Horses living in the wild and eating a natural diet don’t get constipated!
Years ago I was lucky enough to spend four weeks living in a tent in the Kaimanawa ranges in the middle of the North Island. There were four of us working for DOC studying the famous Kaimanawa Wild Horse population. The objective was to gain a better understanding of their behaviour and lifestyle.
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It involved intense observation for the four weeks and several 24 hour studies of specific groups with activity recorded every 15 minutes, so we got to know them very well.
With a diet high in fibre, plentiful water supply and lots of exercise it’s no wonder their bowels functioned perfectly. Good healthy horse dung is well formed yet soft.
Bring horses into less natural environments such as small grazing paddocks, feed them diets high in hay or fail to give enough water or food and bowel motions change in shape, texture and colour.
The same is true for us humans.
Regain Better Health Through a Process of Elimination
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Did you know that regular bowel movements are one of the most important bodily functions for maintaining your optimum health?
That’s because when your body does not eliminate waste regularly, all sorts of toxins and fats that were supposed to be removed from your system stay in your intestinal tract for longer. This increases the risk of toxic substance re-absorption and dramatically affects the small organisms living in your intestinal tract.
The more time faecal matter spends in your large bowel or colon, the more water is absorbed, the drier your faeces become and the harder they are to pass. The cycle can quickly become a downward spiral and can contribute to increased risk of polyp formation.
Colo-Rectal Cancer Risk Factors
Colo-rectal polyps are a common pre-cursorto cancer of the lower bowel. Factors this study showed to significantly increase the risk of cancer were family history, smoking (heavy toxic substance inhalation) and alcohol consumption (toxic impact on the liver (one of your main detoxifiying organs) and a significant dehydrator!).
My theory is that the familial relationship is the result of habituated behavioural patterns not genetic in nature.
Polyps often progress to colo-rectal cancer, the second largest cause of of death from cancer in the United States.1 Simple addition of fibre to the diet at as little as 4.6 g/d lead to a significantly decreased risk of advanced neoplasia.
This same study once again highlighted the beneficial impact of Vitamin D. Increased Vitamin D reduced incidence of colo-rectal cancer by 50%.
Slow Passage Kills Bacteria
The drier your bowel contents are, the more difficult defecation will be. Your intestines become sluggish and clogged with excess waste. The longer these toxins and fats remain in your body the more they are reabsorbed through the intestinal wall and into your bloodstream.
Speaking with a doctor recently, he emphasised to me how much of the current interest in human nutrition is focussing on the importance of maintaining the good bacteria in your intestinal tract (gut).
Growth of healthy bacteria in your gut is essential for extracting as many of the nutrients in your food as possible and manufacturing essential nutrients such as Vitamin K. Slowing the transit time of food in your gut and lowers your numbers of gut bacteria.2
The only explanation is the slowing of food availability and the increase of toxic substances both act to change your intestinal tracts from ideal to sub-optimal, or simply harmful.
The same effect can be noticed when antibiotics are taken. They can cause diarrhoea or constipation, both indications of massive disruptions to normal intestinal micro-organism populations. So the use of probiotics and acidophilus yoghurts is a very positive step to combat this wholesale destruction of good microbes.
Regulate Your Bowels – Improve Health.
Believe it or not, the answer to regulating your bowels and solving digestion problems can be taken from the Wild Horses of Kaimanawa.
- Eat food with sufficient fibre to keep the bugs fed and sweep the bowels clean
- Get plenty of exercise to physically help the passage of food, contracting abdominal muscles help massage intestinal fill
- Drink plenty of fresh water to reduce the demand on the colon to drag water out of faecal matter, keeping it soft and making it easy to pass
Fibre comes mostly from plant-based foods such as vegetables and whole grains. That’s because plants are made up of cells with fibrous walls. This material helps scrape away the unhealthy deposits that build-up in your intestinal tract. Increased speed reduces the time available for waste products and toxins to be absorbed back into your system.
Exercise is a really important aspect of your health program but remember that two things happen with exercise.
You’ll increase the loss of water and you’ll slow the passage of material through your intestinal tract. So remember to keep drinking and make sure your exercise is balanced with periods of rest.
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The Toxic Load Balance
Toxic substances only come from two places. Those you that enter your body (through your skin, in your breath and through your mouth) and those that are produced inside your body.
If the amount absorbed and produced exceeds your body’s ability to get rid of them, they’ll accumulate and you’ll begin to feel sick or suffer chronic ill health – (just exactly what symptoms you see will depend on the toxic substance type, form and level.
When the toxic substance balance shifts in your favour, your body will start to detoxify and you’ll feel great!
Nature at Its Best and In The Raw
For healthy elimination and proper absorption of nutrition, there’s no better medicine than raw, whole foods. While the fibre content makes this approach valuable, if you add materials that decrease food transit time in your bowels, you’ll be doing wonders for your bugs. Just don’t go overboard.
Two studies describe dramatic improvements in bowel health through supplementation with Chlorella pyrenoidosa. 3,4
Detox & Rebuild Chlorella is an amazing raw whole food.
It has powerful detoxifiers (sporopollein from the cell wall), chlorophyll and a potent nutrient mix that have been shown to increase the growth rates of intestinal flora.
A plant food, harvested from fresh water algae, and loaded with healthy fibre, Detox and Rebuild Chlorella is a great way to clean your intestinal tract and detoxify your body.
You can click on the following link and scrolll to the bottom of the page to get yours now for $47.50
See our other recipes.
References:
1. Risk Factors for Advanced Colonic Neoplasia and Hyperplastic Polyps in Asymptomatic Individuals; David A Lieberman et al JAMA. 2003;290:2959-2967 Back
2. Effect of changing transit time on colonic microbial metabolism in man. Gut 1987;28:601-609 Back
3. Jade Study. Clinical Study for Jade Chlorella Back
4. Dr. Randall E. Merchant at the Virginia Commonwealth University, Medical College of Virginia. “More than 90 percent of the study subjects with colon and bowel concerns, found that taking Chlorella helped improve these uncomfortable and embarrassing conditions” Back
A very interesting piece on wild horses, which you probably need to drag some people to healthier food. The subject of intestinal health is obviously important, so thanks for ‘bringing it up’ so to speak.