Constipation is not a load of crap – herbal teas can help.

Eating healthy foods and drinking herbal teas is becoming a healthy pathway to feeling vibrant, energised and enjoying life.

To achieve this, we all know that good proteins, fruit and vegetables and good hydration equal a  balanced diet.

But what about bowel movements and regularity? What is normal? How should it look? And how do herbal teas help with this condition?

The following description might be gross but the point is that herbal remedies can be very useful in making sure you are regular and maintain good health.

Perfect health

Perfect health requires 2 bowel movements a day, formed and not hard to move and there should be very little faeces on the anus. Wiping should merely be a precaution. The stool should be 10cm to 14 cm long and 3 cm wide. It should sink to the bottom of the pan, be brown in color and have very little smell.

Whew! Now that the stool description is out of the way, let’s talk about making the bowel function properly.

Very few people have a bowel movement like the one I described. Most people believe that one movement every 2-3 days is okay, because it is regular. However, that is a long way from the truth.

Basic principles

There are 5 basic principles that need to function well in order to maintain optimal health.

1. Ingestion: of the right foods, which is 25% protein (meat, fish & eggs) and 75% complex carbohydrates (vegetables & fruit).
2. Digestion: which requires adequate supplies of hydrochloric acid (HCL) and enzymes in the stomach to break down the food.
3. Absorption: there must be adequate bile secretion from the liver and bicarbonates/enzymes secreted from the pancreas. These are mixed with foods that have been broken down in the stomach and moved through the small intestine. The small intestine lining needs to be in good health to allow absorption to occur.
4. Circulation: All nutrients that you have absorbed are carried around the body and delivered to the cells.
5. Elimination: the removal of waste from the body also means good kidney function. Good water consumption is vital for kidney filtration and bowel movements. Herbs teas can help with elimination. In the CONSTIPATION tea, the herbs that can help with elimination are Senna leaves, which is a laxative and will prompt the bowel to work. Also Peppermint, Chamomile and Fennel which are digestive herbs to help with absorption of nutrients and with elimination.

How do we get constipated?

When a persons diet consists mostly of refined carbohydrates (refined sugars, wheat & processed white rice) and fats (red meat, pork, dairy & margarine used in cakes and sweets) and are not broken down properly, they are not absorbed as they move through the large intestine (large bowel). These carbohydrates and fats bind together, forming a fatty, soap-like material that is sticky and compacts on the lining of the bowel. This slows the passage of movement, making it hard to eliminate. That’s constipation!