Wow, I didn’t expect so many responses to Monday’s post on Amanda, Miralax, and the Manuka Honey!  Thank you all for your concern; she’s recovering, going to class, trying to be normal, and so far the new seizure drug isn’t causing any mood side effects; hope that continues to be the case.  She’s still a little beat up, but should be back to normal in another day or two.

I definitely shocked a lot of you with that report on Miralax, as many of you wrote that your doctor has prescribed it for either your children, your older parents, or you’ve used that or other laxatives yourself.  American’s don’t spend $700 million a year on laxatives because they’re fun, Americans are chronically constipated.  NO ONE’S CONSTIPATED BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE ENOUGH LAXATIVE IN THEM. NO ONE.  Laxative’s don’t even work for a lot of people, and yet, they keep taking them, or worse, they take more in an effort to make things work.

Here’s another shocker:  high fiber grains, and high fiber supplements can make things worse.  Grains/flours get reduced to glucose/sugar in the gut, and then they go on to wreck havoc with blood sugar, pH, and gut bacteria.  Fiber supplements? Here’s the ingredients in Benefiber:

Ingredient: Wheat dextrin                            
Benefiber Orange also contains Wheat dextrin, citric acid, natural orange flavor, potassium citrate, aspartame, gum acacia, acesulfame potassium, maltodextrin, lactose (milk), triglycerides, sucrose acetate isobutyrate (adds a trivial amount of sugar), modified cornstarch, yellow 6, red 40

GROSS! Wheat, chemicals, artificial sweeteners, food dyes, and cornstarch. YOU DON’T HAVE CONSTIPATION BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT CONSUMING THIS. Honest.

Why the chronic constipation?  So many reasons:  OTC and prescription meds ( which either change the pH of the gut, the motility of the gut, or both),  a diet full of sugars, grains, and chemicals;  sitting too much; not enough exercise;  EMOTIONS greatly affect the gut via either constipation or diarrhea;  and of course, the biggie – what you’re NOT eating: tons of vegetables, fermented/cultured foods and drinks, fruit, good fats, good proteins, and lots and lots of water. ( hey, that sounds like a Real Whole Foods prescription!)

What if you’ve been on laxatives and fiber supplements for years?  You’ve upset the normal bacterial environment, the normal pH environment, and conditioned (addicted)  the muscles along the gut wall that they’ll be stimulated by chemicals.  It’s going to take some time, along with a real consistent program, to get regular again.  Unfortunately, if living “kind of healthy”, with the occasional/few times a week meal or snack of constipation causing foods or meds is your norm, it’ll be hard to correct the constipation.  Persistence and consistency will be key to reversing this, but wouldn’t “normal” be great?  It’s within your grasp, you just need to be patient and vigilant about the habits and actions of your every day life.  There’s no secrets or tricks, it’s always about planning, shopping, packing, and cooking.  Always.

However, if you’re addicted to chemical stimulants to make you go to the bathroom, get in touch with me.  You’re going to need a program.

Our body wants to be fed it’s necessary nutrients every day, every meal.  Food ALWAYS has an effect, either good or bad.  Always. There are no neutral foods.

I’m going to link to a TED talk by Dr. Terry Wahls.  She’s not known for her work with constipation, but no one demonstrates how food affects us like she can.  No one.  She’s an MD who’s REVERSED her Multiple Sclerosis with FOOD.  Food is Medicine, or Food is Poison.  It’s an incredibly slow acting poison (thanks to our body constantly trying to repair itself), so the eventual toxicity/effects can take years to manifest. ( The average disease, from cancer, to heart disease, to diabetes, takes 20 years to develop.)  I honestly can’t think of a better example to demonstrate that our body and our brain, are the result of the foods we eat every day.  Your child’s body and brain are the result of what they eat every day.   If you’re struggling with staying on track with a Real Whole Foods eating program, watch this youtube.  It’s short, but it’s very, very powerful and motivating.

Oh! One more thing!  About the Manuka honey, here’s my tried and true Immune Boosting Magic Elixir:   garlic that’s been allowed to “air” for 15 minutes (that activates it’s beneficial nutrients) with the honey.  I swear, it kills germs FAST.  Swallow fast without chewing and it’s no big deal, honest.