Constipation

By Michael Biamonte, C.C.N.

In this article, we are going to cover the most stunning material and research probably ever done on this planet regarding health care. Some of the conclusions that I will draw may actually stun you but, nonetheless, they are based on sound authoritative, documented research. In 1975 a group of British scientists set out to understand and discover why primitive African people had such a low rate of cancer, coronary disease and specifically bowel and digestive disease. Their research was quite exhaustive. It covered and included tracking clues that extended all the way back to lunch menus in an African village right through studying bowel habits in an English mill town in 1850. That’s quite a variance. These English doctors, working among the native Africans, noticed something very peculiar or at least peculiar to them: the native Africans move their bowels somewhere between three to five times a day and on an average passed well over one pound of fecal material per day; this was a startling contrast compared to the normal English bowel movement of less than four ounces. It is also quite common for the typical English person to move their bowels once a day, or even skip days. Now, we have been taught, unfortunately, by our physicians that moving one’s bowels once a day or even every few days is perfectly normal, and for some people it is normal to just move once a week. Analysis of the stools of these primitive African people found them to be virtually odorless; contained the exact amount of friendly bacteria required to keep the digestive system and digestive track healthy and functioning normally; had very low levels of putrid action and toxic material; and for the most part were far healthier than the average British bowel movement.

Actual investigation into this shows us that the African people have a diet that is very high in fiber. They eat mostly fruits and vegetables that are high in cellulose, other types of fiber like pectins and are particularly high in water content. The water content helps the body pass the fiber through by keeping the bowel and the feces moist. The average African is consuming about 24 grams of crude fiber per day compared to about four to six grams found in the typical British or American diet. Upon more in-depth analysis, it was found that the colons of the African people contained very, very low amounts of toxins and poisonous material that are normally associated with the bowel and old, rotting putrefying material in the bowel.

These chemical substances have been directly linked to arthritis, cancer and cancer of the bowel and many other illnesses and diseases. Since these primitive African people had very low amounts of these poisons in there colon, it was concluded this is why they had such a low incidence and low rates of bowel cancer, cancer in general, heart disease, arthritis and many other illnesses. So, this leads up to our main question. What is constipation? Well, the digestive track of man is able to hold at any given time somewhere between three to five meals. That means if you’ve eaten three to five meals and haven’t had a bowel movement your body is able to cope with that and able to deal with that. Once we go past three to five meals, the colon begins to expand. It can actually expand up to five times its normal size in order to hold more meals that are not being passed. This, however, produces a very bad situation because the longer the food stays in the intestinal track the more apt it is to begin to ferment, putrefy, rot and act as a breeding ground for bad bacteria, the likes of which can cause different arthritic conditions immunological problems such as autoimmune illnesses which can be linked to allergies, chemical sensitivities and different types of rheumatoid arthritis. Parasites and the eggs of parasites can hatch in your intestinal track the longer they sit there without being passed out into the toilet. Also, as things become more disturbed, a fungus called Candida albicans is able to start to grow. This intestinal fungus can grow when friendly bacteria are destroyed in your intestinal track. Most common friendly bacteria are destroyed by antibiotic use or by harmful parasites that can get into your food and water. These harmful parasites, when they get into your intestinal tract, destroy friendly bacteria allowing this fungus called Candida albicans to grow. There are over 100 different symptoms possibly caused by this fungus. They range from allergies, asthma, arthritic complaints digestive complaints, brainfog, fatigue, spaceyness, inability to concentrate, skin problems, food reactions, the list goes on and on. A healthy functioning digestive tract should be able to have a bowel movement in ratio to every meal that is consumed in one given day. Now, this means if someone eats three times a day, they should have three bowel movements. If they eat one time a day, they should have one bowel movement. Simple math will show us, after one week’s time, if someone consumes three meals a day that’s 21 meals. Seven days times three meals. If someone has one bowel movement per day, at the end of the week that’s one bowel movement times seven days equals seven bowel movements. Where did all the other food go? Most people have been misled into believing that when they have a bowel movement in the morning they are eliminating all the food from the day before. Nothing can be further from the truth. The reason for that is actual analysis and testing show that the average American has a transit time of at least 48 to 72 hours. The word transit is simply referring to transportation time of the feces from the point it enters the mouth to the point it is actually eliminated in the bowel movement. If food is taking 48 to 72 hours to pass through our systems, there is no way that the bowel movement we are having in the morning is eliminating all the meals from the previous day. Now, this can fool you because some foods tend to move through your system faster than others. For instance beets, which can be used as a great marker for this experiment, usually will pass through within 18 to 24 hours. Salads and vegetables and particularly uncooked vegetables and raw fruits tend to move through faster. However, foods of lower fiber content like meats, refined grains and starchier foods tend to move through slower so you may see part of yesterday’s meal in your bowel movement and be tricked into thinking that the whole meal was just passed. What actually occurred was some of the foods than can run faster through your digestive tract basically just outran all of the other foods that were there. This doesn’t mean the entire meal was passed. On the contrary, it has defiantly been confirmed that it takes 42 to 72 hours for most Americans to pass, what we would refer to as, the average American meal. Now, let me ask you this question, how often do you take out your garbage? Particularly, during the summertime? Now, let’s look at the garbage for a second. The garbage can has a lid and in the garbage can it is dark and moist and we have a lot of old food scraps in there. During the summer, if the can is outside, the sun beats on it making it hot, so we have a dark, moist, and warm environment. Now, if you took out your garbage on Monday and then that night filled up the pail again and then left the pail alone until Thursday or Wednesday, what would you expect to smell when you opened up that pail? It certainly wouldn’t be anything pleasant or anything to look forward to, of course not, it would stink. This is because the foods sitting in the garbage pail that are mixing with bacteria that were already present in the food are being allowed to putrefy. I don’t think there are that many of us who would expect a garbage pail that has been sitting there for two or three days to be a very healthy environment. So, why would we ever think that our intestinal track would be any healthier if we allow garbage to stay in there for two or three days. A normal healthy person should have a bowel movement three times a day or minimum two times if he’s eating three meals a day. If he is not, we call this a mild form of constipation. Now someone may have bowel movements three or four times a day, but if the bowel movements are liquidy or loose they won’t be passing a lot of solid material and that would still be considered constipation. Remember constipation means to compact, it doesn’t mean how many times you are moving. It simply means that things are being compacted in the bowel and the bowel is not fully evacuating, cleaning itself. Diarrhea in many senses can be a form of severe constipation. If one were to analyze the bulk weight of material released in every episode of diarrhea that someone was having over the period of a few days, they would find they are passing mostly water and not much solid material. Therefore, the solid material is staying in the bowel, so even though they have the apparency of moving a lot and cleaning themselves out, they’re really not because it’s not solid material, it’s all water. Sometimes people can become so constipated that all that will come out is liquid and loose material. This is defiantly a form of constipation if someone is moving his or her bowels every two to three days or any longer than that. This is severe constipation. This is the type of situation that is a breeding ground for many illnesses and diseases. The toxins that are produced in the bowel along with the different microorganisms such as bacteria, parasites and the fungus, Candida albicans, can produce more symptoms, illnesses, and diseases than anyone can believe. We have seen arthritis, diabetes, hypoglycemia, muscle soreness and pain, osteoporosis, PMS, other reproductive disorders, chronic migraines, and all types of indigestion and digestion complaints clear up miraculously once the person started moving their bowels normally again. There are many causes of constipation. Very typically, antibiotics and other drugs can disrupt the friendly bacteria called acidophilus and bifidus, which live in our intestinal tract. These friendly bacteria help us to digest our food and help keep the intestinal pH at the right balance so that the bowels are able to move. When these bacteria are destroyed, the bowels can become too alkaline. Many times, the stool pH can go over 7.2, which is much more alkaline than it should be. When the stool pH becomes too alkaline, the bowels slow down and constipation is apparent. Different enzymes that help digest food and help us absorb vitamins and minerals stop working. At this point, we are unable to digest and absorb the vitamins, minerals, prote
ins and other nutrients from our food and we start developing many deficiency diseases that many of us read about in health and vitamin books. Many things can disturb our friendly bacteria. It could be as simple as chlorinated water. Excessive intake of coffee, alcohol, and other drugs can also disturb the friendly bacteria. Friendly bacteria are very commonly disturbed by parasites. This may be horrible to confront and may be very difficult for anyone to want to believe, but people are picking up parasites all the time. We pick up parasites from our pets, from our water, from our food and even from each other. If the eggs from parasites are allowed to stay in our bodies too long, the eggs come in contact with certain chemicals, two of them are called propyl alcohol and benzene, these eggs are allowed to hatch and then parasites start to grow and multiply in our bodies. Many parasites can lay thousands of eggs a day. Once these parasites start to grow and mature, they disrupt the friendly bacteria, which then can lead, not only to constipation, but different parasite symptoms. Many authorities and experts now believe that over 90 percent of all Americans are affected with parasites and that parasites are actually the cause of 50 percent of the ailments and illnesses that doctors are commonly treating people for . Can you imagine that over 50 percent of all the ailments and illnesses that we are going to our doctor for are actually being caused by parasites living in our bodies as opposed to all these big fancy words and terms that are being coined in medical textbooks?

Constipation can also be caused by nutritional deficiencies, which can cause under active adrenal and thyroid function. The adrenal gland acts like the fuel pump in the body helping fuel get into the cells. The thyroid gland acts somewhat like sparkplugs, helping the body burn up fuel and create energy. These two glands also stimulate the digestive system and it’s very common to find constipated people with under active thyroid and adrenal function. Many times under activity of these glands will not show up on the standard blood test that our doctors will do as this under activity is being caused by mild nutritional deficiencies of vitamins, minerals and proteins which help these glands to work. This is when one needs to see a nutritionist to resolve the matter. Constipation can also be caused by a sluggish liver. This, again, may not show up on standard medical tests as it may not be a disease condition. The liver itself will not stimulate the digestive track to move and pass food along by releasing adequate amounts of bile which is a substance which helps us breakdown fats in our diet. Many experts now feel that almost everyone has gallstones even though they may not be symptomatic or necessarily need medication or surgery from their doctors. Gallstones can start accumulating in the gallbladder in the hundreds and hundreds or even thousands before the person may ever be symptomatic of it. I have seen the proof of this with my own eyes. I have had many patients do something that we call a gallbladder flush. This involves taking some simple every day household foods like lemon and olive oil and some basic herbs that flush the gallstones out of the gallbladder. I have had hundreds of patients do this and each one has reported seeing hundreds of stones pass and these were people who were never symptomatic of any type of gallbladder or gallstone problem. What we need to learn from this is that these stones could be in our gallbladder and could be causing the gallbladder and the liver to be ineffectively operating. This can be another cause of constipation. Constipation might also be caused by certain vitamin or mineral deficiencies.

Pantothenic acid is a B vitamin that helps encourage normal peristalsis in the intestines. Peristalsis is the wavelike muscular contraction of the colon in the small intestines which pushes food along, moving it eventually to the end of the colon where it is eliminated out of the body in normal bowel movements. Probably the three most basic causes of constipation though are much simpler then any one of these mentioned. The first is lack of water. It’s interesting to know that fish do not have colons. The reason for that is fish are immersed in water all day, and the job of the colon is to reabsorb water from our food so that we can retain this moisture. Mammals and land creatures have colons. They are not immersed in water all the time so, they need to recycle the water from their food in order to avoid dehydration. Many people have had the experience of having to have a bowel movement and for some reason not being able to go when nature was calling. Later, they found the stool was dry and hard to pass. This is because the colon was absorbing excessive amounts of moisture from the stool and had then become dry. This can happen on a routine basis if there is not enough water in our diet. When an insufficient amounts of water is present, fecal matter in the colon will become dry and become stuck in the intestinal tract. These layers of fecal matter can start building up much like rust does on a pipe. The bowel movement that a person like this is having is actually being pushed through these layers of old dried material. One of the next reasons for constipation is lack of fiber and the consumption of too many junk foods that are low in fiber. Fiber, as we have all learned by now, is essential. It is a bulking material that helps us brush along much like a broom would. Nowadays, people are taking Metamucil that is essentially a substance called psyllium. Psyllium is a seed that contains an outer husk that absorbs water and gels and bulks up. When this is consumed, it acts as a fiber laxative. The fiber creating a feeling of fullness and pressure in the colon, stimulates the colon to push fecal matter through. Thereby, also pushing with it the feces that were our food. Foods low in fiber or foods that are commonly thought of as being junk foods cause the intestinal tract to secrete mucus. The mucus is secreted by the intestinal tract as a way of coating itself and protecting itself from these harmful irritating junk foods. Mucus buildup in the colon can also occur from taking drugs, too much alcohol or from having parasites or other harmful organisms in the intestinal tract. Once again, the intestinal tract is only trying to protect itself by secreting mucus in order to put a thin layer of protective fluid between itself and the harmful irritant substance. As time goes on, with the lack of water and fiber in the diet, the low fiber food mixes with the mucus and start to develop into a paste. Eventually it hardens like plaster of Paris, becomes black and highly toxic. This material can build up, like we said before, like rust in a pipe. It is this material that is literally killing millions and millions of Americans. This material contains many toxic chemical substances, harmful bacteria, parasites and the fungus, Candida albicans, which can be damaging to our health.

Lack of chewing is another reason for constipation. Chewing helps send signals to our digestive system that food is being consumed. Chewing acts like a stimulus to the digestive system, telling the stomach, pancreas and the liver all to make digestive juices and telling the intestines and the large bowel to push food along digestive tract. It is amazing when we realize how much more energy people have when they are able to get rid of these internal poisons that they are carrying around and producing every second from the dirty, toxic bowels that we have in this country.

There is a solution however to this problem. It is our new constipation program. It involves disinfecting the bowel, killing harmful bacteria, fungi, parasites and their eggs, which can further injure the body and allow the constipation to persist. We want to kill these organisms. First is that when we start to clean out the bowel we may end up disturbing them like disturbing a hornets’ nest outside in your backyard. I don’t think you want to go over and pick it up and throw it away. I think the first thing you would want to do before you clean the hornets’ nest out is throw some bug killer there to kill as many hornets as you can so they don’t come out and attack you once they find out your trying to disturb their nest. Well, that’s the same concept we have here. Our first step is to try to destroy as many of these organisms as we can so that when we start to clean out the bowel these bugs don’t come up and bite us. The second step involves actually taking herbal substances and other natural things that help to loosen hardened fecal matter in the colon and then allow it to pass out of the body. Some of the herbs we use are somewhat like jack hammers in how they work . They break up material. Some of the other herbs that are used, can be thought of as being more like bulldozers. Once the material has been loosened from the jackhammer, the bulldozer herbs move through and push it out, allowing us to pass it out of the body. At this stage of this program, sometimes colonics are very useful. For those of you who have never heard of this before, a colonic is a procedure where a certified technician has you lie down on a table and then he inserts a disposable plastic tub into the rectum. The tub that he inserts into your rectum is connected to an apparatus or machinery that allows water to be gradually pumped into the colon and at the same time pumps water that has entered the colon out. This creates a flushing action. It is very safe and very gentle, you can think of it as one big continuous enema. The goal of a colonic is never to balloon or overfill your colon causing it to burst. On the complete other hand, the colonic allows water to gently enter the colon hoping to loosen old fecal matter which is dried and has become stuck in different areas and allows it to be flushed out.

The next step of the constipation program is to help clear the gallbladder and liver of any stones that they may have and bring them up to a more full operating capacity. This is essential for proper bowel movements. After this is done, we concentrate on getting friendly bacteria to regrow in the intestinal tract and large bowel. We use very special laboratory tested strains of human bacteria and other substances that help them to grow back in the colon and large intestine. Therefore, allowing the large intestine and colon to have the proper environment again. This is a healthy environment, conducive to good digestion and proper bowel movements.

It seems that in most people who are chemically sensitive or allergic to anything, the very first flaw in their system is in the intestinal tract. The intestinal tract lacking this protective coating, or worse yet, having intestinal permeability (which is also called “leaky gut syndrome”) are the underlying flaws in most people who are allergic. When someone lacks this protective coating in their intestinal tract, foods, chemicals, and microorganisms such as parasites, bacteria, yeast and viruses can then begin irritating the lining of the intestinal tract. What will happen next is that the immune system will start reacting at the line of the intestinal tract in order to fight back. This creates inflammation, swelling, and further irritation of the intestinal lining. This, in itself, besides causing intestinal pain, intestinal cramps and irritation, will begin allergic reactions throughout the body. It seems that these allergic reactions, begun in the intestinal tract, trigger skin reactions such as itching, hives, rashes, etc. As this continues for a length of time, the next step is that the intestinal lining becomes further degraded and starts to actually develop barriers that are leaky. The normal villi in the intestinal tract, which are hair-like structures that help absorb vitamins, minerals, and different nutrients from your food, become damaged. These tiny hairs are not able to absorb the nutrients from your food that are passing through your intestines and then send them into your bloodstream so your cells, glands and organs can use them.

Instead, holes or leaky patches develop at different points of the intestinal tract where large particles of foods, pollens, chemicals, microorganisms, whatever, then fall between the cracks and into your bloodstream. It is only the presence of these larger holes or leaks that allow these substances that would have never normally gotten into your bloodstream, to enter. Being in your bloodstream, they now create havoc. Bad reactions, allergies, environmental allergies are soon to follow. This is how the person then becomes an “allergic to everything” type of person.

One of the major differences discovered in someone who is HIV positive as opposed to someone who has full-blown AIDS is the person with full-blown AIDS has developed this leaky gut syndrome. Naturally, due to that, he is much more susceptible to contracting other infections and other problems. The person who is merely HIV positive, who doesn’t have this leaky gut syndrome, has more protection as his intestinal tract is not allowing these things to pass through. It would be correct to say that most likely all people suffering from any type of skin rash or sensitivity have, to some degree, this syndrome of leaky gut, or a weakened protective lining of the intestinal tract.

The good news is that this situation can be remedied. Using some of the substances I mentioned earlier, the plant substances which are called mucins, to rebuild the friendly protective coating of the intestinal tract, and then using other specific nutrients which have been found to be able to rebuild the actual lining of the intestinal tract itself and strengthen it so as to repair the leaky patches, this problem can be resolved in a matter of a few months.

The first step in handling this problem would be to ascertain exactly what’s happening in the person’s digestive system. A new test has been developed which enables a practitioner to determine the total amount of friendly and harmful bacteria, the amounts of yeast and parasites in one’s intestines, whether or not one is missing the substances in the intestines which protects the lining of the intestines, and whether or not the intestinal tract has become leaky. This test also would scan the digestive system and absorption system, to see if one is digesting and absorbing everything correctly from their food. It also tells a great deal about how well the immune system is functioning in the intestinal tract. This is the ideally suited test to determine exactly what’s needed on someone suffering from this syndrome.

After the testing, the first step would be to put the person on a program to clear out any harmful bacteria or harmful microorganisms that are living in the intestines. Once they’re eliminated, we then can begin building up the friendly bacteria in the system, and then we can begin repairing the intestinal tract.

In some cases, even though harmful organisms are present in the intestines and would continue to break down the intestinal tract, causing the same problem all over again, it is necessary to strengthen and heal the intestinal tract a bit before one even begins to clear away these harmful organisms. This is true in cases where people are so chemically sensitive or so allergic that they can no longer even tolerate taking the natural substances which might be able to clear away the harmful bacteria or microorganisms from their system. If this is the case, the person would first need a round or so of these substances to strengthen his intestinal tract so that he would be able to tolerate the substances that remove the harmful bacteria or harmful parasites.

Once this is accomplished the person would naturally, then be able to tolerate friendly bacteria. So, for those who are very, very sensitive, they have to actually begin the entire program by correcting as best as we can the weakness of the intestinal lining that causes the bad reaction before beginning the program to totally and completely correct the problem.

This is permissible because after the person has cleared away the bad microorganisms and then started to establish friendly bacteria, he can then go back on the substances that then heal the intestinal tract for a longer period of time, so as to obtain a complete and thorough regeneration of the area.

We are having fantastic successes and in some cases almost miraculous results in our own practice. We hope this information benefits you.