. I started doing green smoothies daily but still eat a regular diet that u would probably frown upon and I have a lot of green poops but they are more stinky than before also whenever my smoothie comes out it is never solid. It almost looks like i poured the smoothie in the toilet. Am I messing something up.

    1. Robyn says:

      Mark, please read in The Green Smoothies Diet, or in 12 Steps to Whole Foods, about the infamous “cleansing reaction,” or “detox reaction,” sometimes known as the “healing crisis.” it’s normal.

  7. Anonymous says:

    I would like to concur with your comment about not having smelly poo. I’m plant-based eater and my poo doesn’t smell! WOOHOO!

  8. Lori says:

    Hi Robyn, I’ve been drinking green smoothies for several months now and I’m still frequently having bowel movements that look like the green smoothies. They are often not formed at all. I feel like I should be past the detox stage. Is this bad?

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