Remedy Your Constipation
By AvoidingThis Bedtime Snack
Now if you believe the TV commercials, the best bedtime snack for you is a bagel or a bowl of cereal (maybe with some sugar sprinkled on top).
They claim that the carbohydrates make you drowsy and the milk acts as a natural sedative.
Baloney!
Well almost... Yes, the starch will make you drowsy (but the real goal is to sleep DEEPLY). Milk can work as a natural sedative IF you warm it – most people eat cold cereal (a constipating combination right there).
Seriously, I can think of little benefit to women slicin' n' toastin' a bagel at 9pm at night, coating it with butter and putting it in their mouth.
It may make you feel sleepy but it will probably cause your blood sugar levels to suddenly rise and then crash around 2am disturbing your sleep.
Plus, putting a bagel in your stomach before bed means it's either...
1) Going to stop you from getting into a deep sleep because your digestive tract needs to work on breaking it down for the next two hours or...
2) You go into a deep sleep and leave this half-digested bagel in your intestines, fermenting. No wonder you don't feel like breakfast the next morning.
Hey, maybe that's why Cornflakes® started promoting their cereal as the "perfect bedtime snack." Everybody was falling for the bagel strategy and then waking up with no appetite for cereal.
Having a Starch Before Bed is Going to Make You FAT
You're body is burning almost no calories during your sleep. A typical bagel with butter is loaded with TWENTY PERCENT of a typical woman's daily calorie needs. That bagel is going to turn into pure sugar around midnight. Two things happen then...
1. That sugar rush will wake you up or cause you to toss and turn or...
2. That sugar will be turned into fat and then stored on your hips and belly.
You'll wake up with more fat than when you went to sleep.
Despite what the media would like you to believe, every Naturopathic Doctor can confirm for you that the main thing making North Americans overweight is starch and sugar. It's not oils, butter or meat. Of course, even an excess amount of fat calories will cause weight gain.
But sugar and refined starch are the real culprits. Quite simply, they breakdown into sugar and absorb into the blood stream way too fast.
So what to eat as a bedtime snack?
Nothing.
By that I mean, for one to two hours before you go to bed, don't eat, drink or take in anything but oxygen.
If you're eating properly during the day, you shouldn't require a snack so close to bedtime. Your body is shutting down. Your digestive tract is closed for the day. If you throw food into it, it's only going to get half digested and become food for bacteria in your gut.
Keeping the harmful bacteria at bay and healthy bacteria in the forefront is one of the best ways to relieve constipation.
This is what happens:
You eat a bagel.
You go to sleep.
Your stomach and intestines are naturally trying to shut down.
That bagel, more or less sits there.
Bacteria – both good and bad – do not need sleep. They come out for the party.
You've just left a major chunk of food. They'll swarm all over it, consuming as much as they can. They'll start reproducing like mad in the process.
And just like us, as they consume so they excrete. And what they excrete are toxins and gas that damage the lining of your colon. The gas compounds the bloated feeling of constipation and makes it difficult for stools to pass.
Reality is...
You Need to Make Sure Your Stomach is EMPTY When You Take To The Covers
If you absolutely must eat something, have a piece of fruit. Fruit is a decent choice because the fiber in fruit prevents it from spiking your blood sugar too quickly.
But again, you shouldn't really need to be munching on food before bed. If you find you feel you need to, you should determine whether it's more an emotional need than a physical one.
If so, then try replacing food with other, more satisfying emotional comforts. Here are a few examples:
1. A walk around the block.
2. Reading a book, poetry or scripture.
3. Listening to an audio book.
4. Listening to light music.
5. Playing an instrument.
6. Meditation/Prayer.
7. Cuddling with your husband or partner.
I don't recommend the TV (or computers) before bed. The light from TV stops the natural flow of melatonin, the hormone which triggers sleep.
The other reason you may be getting hungry at night is because you are staying up too late. You need to aim to be asleep by 9 - 10pm. This is when the sun sets near the equator and is the most natural time for human beings to end their day.
After 10pm your brain starts kicking in with new hormones that wake you up, making you hungry and active.
I recommend you have dinner finished by 6pm. Then you can have a light snack at 8pm if you feel like it. A piece of fruit and some almond butter is an ideal combination. It digests easily and will keep your blood sugar regulated during the night.
Another reason you may be feeling the need for a bedtime snack is because your diet is out of whack. Most men and women are eating far too much processed foods. They also don't eat enough fruits and vegetables which are loaded with minerals and vitamins that truly nourish you (versus just keeping you going).
In fact, most people in our developed country are lacking vital nutrients in their diet. They are literally starving themselves while eating. No wonder their body keeps on demanding more and more food. It's not so much asking for quantity but quality.
Likewise, as I've already mentioned, proper absorption of food by chewing is essential to feeling fully nourished (and also for avoiding constipation).
Through my concise resource, 37 Constipation Relief Strategies, I'll show you...
- Stones in Your Gut: Find out what healthy foods, when eaten and prepared the WRONG WAY, dry up your stool and move through like a stone... revealed on page 9.
- Reinforcements:Often hunger cravings are caused by too many unfriendly bacteria that live inside your colon. Find out how to effortlessly make a special drink, overnight, that will be swarming with billions of FRIENDLY bacteria. These friendly guys will go to war with the unfriendly bacteria inside you, so that your appetite can return to a healthy norm.
It's well known that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I agree. If you do breakfast right, it's usually easy enough to keep the rest of the day in line with your health goals. So I devoted all of Strategy #28 to ensure you start your day off with a Non-Constipating Breakfast Routine...
- The Best Time to Get up in the Morning: This tip comes from two of the world's oldest traditions, Chinese and Ayurvedic Medicine. It allows you to avoid RE-ASSIMILATING constipating toxins that your body has been purging during the night.
- Don't Make These Two Breakfast Blunders: Find out what you're doing at breakfast that may be throwing your tummy off for the rest of the day.
- Cereal AGAIN!? Don't restrict yourself to what the TV commercials say you should eat! If you're eating the same thing every morning, you need to read this section.
All this and much more is packed into 43 pages of 37 Constipation Relief Strategies for Women.
Yours in Natural Health,
Dr. Karlo Mauro, BSc, BA, MSEd, ND
Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine
Constipation Relief Strategies For Women
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| What's the best bedtime snack in order to avoid constipation in the morning? The answer may surprise you, but it'll also help you stay slim. Find out how to burn more fat, have regular bowel movements and sleep deeply... | |
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No way! Starch might make you drowsy but it really doesn't help you sleep deeply... |
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After reading this article, it'll make perfect sense why the "best bedtime snacks" promoted by TV commercials are really toxic when consumed before sleep. |
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Ever feel like you can't sleep deeply because your bowels are restless? If so, you need to read this article... |
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And much more on the left... |
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Over the last 12 years Dr. Karlo Mauro has helped thousands of patients with their gastro-intestinal issues. He works out of his clinic near Windsor, Ontario on the border to Detroit. For more information on his naturopathic practice, go to www.theNaturopath.ca.
In 1992 Dr. Mauro began training in the martial art of Aikido Yoshinkai. In 2003, he earned a 3rd degree black belt. It was Aikido that originally opened his eyes to living a more natural lifestyle -- staying more balanced physically and mentally.
In 1995, he began receiving help from a Naturopathic Doctor for some digestive trouble he was experiencing. This first introduction to natural medicine resulted in him meeting other Naturopathic Doctors and finally making a life-changing decision.
Despite the fact he had just completed 6 years of university, including a Masters degree in Education, Dr. Mauro abandoned his teaching career, entered Naturopathic College, emerging four years later an ND.
Dr. Mauro lives in Windsor, Ontario with his wife Natalia, son Alek and daughter Ella. When he's not at the clinic, he's either watching Alek play golf, watching Ella in gymnastics class or coaching Alek's soccer team.Though he's helped patients with a wide variety of disorders, he's found the most success helping people with gut trouble. "I like the fact it's so easy to see an improvement," he says. "If you're constipated, only going once a week, and you start going everyday, you KNOW you're getting better."
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Eva V., a 52 year old
woman drove 3 hours (one way) to come to
my clinic to tell me her story. She had bowel troubles since she was a child...
Many fertility specialists have seen a definite link between constipation and the inability to conceive or carry a baby to full-term. It makes perfect sense... "If your colon is overloaded with toxins," explains Dr. Mauro, "those toxins will back up into your liver and then into your bloodstream. It's less than ideal circumstances for balancing hormones and bearing a healthy child." Though Dr. Mauro makes no guarantees that having one bowel movement a day will ensure fertility, it should nonetheless help make getting pregnant much easier. You should consider regularity a natural component of any fertility program. |
Dr. Mauro's credentials and experience back up his expertise. He has successfully completed TEN years of university studies...
Doctor, Counsellor, Sensei, Teacher and Coach all in one! You can visit his clinic's website or phone his clinic at (519) 739-2402. Yes, Dr. Karlo Mauro is the real deal! |
Sometimes, even if you are going once a day, it's difficult because your stools are too hard and dry.
Ideally you want your stools to be about the consistency of a ripe banana. Anything looser or thinner is undesirable.
One of the problems with laxatives is that they don't produce this banana-like quality. Instead they bring on diarrhea. Diarrhea is dehydrating and depleting of valuable nutrients (such as potassium and sodium).
Dr. Mauro's 7-part email series and his collection of 37 Constipation Relief Strategies for Women help produce this ideal consistency because they help you retrain your bowels to work properly. When your colon is in good health, it will naturally make sure your stools are neither too dry nor too hard.
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Are you confused about how much you should be eating? Do you feel like you're already full after your first bite of food?
It's no wonder," says Dr. Mauro, "that so many women suffer eating disorders. If you're not evacuating, it's hard to make room for more food. If waste can't find its way down and out, it's going to make your stomach bulge outward and upward.
In fact, your colon can expand three times its regular size (along with your stomach). The secret to a normal appetite is making sure you are emptying your bowels every 24 hours."
You should have no problem achieving one or two bowel movements a day, if you make the simple changes outlined in 37 Constipation Relief Strategies for Women. This should happen in less than 30 days of using these strategies.
Some medical doctors will prescribe birth control drugs to help with constipation. They believe this will help balance the hormones. Like most synthetic hormones, birth control pills come with complications.
Many women experience breakthrough bleeding, decreased appetite, depression, headaches, low libido, urinary tract infection, skin problems, gum inflammation. They also have an increased risk of contracting viral diseases.
Considering all the risks, is this really a good way to "balance your hormones?" Especially when natural methods may produce far superior (and economical) results...
Oftentimes hormonal imbalance is caused by a high consumption of white flour and sugary foods. These same foods turn into a glue-like substance that further clogs up your bowels.
By following the natural remedies and lifestyle changes in 37 Constipation Relief Strategies for Women, you'll be helping to bring your hormones into balance, naturally. Likewise, getting your bowels moving will stop toxins from backing up into your bloodstream, which will further knock your hormones out of whack.
"Many medical experts today agree that most illness begins in the colon and that the colon may be the single most critical organ in the body. As the colon becomes a stagnant cesspool, failing to move the poisons from food waste out of the body on a regular basis, the toxins back up.
"It is estimated that there are 36 different poisons that come from the colon, and as these accumulate in the bowel over a period of weeks, months or often years, they spread into your liver, gallbladder and other organs; into your blood; into your tissues and finally into your cells."
-- Women's Menopause Health Newsletter, October 2007
"A lot of elderly people are taking senna," explains Dr. Mauro. "It's an herb that causes your colon to flush itself out. Many people must drink it as a tea everyday in order to keep on going. The nerves and muscles in their colon are totally zapped and dependent on the stuff. It's a nightmare trying to get them off it."
Senna is one of the few herbs medical doctors prescribe. Unfortunately, it's harmful to use on a daily basis. Once a week as part of a colon cleanse is okay, but more frequently is impairing.
The effects of senna can be fairly drastic," explains Dr. Mauro. "They tend to flush out too much of the healthy bacteria. It's like having diarrhea. It's dehydrating and depleting of your electrolytes (potassium and sodium)."
I don't know about you but I don't want to be dependent on an herb to make me go. Worse still, you have little control over your bowel movements. You go when the herb is ready to make you go. There's not much warning.
That's fine if you're 80 and don't leave home. That's not great when you're on your way to soccer practice to pick up the kids.
Senna is also dangerous for people with high blood pressure, kidney problems or edema.
Healing and strengthening your colon so it can function on its own, as described in 37 Constipation Relief Strategies For Women, is the way to go.
Over 4 million Americans, each year, are affected by constipation, according to the The National Institute of Health. That works out to about 2.5 million doctor visits and $725 million in over-the-counter laxatives. The majority of those visits and purchases are by women.
As you can see, there's a lot of money in keeping people constipated and reliant on laxatives. No wonder Dr. Mauro's 37 Constipation Relief Strategies are not more well known.
Digestive disorders account for the largest amount of lost time from work; they are the number one cause of disability absence; they comprise one-sixth of all hospital admissions. It is acknowledged by conventional medicine that at least 40 percent of all cancers originate in the gastrointestinal tract. Many alternative practitioners would say the number is much higher."
— Women's Menopause Health Center Newsletter , October 2007
"And yet, as the old expression goes, death begins in the colon. Don't believe it? Ask any coroner. Autopsies often reveal colons that are plugged up to 80 percent with waste material."
— Martin Zucker,
Vegetarian Times,
March, 1998
"[Toxic waste that built up in the colon turns into] a sinister world of monstrous creatures that feed on living flesh: parasites..."
"In fact, parasites have killed more humans than all the wars in history."
Find out how to kick parasites out of your colon in Strategy 33, on page 35, of 37 Constipation Relief Strategies For Women.
Investigators in the United Kingdom conducted a study on 34 women with chronic constipation. The investigators found a direct demonstrable link between certain aspects of central brain activity -- anxiety, depression, feeling 'unfeminine' -- and gut dysfunction. —Gut, August 2001 |
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