Why Miralax Isn't The Answer To Better Poo

Let's talk about poo. It's such a fun topic, one that we don't often talk about.

There's all kinds of things that happen with poo, and that we can learn about it, but we don't talk about it.

It's a conversation around my desk all the time. So I want to bring up something that I want to make sure that you do not miss.

If you are having any trouble with your bowel, sometimes we just tend to write it off, thinking it will solve itself. But I don't want you to miss something very important

So constipation is not an uncommon problem. And it's normal to have constipation from time to time, depending on stressors in your life, your water intake, the types of foods that you're eating.

But if you are feeling consistently, a difficulty going to the bathroom, especially if you're feeling like, I feel like I have to go, there's pressure there, it feels like it should just come out, but it doesn't happen. Or if it does, they're straining, or they look like tiny little hard balls.

If you are having that kind of trouble with your bowels, don't be scared. Let's just take a look at what we can do.

If that is what your experience is like, it's most likely that you have inflammation in the colon.

And it's hard for the contractions of the colon walls to help the stool ease out.

This could mean that there's some nervous system disconnection that the nerves are not getting messages to the lining of the colon so that it can create what's called peristalsis.

It's that squeezing that helps to move and stimulate bowel movements and get them going. And that can be from a number of reasons if there are nervous system disruptions.

There's definitely some vagus nerve considerations to be had. And there may be things like plaquing and biofilm on the intestinal walls that make it really hard for the messages to get across.

If you are having that feeling but you're not going, it's likely that there is inflammation in the colon.

Inflammation will definitely deaden and desensitize some of those nerve signals.

Then what happens is the stool stays in the colon longer.

We have the opportune time then for Candida growth, yeast growth, and for bacteria to live, harm, and form communities there, along with plaque and biofilm. All of this starts to create a very unhealthy environment, an unhealthy ecosystem on the inside walls of your colon.

These kinds of unhealthy ecosystems, they're not just protected from by the rest of your body.

It can lead to ulceration, and if there's those little bacteria, Candida, and the inability to have free movement and oxygenation, and you've got this ulceration happening, you might see mucus, you might see blood. But what's happening is that ulceration is getting through to the blood system, which means the toxins from that Candida, yeast, fungus, and bacteria, along with the off-gassing of all of those, can get into the bloodstream.

And that can be some of the other symptoms that you're feeling, such as eczema, psoriasis, dry skin, dark circles under the eyes, chronic fatigue, aches, and pains. So there can be a lot of symptoms that are downstream from this unhealthy colon.

So what do we do about it? Again, don't be scared about it.

Don't listen to these words, don't Google on on, you know, don't play Dr. Google and get scared about these things.

Our job is to bring awareness to these because Constipation is a common concern.

These kinds of bowel habits, they're a sign, they're a signal. They're part of your dashboard. So we want to address them.

Some of the simple things that you can do right away at home, is to analyze your nutrition intake.

You can do that in a number of ways. If you have not learned how to do our food functions method, learn how to do food functions and make sure that you're not getting too much of the congestion function. Just write down what you're eating, highlight those foods that are fiber-rich, especially if they're beans, lentils, or fruits and vegetables. So highlight those foods that are high in fiber. If you don't know what high-fiber foods are, just Google 'high-fiber foods' and see how often you're eating them.

Examine how much you're drinking every day. We want to have half your body weight in ounces ideally, but water isn't the only thing. Sometimes we need some electrolyte input. So something like coconut water might be helpful.

People mistakenly think that juice is going to help a bowel movement. If you've got that negative kind of ecosystem building in the colon, the sugar from the juice is just going to feed it. It's also void of fiber. So that is not necessarily what we want to do.

Prune juice is a great option. Eating the prunes is even better. Eating the prunes gives you the fiber. We want it to go through the digestive system, we want the fiber to be intact. We don't want to feed it with excessive sugars coming from juices.

You can look at our resources for really safe and gentle coffee enemas. You can look at your exercise intake. If these types of things—fiber, hydration, gentle colon cleansing, or exercise—are not moving you along, it would be a good idea to take a look at the foods that you typically eat.

Pay attention to how you feel afterwards. You might want to create a food log, so you write down what you ate and then write down how you feel afterwards.

Were you tired afterwards?

Did you feel cranky afterwards?

Did you feel headachy?

Did your belly hurt?

Did you have to go to the bathroom right away?

Did you feel more swollen?

Did you have achy joints or sore fingers?

Write down how you're feeling after your foods and see if you can come up with a similarity if something happened every time that you eat a certain food.

Here's the reason why. People assume that if they have a food intolerance, sensitivity, or allergy, they're going to notice it with bowel symptoms like diarrhea or loose stool. That does not have to be the way that it happens.

You could have moodiness, you could have feelings of depression after you eat something. You could have itching skin. There are many things that could be letting you know that a food has not been well tolerated in your body.

We can definitely help you with intolerances.

So if you are in our area and you want to do some intolerance, testing, we can definitely help you get set up with that.

So, in summary, I would say use the tools that your body is giving you. If normal function is not happening, your body is giving you a signal. Just like you wouldn't ignore the gas light on the dashboard of your car, this is the same thing. This is a signal. We don't want to just write this off as 'Oh, I'm constipated’.

And so, I'm going to just let it resolve itself on its own, or I'm gonna go take some MiraLAX or Metamucil, or even a natural supplement like cascara sagrada. Those things are helpful in the short term, so that you can get the stool out.

However, we don't want to do that in the long term.

Because here's the danger that I see.

We're missing the fact that there's inflammation that is present.

Just because the the Metamucil or the MiraLAX, or the castcara helps you to have a bowel movement doesn't mean the inflammation is gone.

If it stopped bowel movements in the first place, there is a signal telling you that something is not functioning correctly, and the inflammation is still there. Now you're just using a forceful product to get the stool out. So we still want to identify and address what that inflammation is.

We don't want inflammation to stay in the colon.

So use that as a dashboard and not just use the idea of ‘Oh, I'm having bowel movements when I forced them out. So I must be good’.

Take a look at the reasons why. If you need help with that, use the link below or go find us on the online at anmcholistichealth.com.

If you want to learn more to our functional nourishment intensive training, click here:

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