Natural Laxatives: Part 4 of 9 on ELIMINATION
It’s important that we keep the colon and lower intestine clean and powerfully peristaltic. The answer isn’t to gag down some chemically reduced Metamucil stirred into water, while eating the Atkins Diet, like my friend Michelle does. When I occasionally go out on a limb and express concern about her long-term Atkins lifestyle, I mention the importance of plant fiber, and she says, “Oh, I’m covered. I drink Metamucil like crazy.”
Jensen says 95% of the millions of dollars spent annually on laxatives are only stimulating the bowel by irritating and harming it. If you want to use a very effective natural laxative that will stimulate without causing diarrhea or irritate the colon, have the herb Cascara Sagrada on hand.
Laxatives do one or more of three things:
- increase the amount of liquid retained in the feces,
- act as a lubricant, or
- irritate, poison, and/or chemically stimulate muscle walls to cause abnormal contractions.
If you have diarrhea, it’s for one or more of these four reasons:
- excessive use of laxatives,
- stress,
- infection in the GI tract/colon, or
- toxins in the bowel.
These chemicals are absorbed through lymph and blood vessels and end up in various parts of the body. They damage the normal ability of the bowel to eliminate on its own, tiring out muscles by keeping them constantly stimulated.
The way to heal the bowel is through diet that promotes excellent nerve and muscle tone, with clean, pink, highly peristaltic tissues. And what’s that diet? Lots of clean water, and lots of bulky greens, vegetables, and fruits, legumes and whole grains, nuts and seeds. The GreenSmoothieGirl diet prevents ulcerations, diverticulitis, spastic bowel, IBS, strictures, adhesions, and colitis, and gas/flatulence that are affecting increasing numbers of people in the Western world.
Additionally, you can do a very simple thing do get off laxatives and become more regular. Wake up your digestive system every morning as you wake up, before you get out of bed. Massage your ascending, transverse, and descending colon with your hands or a tennis ball. Massage deeply starting in the lower right of your pelvis, work straight upwards, then massage right to left across your belly button, and straight down on the left [corrected from my original post]. Then get up and start your day with two glasses of water. These are very effective natural laxatives. And of course, most people know that prunes are good natural laxatives, too.
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
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