WELLNESS: When you were working with the NIH, you discovered that you could reproduce cystic fibrosis in monkeys because it was a nutritional deficiency. When you made this public, you were fired. Why was that so difficult for the medical community to accept?
DR. WALLACH: Well, I was the darling of the veterinary research in those days. I was on committees for both NIH and the National Science Foundation. I was in veterinarian and human nutritional and pathology research at the international level.
I came across a serendipitous discovery on the first animal diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and confirmed by the world experts on cystic fibrosis. Because it was a laboratory animal that came from what was supposed to be normal breeding colony from NASA, we had all kinds of weekly blood samples frozen. We were able to go back and discover what had happened–why 6 little monkeys wound up with cystic fibrosis. I found I could reproduce this condition at will.
At that time–and still today–standard medical research believes falsely that cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease. It’s a congenital defect that babies can be born with when mother’s have a Selenium deficiency during pregnancy. Selenium is required for the health and development of the pancreas, liver, heart, and other tissues. Almost always when a cystic fibrosis child is born, their lungs are normal. Years later, it’s usually the advancing lung disease that causes problems. They’re not born with lung disease, it only comes on because of chronic nutritional deficiencies.
By using medical computers, I was able to find thousands of articles in the veterinary literature to piece together the puzzle. This probably sounds egotistical, but you have to remember that the government spent 7.5 million dollars training me how to figure these things out. So when I figured out cystic fibrosis, the medical community, being arrogant, said ‘how can this guy come along and figure this out in one year’s time when we’ve been working on this for 25 years?’
The facility I was working for was trying to get a multi-million dollar grant to study genetics. They were afraid that if I showed cystic fibrosis was not genetic they wouldn’t get the grant. So they pulled the plug. That’s what drove me to Naturopathic College.
WELLNESS: The point here is that you were able to see the solution to the disease because you had a different viewpoint.
Are you looking at an increased potential for health problems down the road? Take a few seconds now and see with this easy self-test. If the results show you need improvement, the how-to is right here. You'll help boost blood flow to your heart, oxygenate your body, feel more calm, and even help lower your blood pressure.
30 July 2016
Story at-a-glance
Breathing is typically an ignored topic when it comes to health, yet breathing properly can improve oxygenation through your body, including your brain, and is a powerful strategy for relieving stress and anxiety
To induce calm, you need to breathe slowly and lightly, using your diaphragm. You also want to breathe less, and breathing through your nose is key
Your nose regulates at least 30 physical processes, including the release of nitric oxide (NO), a bronchodilator and vasodilator that helps lower blood pressure and helps maintain homeostasis in your body
By Dr. Mercola
Patrick McKeown is one of the top teachers of the Buteyko method — a breathing method named after the Russian physician who developed it. McKeown has been teaching the Buteyko Breathing Method full-time in his native Ireland and abroad for over a dozen years.
As he notes in the featured TED Talk, breathing is typically an ignored topic when it comes to health, yet breathing properly can improve oxygenation through your body, including your brain, and is a powerful strategy for relieving stress and anxiety.
Two of the most common breathing problems are over-breathing and mouth breathing, both of which have adverse health consequences.
Mouth breathing even alters your facial structure, causing your facial features to narrow and droop downward. Narrow and set back jaws increase the risk of developing lifelong obstructive sleep apnea.1
In the video below, McKeown reviews the many problems associated with mouth breathing specifically, and the importance of addressing mouth breathing early in childhood, as it can have lifelong repercussions.
Nose Breathing Is Key for Good Health and Stress Management
Most people will tell you to take a deep breath to calm yourself down. However, this strategy can actually have the opposite effect.
When you're stressed, your breath becomes faster, deeper, noisier, you breathe more often through your mouth and you tend to breathe with your upper chest rather than your diaphragm.
As noted by McKeown, it simply doesn't make sense to amplifyyour current breathing pattern if you want to bring yourself from a state of stress to a state of calm. To induce calm, you need to breathe slowly, using the diaphragm. You also want to breathe less, and breathing through your nose is key.
Your nose actually directs 30 different functions in your body. Nerves in your nasal passages (which connect to your hypothalamus) sense everything about your breathing and use that information to regulate your bodily functions.
For example, your nose releases nitric oxide (NO) during breathing, which is carried from your nose into your lungs. NO is a gas that plays a significant role in homeostasis (maintaining of balance) within your body.2,3,4,5,6
NO also sterilizes the air carried into your lungs, opens up the airways and increases the amount of oxygen taken up in your blood. You were born to breathe through your nose, yet many develop dysfunctional breathing patterns that lead to mouth breathing.
This in turn can result in other health problems, including asthma. As a result of feeling like you're not getting enough air, asthmatics tend to breathe heavier, and when you increase the breathing volume coming into your lungs, it causes a loss of carbon dioxide (CO2).
The Importance of Carbon Dioxide Homeostasis
Contrary to popular belief, CO2 is not merely a waste gas. Although you breathe to get rid of excess CO2, it's important to maintain a certain amount of CO2 in your lungs, and for that you need to maintain a normal breathing volume.
When too much CO2 is lost through heavy breathing, it causes the smooth muscles embedded in your airways to constrict.
When this happens, there is a feeling of not getting enough air and the natural reaction is to breathe more intensely. But this simply causes an even greater loss of CO2, which constricts your airway even further.
In this way, asthma symptoms feed back to the condition, and to remedy the situation you need to break this negative feedback loop by breathing through your nose and breathing less.
Also, while most believe that taking bigger breaths through your mouth allows you to take more oxygen into your body, which should make you feel better and more clear-headed, the opposite actually happens.
Deep breathing tends to make you feel a bit light-headed, and this is due to eliminating too much CO2 from your lungs, which causes your blood vessels to constrict. So, the heavier you breathe, the less oxygen is actually delivered throughout your body.
Overbreathing and mouth breathing also tend to go hand-in-hand with snoring and/orsleep apnea; conditions that decimate your sleep quality. This too contributes to the downward health spiral associated with improper breathing.
Less Is More When It Comes to Breathing
Breathing through your nose and breathing less is the answer to all of these problems. According to medical textbooks, normal breathing volume is between 4 and 7 liters of air per minute, which translates into 12 to 14 breaths.
Clinical trials involving asthmatics show they breathe between 10 to 15 liters of air per minute,7,8 and people with chronic heart disease tend to breathe between 15 to 18 liters of air per minute.9,10,11,12
This suggests breathing less is a sign of better health. Conversely, the more you breathe, the more likely you are to experience significant health problems. Your tolerance to CO2 is part of this equation, as good CO2 tolerance equates to higher levels of health and fitness.
When your body and brain have a normal CO2 tolerance, your breathing will be light and smooth as your body is not constantly trying to rid itself of excess CO2. Contrary to popular belief, the primary stimulant signaling your body to take a breath is not lack of oxygen; it's an excess CO2.
"Oxygen only drives your breathing when oxygen levels drop to about 50 percent, and that would be quite an extreme situation. So, your body breathes to get rid of the excess gas, CO2," McKeown explains.
You always need a certain amount of CO2 for normal functioning. If you have normal CO2, you will have good tolerance to it, which translates into a higher breath-hold time (the length of time you can hold your breath). Also, when you exercise, your body generates more CO2, and if you have good tolerance to it, your breathing rate will remain much lower than someone who has a poor tolerance to CO2.
How to Improve Your Blood Circulation and Lower Stress Through Proper Breathing
In his talk, McKeown leads a group demonstration of proper breathing, summarized as follows:
•Place one hand on your upper chest and the other on your belly; feel your belly move slightly in and out with each breath, while your chest remains unmoving.
•Close your mouth and breathe in and out through your nose. Focus your attention on the cold air coming into your nose and the slightly warmer air leaving it on the out breath.
•Slowly decrease the volume of each breath, to the point it feels like you're almost not breathing at all (you'll notice your breath getting very quiet at this point).
The crucial thing here is to develop a slight air hunger. This simply means there’s a slight accumulation of carbon dioxide in your blood, which signals your brain to breathe.
After three or four minutes of air hunger, you’ll start experiencing the beneficial effects of CO2 accumulation, such as an increase in body temperature and an increase in saliva. The former is a sign of improved blood circulation; the latter a sign that your parasympathetic nervous system has been activated, which is important for stress reduction.
When you’re breathing properly, your breath will be so soft, quiet and light. It will not be visibly or audibly noticeable. By slowing down the speed of your breathing to the point where the hairs in your nose barely move, you can more easily enter into a calm, meditative state. Breathe less air into your lungs than what you were breathing before you started the exercise.
The air shortage should be tolerable and not at all stressful. If the air shortage is too much, take a break from the exercise for 15 seconds or so before resuming to it again. This type of breathing will also help lower your blood pressure, and can be a useful technique to address hypertension without drugs. You may also notice that you have less nasal congestion, allowing for easier breathing.
Breathing Exercise to Quell Panic Attacks and Anxiety
Another breathing exercise that can help if you're experiencing anxiety or panic attacks, or if you feel very stressed and your mind can't stop racing, is the following. This sequence helps retain and gently accumulate CO2, leading to calmer breathing and reduced anxiety. In other words, the urge to breathe will decline as you go into a more relaxed state.
Take a small breath into your nose, a small breath out; hold your nose for five seconds in order to hold your breath, and then release to resume breathing.
Breathe normally for 10 seconds.
Repeat the sequence several more times: small breath in through your nose, small breath out; hold your breath for five seconds, then let go and breathe normally for 10 seconds.
The Impact of Breathing on Sports Performance
The way you breathe also affects your heart. I interviewed McKeown on the effects of Buteyko breathing on sports performance in 2013 (see above). Typically, athletes who experience cardiac arrest or heart attacks are in prime physical condition and do not fit the model of someone with a heart problem. However, athletes do tend to breathe very heavily, for obvious reasons, and this alone can trigger a chain of events that could lead to cardiac arrest.
As mentioned, the loss of CO2 from heavy breathing constricts your blood vessels, causing reduced blood flow to your heart. As a result, oxygen delivery is reduced, and your heart requires oxygen for proper performance. Arrhythmia can occur when there's insufficient blood flow and insufficient oxygen. Arrhythmia is when your pulse increases too much, causing it to become chaotic. In severe cases, the heart may stop.
McKeown has also investigated the effects of breath-holding during exercise to simulate high altitude training. In order to simulate high altitude training, the percentage saturation of the red blood cells with oxygen must be decreased to less than 93 percent as shown in the following video.
While it may seem a bit counterintuitive to restrict breathing during physical exertion, this may actually be beneficial in a number of ways. According to McKeown:
“When you subject your body to a reduced concentration of oxygen, as is the case during high altitude training ... you’re going into anaerobic metabolism, so you’re working without air. Your oxygen partial pressure is dropping to below normal.
Breath holding after an exhalation causes a decrease to the concentration of oxygen to trigger increased lactic acid. At the same time, carbon dioxide also increases leading to an increased concentration of hydrogen ions to further acidify the blood.Repeated exposure to increased acidosis- forces the body to adapt to it.
To neutralize hydrogen ions, the bodies buffering capacity improves which delays the onset of fatigue to improve anaerobic capacity.This allows athletes to continue to exercise longer or at a higher intensity for a given distance.13 Your spleen, which is an organ located just under your diaphragm (it’s basically your blood bank), contains about 8 percent of the total red blood cell count.
But if you’re doing altitude training or involving breath holding during exercise, the arterial saturation of oxygen is dropping. The spleen will sense this drop of oxygen, so it will release more red blood cells into circulation.
Another factor is that your kidneys, during high altitude training and during breath-hold exercise, become slightly hypoxic; there’s reduced oxygen in the blood. In response to that, your kidneys will synthesize a hormone called EPO, which stimulates the maturation of red blood cells in your bone marrow.
Finally, the diaphragm and other respiratory muscles may become exhausted during both short term, high intensity exercise and more prolonged exercise such as marathon running. Holding the breath after an exhalation until a medium-to-strong need for air mobilizes the diaphragm, providing it with a workout and helping to strengthen it. A recent study involving elite athletes found that breath holding improved inspiratory muscle strength values by 14.9 percent.14
So, the benefits of incorporating breath-holding into walking, for instance, will lead to improved anaerobic capacity and respiratory muscle strength, along with improved oxygen-carrying capacity in red blood cells. We’ve heard of many athletes who have to do this unethically and illegally. But we should really tap into our body’s natural resource, because our body has everything that we need, if we know how to guide it.”
The Basic Buteyko Self-Test
Dr. Buteyko developed a simple self-test for estimating your CO2 tolerance. He found that the level of CO2 in your lungs correlates to your ability to hold your breath after normal exhalation. Studies involving patients with cystic fibrosis and asthma have confirmed that the lower your breath-hold time, i.e. the amount of time you can hold your breath, the heavier you breathe in general.15,16,17,18 You can use a stopwatch or simply count the number of seconds to yourself. To do this test:
Sit straight without crossing your legs and breathe comfortably and steadily.
Take a small, silent breath in and out through your nose. After exhaling, pinch your nose to keep air from entering.
Start your stopwatch and hold your breath until you feel the first definite desire to breathe.
When you feel the first urge to breathe, resume breathing and note the time. The urge to breathe may come in the form of involuntary movements of your breathing muscles, or your belly may jerk or your throat may contract. Your inhalation should be calm and controlled, through your nose. If you feel like you must take a big breath, then you held your breath too long.
The time you just measured is called the "control pause" or CP, which reflects your body's CO2 tolerance. Short CP times correlate with chronically depleted CO2 levels. Here's what your CP time can tell you about your health and fitness:
CP 40 to 60 seconds: Indicates a normal, healthy breathing pattern and excellent physical endurance.
CP 20 to 40 seconds: Indicates mild breathing impairment, moderate tolerance to physical exercise and potential for health problems in the future (most folks fall into this category).
CP 10 to 20 seconds: Indicates significant breathing impairment and poor tolerance to physical exercise; nasal breath training and lifestyle modifications are recommended (potential areas are poor diet, overweight, excess stress, excess alcohol, etc.).
CP under 10 seconds: Serious breathing impairment, very poor exercise tolerance and chronic health problems; Buteyko recommends consulting a Buteyko practitioner for assistance.
How to Practice Buteyko Breathing Daily
The good news is you can improve your CP time by regularly performing the breathing method outlined below. For a demonstration, see the above video. For each five-second increase in CP, you will feel better and improve your exercise endurance.
While this exercise is perfectly safe for the vast majority of people, if you have any cardiac problems, high blood pressure, are pregnant, have type 1 diabetes, panic attacks or any serious health concern, then please do not hold your breath beyond the first urges to breathe. The following exercise is also very effective for decongesting your nose in just a few minutes:
Sit up straight.
Take a small breath in through your nose and a small breath out. If your nose is quite blocked, take a tiny breath in through the corner of your mouth.
Pinch your nose with your fingers and hold your breath. Keep your mouth closed.
Gently nod your head or sway your body until you feel that you cannot hold your breath any longer.
When you need to breathe in, let go of your nose and breathe gently through it, in and out, with your mouth closed.
Calm your breathing as soon as possible.
Repeat this exercise several times in succession, waiting about 30 to 60 seconds in between rounds. Be sure to do it on a regular basis, ideally daily. The fastest way to increase your CP is by learning to be mindful of your breathing on a moment-to-moment basis:
Always keep your mouth closed for breathing, even during exertion. If you're exercising or exerting yourself to the point you have to open your mouth to gasp for air, slow down and avoid exerting yourself beyond the point where you can no longer breathe through your nose. This will help you avoid the hazards associated with overbreathing during exercise, such as doing damage to your heart.
Even when you breathe through your nose, try to breathe more lightly than you normally do; you should not be able to see your breathing in your chest or abdomen.
Control your breathing all of the time, especially in stressful situations.
Additional Resources
According to McKeown, most dysfunctional breathing patterns are rooted in the modern lifestyle. Contributing factors include:
Addressing these issues can also be helpful if you struggle with chronic overbreathing or mouth breathing. To learn more about the Buteyko Breathing Method, check out McKeown’s books, "The Oxygen Advantage," “Close Your Mouth: Self Help Buteyko Manual,” and “Anxiety Free: Stop Worrying and Quieten Your Mind,” which can be found on amazon.com and ButeykoClinic.com. There’s also a website dedicated to children, called ButeykoKids.com.
What’s normal and what’s not when you look into the toilet after using it? You can learn a great deal about your overall health by taking a look at your stool and noting its color, size, shape, consistency, odor and other features
February 14, 2013
Story at-a-glance
What’s normal and what’s not when you look into the toilet after using it? You can learn a great deal about your overall health by taking a look at your stool and noting its color, size, shape, consistency, odor and other features
Your toileting habits, such as your frequency of elimination and the ease with which you move your bowels, can provide additional clues to your health status
If you know what to look for, you may be able to detect health problems early enough to stop them in their tracks, including serious diseases like celiac disease, hepatitis, urinary tract infections and stones, malabsorption disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatitis, cancer and others
Suggestions are given for optimizing your gastrointestinal function, including how to build healthy gut flora, and what things to avoid due to their potential adverse effects on your GI system, which is crucial to your immune health
By Dr. Mercola
When it comes to toileting habits, the topic is not exactly a favorite among Americans – at least for those above the age of four. Mention poop and you can easily clear a room – or at the least, generate some unusual facial expressions, nervous laughter, and wisecracks about "too much information."
But your bodily emissions are an important health topic that deserves serious attention, regardless of the "ick factor." In fact, if you ignore what you deposit in your toilet, you could be flushing your health down the drain!
Did you know the average person generates about five TONS of stool in his or her lifetime? Turns out, there is much to be learned from this mountain of poop.
The shape, size, color, and other fecal features can tell you a great deal about your overall health, how your gastrointestinal tract is functioning, and even give you clues about serious disease processes that could be occurring, like infections, digestive problems, and even cancer. Poop comes in just about all the colors of the rainbow... and please forgive me for using the words poop and rainbow in the same sentence.
Although there is a certainly a wide variety of stool colors, textures and forms that are considered "normal," there are definitely things that, if seen or experienced, warrant immediate medical attention. With this in mind, the overview that follows covers what you need to know about what's normal and not normal in the bathroom department.
What is Normal Stool?
Your stool is about 75 percent water. The rest is a fetid combination of fiber, live and dead bacteria, miscellaneous cells and mucus.1, 2 The characteristics of your stool will tell you a good deal about how happy and healthy your digestive tract is – the color, odor, shape, size, and even the sound it makes when it hits the water and whether it's a "sinker" or a "floater" are all relevant information.
The Bristol Stool Chart is a handy tool that may help you learn what you're going for. Ideally, your stool should approximate Types 3, 4 and 5, "like a sausage or a snake, smooth and soft" to "soft blobs that pass easily." Type 4 is the Holy Grail.3
Fiber tends to bulk up your stool and acts like glue to keep the stool stuck together, instead of in pieces. If your stool is on the softer side, short of diarrhea ("soft serve," as some call it), it could be related to lactose intolerance, artificial sweeteners (sorbitol and Splenda), or a reaction to fructose or gluten.
Look, Listen and Smell Before You Flush
What's normal and what's not when you look into the toilet? The following table will help you narrow down what to look for, so that you aren't needlessly alarmed. Of course, there are a few signs that ARE cause for concern, and those are listed too. If you have a change in stools accompanied by abdominal pain, please report this to your physician.4
Healthy Stool
Unhealthy Stool
Medium to light brown
Stool that is hard to pass, painful, or requires straining
Smooth and soft, formed into one long shape and not a bunch of pieces
Hard lumps and pieces, or mushy and watery, or even pasty and difficult to clean off
About one to two inches in diameter and up to 18 inches long
Narrow, pencil-like or ribbon-like stools: can indicate a bowel obstruction or tumor – or worst case, colon cancer; narrow stools on an infrequent basis are not so concerning, but if they persist, definitely warrant a call to your physician
S-shaped, which comes from the shape of your lower intestine
Black, tarry stools or bright red stools may indicate bleeding in the GI tract; black stools can also come from certain medications, supplements or consuming black licorice; if you have black, tarry stools, it's best to be evaluated by your healthcare provider
Quiet and gentle dive into the water...it should fall into the bowl with the slightest little "whoosh" sound – not a loud, wet cannonball splash that leaves your toosh in need of a shower
White, pale or gray stools may indicate a lack of bile, which may suggest a serious problem (hepatitis, cirrhosis, pancreatic disorders, or possibly a blocked bile duct), so this warrants a call to your physician; antacids may also produce white stool
Natural smell, not repulsive (I'm not saying it will smell good)
Presence of undigested food (more of a concern if accompanied by diarrhea, weight loss, or other changes in bowel habits)
Uniform texture
Floaters or splashers
Increased mucus in stool: This can be associated with inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn's disease, or ulcerative colitis, or even colon cancer, especially if accompanied by blood or abdominal pain
Does Your Stool Have a Really Bad Odor?
If your stool has an extraordinarily bad odor, it should not be ignored. I am referring to an odor above and beyond the normally objectionable stool odor. Stinky stool can be associated with a number of health problems, such as:7
A malabsorptive disorder
Celiac disease
Crohn's disease
Chronic pancreatitis
Cystic fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a disease caused by a defective gene that causes your body to produce abnormally thick, sticky mucus, which builds up and causes life-threatening lung infections and serious digestive problems. Most cases of CF are diagnosed before the age of 2, so this is more of a concern with infants and toddlers.
Speaking of malodorous things, what about gas? Passing gas (flatulence) is normal. Not only is it normal, it's a good sign that trillions of hard working gut bacteria are doing their jobs. People pass gas an average 14 times per day – anywhere from one to four pints of it!8 Ninety nine percent of gas is odorless, so you may even be unaware you're passing it. Think about it – were it not for an exit, we'd all blow up like balloons!
How Often Should You Move Your Bowels?
Normal bowel habits vary. When we talk about regularity, what we're really talking about is what's regularfor you. Three bowel movements per day to three per week is considered the normal range.
What's more important than frequency is the ease with which you move your bowels. If you need to push or strain, something is off – moving your bowels should take no more effort than urinating or passing gas. The thing to watch for is a sudden change in your bowel habits. Many factors can affect regularity, such as diet, travel, medications, hormonal fluctuations, sleep patterns, exercise, illness, surgery, childbirth, stress and a whole host of other things.9
Constipation and Diarrhea
The average body takes between 18 and 72 hours to convert food into poop and pass it on out. When this time is significantly shortened, the result is diarrhea because your intestine doesn't have time to absorb all of the water. Conversely, when transit time is lengthened, you may end up constipated because too much water has been absorbed, resulting in hard, dry stools.
Constipation is defined as passing hard, dry stools that you have to strain to move, and it's typically accompanied by decreased frequency of defecation. Straining is not normal, nor are experiencing feelings of incomplete elimination, bloating, crampiness, or sluggishness after going number two. If you're over the age of 65, your risk of becoming constipated increases significantly.
Chronic, untreated constipation can lead to fecal impaction,10 which can be a serious medical condition. Laxatives should be avoided at all cost and used only as a last resort. If you absolutely must use a laxative, make sure it is used for only a very short period of time.
Common Causes of INCREASED Bowel Frequency/Diarrhea11
Lifestyle
Diseases and Conditions
Eating more fruits and vegetables (increased fiber)
Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid)
Increased exercise
Crohn's disease
Drinking more water
Ulcerative colitis
Emotional stress
Celiac disease
Food allergies
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
Medication side effects
Gastrointestinal infection
Common Causes of DECREASED Bowel Frequency/Constipation12, 13
Lifestyle
Diseases and Conditions
Change in diet, less fiber, less fruits and vegetables
Pregnancy, childbirth, or hormonal disturbances
Emotional stress
Problems with the muscles or nerve in the intestine, rectum or anus
Ignoring the urge to "go," travel and scheduling factors that cause you to hold it
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
Insufficient exercise
Diabetes
Inadequate hydration
Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid)
Calcium or iron supplements
Local pain or discomfort around the anus, such as from fissures or hemorrhoids
Drugs such as narcotic painkillers (codeine, for example), diuretics, antacids, antidepressants, and excess or overused laxatives
Less often: diverticulitis, intestinal obstruction, colorectal cancer, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury
Food allergies
How to Score a Home Run with Your Bowel Movements
Most gastrointestinal problems can be prevented or resolved by making simple changes to your diet and lifestyle. If you aren't achieving poo perfection, or if you don't feel right, then look at the following factors and consider making a few changes. These strategies will help reverse constipation or diarrhea, in addition to helping prevent recurrences.
Remove all sources of gluten from your diet (the most common sources are wheat, barley, rye, spelt and other grains)
Eat a diet that includes whole foods, rich in fresh, organic vegetables and fruits that provide good nutrients and fiber; most of your fiber should come from vegetables, not from grains
Avoid artificial sweeteners, excess sugar (especially fructose), chemical additives, MSG, excessive amounts of caffeine, and processed foods as they are all detrimental to your gastrointestinal (and immune) function
Boost your intestinal flora by adding naturally fermented foods into your diet, such as sauerkraut, pickles, and kefir (if you tolerate dairy); add a probiotic supplement if you suspect you're not getting enough beneficial bacteria from your diet alone
Try increasing your fiber intake; good options include psyllium and freshly ground organic flax seed (shoot for 50 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories consumed).
Make sure you stay well hydrated with fresh, pure water
Avoid pharmaceutical drugs, such as pain killers like codeine or hydrocodone which will slow your bowel function, Antidepressants, and antibiotics can cause a variety of GI disruptions
Consider squatting instead of sitting to move your bowels; squatting straightens your rectum, relaxes your puborectalis muscle and encourages the complete emptying of your bowel without straining, and has been scientifically shown to relieve constipation and hemorrhoids
Consider a Bidet
As a practical and affordable alternative to toilet paper, you might want to try a bidet. Bidets are the norm in Europe—no bathroom is found without one. Once you experience a bidet, you'll probably never go back to toilet paper! A bidet is refreshing in a way toilet paper will never be, is gentler and less irritating than wiping with paper, and reduces hand contamination. Whenever I travel it is one of the items that I miss most from my home. Nearly everyone that I know has received one just loves them.
The bidets pay for themselves in no time with the money saved on toilet paper, as well as helping save valuable environmental resources. You still need a sheet or two of toilet paper to dry yourself, but that is a tiny fraction of what you would need to clean yourself. But more importantly they clean your bottom far more effectively than simply using dry toilet paper. They are easy to install, as no plumber is required. I've made my favorite bidet available in the Mercola store.
