Staying Regular

If you're considering Miralax, Metamucil, or Senna tea, there are gentler ways to have things move along regularly. Here are some ways to try moving things along:

Sleep - Things move too slow or too fast when I don’t sleep enough, or when I’m too busy to relax. Hard to solve sometimes, but good to recognize.

Water - always the first recommendation, but have you ever felt like the water is going right through you? I drink lots of water but it seems to stick better with carbs and salt.

Honey and hot water on an empty stomach - Especially first thing in the morning. Give it about 20 minutes to do its thing. It’s rather too sweet but gets the job done,

Sugar - if your kids have ever had diarrhea after Halloween, you’ve seen the effect of poor fructose absorption, which pulls in water to the colon.

“Fake” sugars like xylitol and sorbitol (sugar alcohols) are infamous for loosening the bowels. If you want some entertainment, check out the amazon reviews for “sugar free gummy bears” . ; ) You will be entertained.

Fruit - Pears and prunes have sorbitol (see above) in addition to their fiber, and pears have an intestinal stimulant called a sennoside. Figs contain their own kind of fiber called ficin. Apples and orange pith contain pectin, which is soluble and fermentable, and helps with gut bacteria in general.

At our house, we refer to apricots as “colon cleanse” - A neighbor friend of ours once ate a whole pound of dried apricots on the drive home, and was chatting with us when he got a panicked look and excused himself. He barely made in time. Maybe apricots could sub for that colonoscopy prep drink?

Fiber - both soluble and insoluble are important to gut flora and regularity. Beans, peas, lentils, chia, flax, and psyllium all contain mix of soluble and insoluble. If you’ve ever cooked these you know how much water they can absorb!

Coffee - If you enjoy it in the morning anyway, and it seems to me that collagen and heavy cream add to the moving power.

Aloe Vera Juice - comes in both sweetened and unsweetened forms, depending on your level of commitment. The sweetened form is a lot tastier.

Finally, if staying regular is a recurring problem, look a little deeper into your health to check for thyroid or other irregularities.