Anyone who has ever been in hospital, will remember the strange question "Have you had your bowels open today?"      What business is it! - such an intimate topic - to anyone else but me?  In ancient times - when we were children - there were such things as a Saturday dose of  caster oil.   My mother, a nurse, was a bit more enlightened and we got milk of  magnesia!  People seemed to have an obsession with "being regular".   Dad used "Ford Pills".   If we kids were lucky we might get "laxettes" (a chocolate aperient).   More recent research confirms that yes, the longer faeces remain in the gut, more water is reabsorbed making it harder to move it along.   With stagnation, more toxins are produced by the bacteria in the gut and these can find their way into the body, causing more problems.  So there was some wisdom in "being regular."

As a nurse, learning how to read "poop" was part of our basic training.  Many diseases and other problems were portrayed in "the pot" and a nurse's duty was the inspection of a used bedpan.  Many polio patients well remember the embarrassment of either constipation and/or diarrhoea that accompanied acute polio.  Now we may be having problems with our nether ends again.

My husband had problems breathing if he didn't empty his bowels two or three times a day.  With weak intercostal muscles from polio, he needed abdominal space for diaphragmatic breathing.  He had a regime of apples and raw cabbage at certain times of the day to make him "go".

In hospital we used to use a variety of aperients, - agarol, senakot, coloxyl, durolax and glycerine suppositories, soap enemas, as well as dietary measures like hot water, prunes, allbran, figs, grapes, dried fruit, to name but a few.

CONSTIPATION
In reality, if we have sufficient Vitamin C and magnesium, we will not have any problems with our bowels, because too much of either of these (or carnitine) gives diarrhoea.  So if we take supplements of both to bowel tolerance we need not ever have problems with constipation again.  As well our bodies will have sufficient of both of these for healthy immune, muscular & peristaltic function.  In other words, magnesium allows the gut muscles to push it along and Vit C makes it softer and hurries it along!

WATER
The other thing we need, is plenty of water to dilute the internal sewerage so it can flow.  8-10 glasses of water - not tea or coffee or soft or hard drinks.  Plain water!  Grandad always had hot water to move him!
 

To HAVE a GOOD POOP!  1.  Drink 8-10 cups of water/day  -  to liquify the gut residue  2.  Enough Vit C twice/day  -  to soften & keep it moving  3.  Enough magnesium X 2/day -  for peristalsis (gut movement)  4.  Exercise  -  if possible

So what can we learn from our "poop"?

A normal stool should be soft, may be formed, effortless to pass and should be medium to dark brown in colour - does not float - but sinks to the bottom of the toilet bowl.

Constipation - hard pellet like stool, can be an effort or strain to pass; be painful, you can sweat or feel faint.

Diarrhoea - frequent, loose, watery stool; may have difficulty getting to the toilet in time.

SOME SIMPLE TREATMENTS - for vomiting & diarrhoea or food poisoning - boiled water only for 24 hours - may eat freshly grated apple - or sip a dessertspoon of white malt vinegar over 5 mins  - or take 60ml colloidal silver once or twice a day as needed.