5 year old boy with chronic constipation

A couple of weeks ago, a grandmother came in to see me about her grandson. She said that her grandson, who is five years old, is having a bowel movement only once a week. I asked my usual questions regarding medications and the like which she told me the boy was on no medications. I thought to myself that this is getting interesting. She went on to tell me that the boys parents do not supervise what he eats. The boy eats mostly cheese. BINGO!! She went on to tell me that this boy will eat only the cheese off of a frozen pizza and throw the rest of it away. Before I tell you what I suggested to this distraught grandma, I must say this: SOMEONE HAS TO BE THE PARENT!!!. My suggestion to this grandma was to do a vitamin c flush. It is non toxic and works in only a few hours. Okay, now that I have got that off my chest, lets talk about ways of combating constipation.

Constipation is usually cause by one of a few things. It can be caused by an improper diet. It can be caused by poor digestion. It can be caused medication. I will briefly go over each of these and then talk about how you can reduce the episodes of constipation.

An improper diet can be anything that your body has a hard time digesting. As per the example above, cheese is very constipating. So are breads, milk, bananas and red meats. There is no way to help your body deal with these foods, so it is best to avoid eating these foods as much as possible. Poor digestion affects almost everyone as they age. I know because my digestion has become more problematic after I turned 40. I now need to use digestive enzymes to help my body deal with some of the foods I eat, like proteins. Many people suffer from a condition called hypoacidity or low stomach acid. This is the major cause of acid reflux not excessive stomach acid. Medications are another item that can cause constipation. I talked to people almost everyday that have medication induced constipation. The medications that are mostly to blame for constipation are blood pressure and pain drugs. If you need to take any of these types of drugs then you most likely are going to have chronic constipation.

There are many remedies for constipation. The best remedy is to stop whatever you are doing that is causing the constipation in the first place. However if your digestion is poor or you are on medications, then you need to have some form of natural therapy. If you have low stomach acid, then a digestive enzyme that increases the acidity of your stomach may help. I personally use papaya tablets from American Health. Papaya tablets contain an enzyme called papain which helps to digest proteins fats and carbohydrates . There are many other enzymes including pancreatin, bromelain and betaine HCI. Each one is useful so you have to find out which is right for you. Medication induce constipation is an entirely different problem. In many instances, the medication slows down or stops the natural involuntary process where the muscles surrounding the intestines squeeze thereby moving the food and waste products along the intestinal track. The only way to help this condition is to take laxatives or other products that can restart the muscle movement along the intestinal track. Some people drink mineral oil, others use OTC remedies like Exlax. Some herbal remedies include Senna, Aloe and Cascara Sagrada. Each remedy has its place and you need to determine which one is right for you.

Thanks for spending a part of you day here with me,

James

ph balance: Fact and Fiction

Saturday one of my regular customers came in for his monthly supplies. We talked at lenght about his cancer that is currently in remission. Over the course of our conversation, he raised the subject of the acid and alkaline balance in his body. He asked me if having an acidic body can cause cancer. I said that having an acid ph level is a symptom of a deeper problem that over time may lead to the damaging of certain genes that then would manifest itself as cancer.

The level of acidity or alkalinity is a reflection of what you are eating more than it is a reflection of the state of your over all health. Your ph can change throughout the day depending on what you had for any meal that day. I like to think of the ph balance as an early warning system. ph can be used the same way you can use finger nails, hair growth, gums, and skin palor to tell us that something is not working correctly. Many times outward signs like lines in the finger nails or pale gums appear days or months before any clinical signs of disease may present itself. ph is the same way. So what does any of this have to do with cancer? I am glad you asked.

Cancer is a disease that takes time. It takes time to start. It takes alot of time to develop. In fact the tumor that represents cancer is the end of the disease process not the beginning. Cancer cannot start if the immune system is working properly. To work properly, we must feed our body all the neccessary foods that contain all the vitmains and minerals it needs to maintain itself. The problems start to occur when we eat junk foods in place of real foods. Most of the junk foods we like are high in refined carbs like high fructose corn syrup. Small amounts of even these foods may not cause many problems if they are limited in the diet. If junk food becomes the diet, that is when the ph starts to become more acidic. The more refined carbs you eat the more acidic the body becomes. The more refined carbs you eat the less real food you eat robbing the body of the nutrients it needs. The less nutrients the body has to use, the more DNA damage may occur. The more DNA damage that occurs, the more likely it is for cancer to form in the body. Do you see where this is going? The acid/alkaline balance is another tool that you can use to monitor the status of your body.

Thanks for spending part of your day here with me,

James