constipation ? not any more

peanut

never an easy subject to broach or discuss around a pint but almost everyone suffers from this self inflicted malaise at some time or other. Some of us suffer almost continuously along with irritable bowel syndrome ,wind, bloating etc.

I had suffered periodically for years until one day I decided to enough was enough and it was time to do something about it.
After cutting out all my favourite foods ,eating nuts, raisins, prunes and following all sorts of weird fasts and elimination diets etc I finally discovered an extremely simple routine that if followed daily keeps me regular and comfortable.

It has so transformed my life that in spite of embarrassement and potential ridicule I wanted to share it in the hope that it may help someone else .

Every day I make sure that I add at least 2x tablespoons of sweetcorn to at least my main meal. I'll also add it to sandwiches, soup and salads occasionally too.
I also add 2x heaped tablespoons of allbran to my breakfast cereal ie special K or weetabix etc. If I eat porridge for b/fast I'll have a bowl of cereal for supper.
Finally I drink 2lts of water every day. I often mix it with some fresh fruit juice and personally prefer sparkling spring water . I carry a small water bottle to work and take a glass of water to bed in casae I wake in the night.

Whilst I follow this routine I never get wind constipation or feel bloated and am free to eat almost anything I want ,witouth problems including white bread ,eggs, cheese and other foods known to cause problems.

If starting from scratch it will take about 3-5 days to take effect .basically the duration of your digestive transit time.
Hope this is of some help to someone

doog442

Hi

I gave up all alcohol completely 6 months ago and it cured my stomach problems. I was certain i had a stomach ulcer that had been troubling me for years...now gone.

I havent suffered from wind or constipation since and i can assure you it was getting bad . Only had a minor problem due to the meds i was on but now all clear. Ive always drank plenty of fluids but that was usually me trying to rehydrate myself from the alcohol

Michuel

"I also add 2x heaped tablespoons of allbran to my breakfast cereal ie special K or weetabix etc"

I had very bad vomiting problems duer to stomach acid and spent about 6 months going to hospitals to be analysed.

One of the ways I recovered to normal was by dropping daily breakfast of 100% all-bran and milk. I've never touched all-bran since.

All bran surrounds the walls of the stomach. Some people say by doing so it protects the stomach against long-term stomach cancer etc. All accept that a bowl of all bran prevents absorbtion of vitamins from later food eaten. You just have a couple of spoonfuls with other food.

You've obviously solved your problem. I merely repeat this for others who suffered as I did. We're all different with different genes..

phil s

I get very grumpy if I don't take a decent Brad in the morning. A spoon of linseed and plenty of water is good to keep things moving

thiscocks

fiber plus water= regular bowel. Like you said, dried fruits are good. Ive also felt that excersise also helps me.. not sure how it does though.

Not Another Hill

Curries, beer and red wine usually do the trick

st68

i always need a dump after a run so running clears out my dumpster & i eat loads of fruit

IanTrcp

Michuel wrote:

All bran surrounds the walls of the stomach.

Really? How does it do that???

peanut

IanTrcp wrote:

Michuel wrote:

All bran surrounds the walls of the stomach.

Really? How does it do that???

well after you eat the allbran you need to twirl around five times in a clockwise direction and all the bran sticks to the sides see boyo

Michuel

IanTrcp wrote:

Michuel wrote:

All bran surrounds the walls of the stomach.

Really? How does it do that???

I don't know the biological process. I listen to a lot of nutrition,medicine and health programs and got this from Michael Van Stratten's on LBC. A Dutch researcher on the program had found all-bran etc protected stomach against cancer and gastro-intestinal problems. The mechanism was the bran surrounding the stomach walls which was proposed and accepted by commentators. Bit on that program the others felt bran had many well-known disadvantages which the Dutch woman accepted of it preventing the absorbtion of vitamins and I think minerals into the body. Michael Van Stratten is a long-term opponent of bran as breakfast cereal because of this reason.

Sorry can't help you but for anyone interested in these matters is well-worth studying the subject more. I'd been eating breakfast bran for 30 years, I continued for a few months then as a last resort dropped it from my diet and immediately improved.

As I said each of us is different.

peanut

All bran is not intended as a complete meal by itself. Its is intended as a supplement which is why i recommended 1-2 tablespoons with another cereal. I would think it must be practically impossible to eat it on its own anyway. I gag trying to swallow a couple of tablespoons mixed with other stuff .It practically chokes me

Michuel

IanTrcp wrote:

Michuel wrote:

All bran surrounds the walls of the stomach.

Really? How does it do that???

peanut wrote:

All bran is not intended as a complete meal by itself. Its is intended as a supplement which is why i recommended 1-2 tablespoons with another cereal. I would think it must be practically impossible to eat it on its own anyway. I gag trying to swallow a couple of tablespoons mixed with other stuff .It practically chokes me

Yes I suppose that was my problem Peanut, I ate it as my only breakfast with milk for 25 years and when I started eating a lot of rough bread as well I began with stomach aches before and during events then daily vomiting.

Here are references to some of the body mechanisms at work , Michael Van Straten who is against all-bran and Dr John Rumberger who seems to be for it and refers to how bran coats bowel :-

http://www.michaelvanstraten.com/factsh ... sheet7.pdf
http://www.michaelvanstraten.com/minera ... s.php?id=2

“Some vegetables like spinach and beet greens contain oxalic acid which prevents the absorption of calcium and wholegrain cereals, nuts and pulses contain phytic acid which can also interfere with calcium absorption. Sprinkling bran all over your breakfast cereals seriously reduces the calcium you absorb from the milk for the same reason”

Dr John Rumberger :-

“soluble fibres include skins of fruits such as apples, pears, peaches and grapes; skins of vegetables, oat bran, oatmeal, rye, prunes… wheat bran is an insoluble fibre as meat of fruit and vegetables, dried beans, whole grain breads.…bran does of course bulk up the diet and result in larger, softer stools…the stickiest kind of fibres are the soluble fibres (gums and pectins) and they reduce cholestorol by keeping bile acids that ingest fat ..bile acids which promote better digestion unfortunately also contribute to the reabsorbtion from the bowel wall of the body’s home-made cholestorol. Every gram of fibre intake reduces your total blood cholestorol by approx one point…may help reduce blood sugar as well…by coating the bowel’s lining and delaying stomach emptying..as a result fibre can reduce sugar absorbtion after meals"

peanut

I may be way off base here but it sounds to me like you were more likely suffering from irritable bowel syndrome . If we eat the same thing every day for long enough some of us develop a sensitivity to that foodstuff.

I am a typical example. I am too lazy/busy to vary my diet. I often eat the same food ,say sausages and beans for weeks and eventually my stomach starts to reject that food.

Say it was toast in the morning ,what would happen is I'd eat the first mouthful and immediately my stomach would bloat right up. I would get a gastric reflux but because my stomach had bloated it shut off the epiglotis . Consequently I was unable to burp to relieve the wind and bl;oating. It might be 2-3 minutes before I could burp and relieve the trapped wind and breathe properly again. After that had happened I could finish the rest of my toast or cereal without further problem, until the next time.

If I stopped eating that food for a week or so, the next time I eat it without problem at first.

Michuel

Yes they say how much one enjoys a food affects how well it's digested and absorbed into body. I eat mainly simple uncooked foods like apples, bananas, beans, breads, tomatoes etc and while I like them I don't really enjoy them like those who eat restaurant meals do so I suppose I'm missing out on that health benefit though avoiding fat.

peanut

sounds like a good diet. There is a new one going around. I think its called the paleo diet or stoneage diet. sounds a bit like yours