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COLLECTIVE
WIZDOM.COM
Real People (Sometimes Real
Names) Share Real Health
and Life Stories
WIZDOM.COM
Real People (Sometimes Real
Names) Share Real Health
and Life Stories
| THE BEST MEDICINEf- LAUGH! FIRST DOSE There are always two ways to look at everything, I guess. My wife and I were sitting at a table at my high school reunion last October, and I kept staring at a drunken lady swigging her drink as she sat alone at a nearby table. My wife noticed me staring and asked me, "Do you know her?". "Yes", I sighed, "She's my old girlfriend. I understand she took to drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I hear she hasn't been sober since." "My God!" says my wife, "Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?" Got a Joke? E-mail it to us: frontpage@collectivewizdom .com |
| THE BEST MEDICINE- LAUGH! SECOND DOSE Last night, my friend and I were sitting in the living room and I said to her, "I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug." She got up, unplugged the TV, and threw out my wine |
DIET AND FITNESS:
Why Americans Read in Bathrooms--The Hidden Constipation
Epidemic
February 21, 2008
By Susan M. Callahan, Associate Editor and Featured Columnist
Go to any typcial American home and peer into the bathroom.
You will find one item not found in the bathrooms of any other
people on earth. Reading material.
We read in bathrooms. Magazines, newspapers, even books.
Our reading collections are so extensive that they have become
"Bathroom Libraries". Why? Why do Americans find it
pleasurable or necessary to read in our bathrooms.
The reason is simple. We're in there a long time. A long, long,
time. So, to find out why we read, we have to look at the
underlying reason we need to spend so much time in there.
It turns out that Americans --many of us, maybe most of
us--are constipated.
Constipation, defined as the need to strain when voiding our
bowels often accompanied by "depositing" small, hard marbles,
is an American affliction.
Constipation can lead to hemorrhoids, anal tears and fissures,
and damage to the muscles and supportive tissues of your anus.
You know that bowels movements are great indicators of your
overall health. But do you know the 3 keys to healthy bowels?
Most people who have trouble with their bowels--complaining
fo constipation --do not know what normal bowel function
feels like. Many have been constipated since childhood.
How can this be? The typical American diet, it turns out, almost
guarantees that we will become constipated.
To have normal bowel movements --defined as one or two
voidings a day, with a soft, smooth-formed bolus (poop) -- you
need 3 things.
1. Water
2. Fiber
3. Oil
You need water so that the "deposit" can form properly in the
small intestines. All of us at one point or another have
deposited hard, marbles. This is not normal. Nor is it healthy if
it continues. The small intestines are a factory in which our
food is broken down and nutrients are extracted and absorbed
into the blood stream. To do its job, the small intestines work
the food over and over as it travels the long, 20-26 foot
journey down the intestines.
The small intestines "work" the food by adding water to it to
soften it up, then hormones are added to break iyt down more,
then lubricants from the small intestines are added.
The reason we need fiber is that fiber acts like a sponge. Fiber
soaks up the water we have drank forming little gel beads that
can hold many, many times more water than each gel size. It
sort of multiplies the effect of drinking water. When we've
eaten enough fiber, and thus have enough fiber gel beads in
our small intestines, the small intestines can complete their
work very easily.
The final ingredient we need is oil. And the best single source
of oil is mineral oil --if you are constipated. We need oil
because the small intestines use the oil to form the deposit and
keep it smooth as it makes it way down the 26 foot tunnel.
Without the oil, without the water, the deposit gets hard and
marble-sized or it sticks to the walls. The result is that we have
to strain to push them out. That's constipation.
Many Americans are constipated and don't know it. They carry
a magazine in the bathroom to read because they know they
will be there a long time straining.
This is not the way the body was designed to work. Remedy?
Food
Eat plenty of fiber rich food. The typical starchy American diet
only has about 5 grams of fiber each day. We need 25-30
grams each day.
Water
Drink your 8 tall 8 ounce glasses each day. I know a lot of
sources say that any kind of fluid will do-- coffee,tea, sodas
--but my personal experience is that nothing works better than
good, clean water.
Oil
Eat the right kinds of oil, in moderation. I once went on a very
low oil diet and ended up constipated. Use olive oil (it helps
your body in other ways too). Every now and then, take a bit
of mineral oil. I can still remember my wonderful Mom giving us
doses of the stuff. We use to run from her. But the old ways
turn out to often be the best ways, right?
Here is a list of fiber-rich foods for your reference.
by The JavaScript Source
