12 Natural Constipation Remedies

There is nothing worse than needing to go to the loo, and not being able to! If you’ve ever been in that situation you know what I’m talking about.

The following tips are from my personal experience the best Natural Constipation Remedies

1. Fresh ginger tea, also green tea
   
2. Lemon juice
3. Celery
4. Lentil Soup with Spinach
5. Magnesium
6. Probiotic yoghurt
7. Sauerkraut incl. the juice
8. Chlorella diluted in water (1/2 tsp 3x daily before meals)
   
9. Apple Cider Vinegar (on awakening, then with every meal)
10. Barberry and cascara capsules
11. Olive Oil
12. Aloe vera drink

Top Tips to Relieve Your Constipation

• Make sure you drink PLENTY of water (at least 2-3 liter)
  
• A shot of good quality aloe vera juice (in the morning or before every meal also gets things moving)
• Drink detoxing herbal teas (dandelion and nettle tea for instance are good constipation remedies) 
• Add spices to your cooking (for instance tumeric, ginger, fenugreek, fennel seeds, cayenne pepper)
• Brew fresh tea from ginger roots (greatly helps to alleviate constipation)
• Take barberry capsules (helps to re-condition the colon-encouraging the muscles to be more active)
• Get into the habit of doing an enema (every now and again at least)
• Fast for half a day or a day every week (to take a load of your digestive system)
• Regularly do a week of no grains (or at least eat only gluten free breads)
• Eat avocado & oily fish at least 3 times a week like salmon, sardine and mackerel (anti-inflammatory & soothing)
• Go to bed early, get moving (daily)  (I’m not joking – this has a huge impact on how well your digestive system is operating. and lack of exercise is making your digestion sluggish.)

The listed remedies above are from my experience by far the most effective way  to sort out constipation problems.

Try and Avoid the following activities which might make your condition worse

• Don’t eat dry, stodgy stuff (rock hard bread is no good, think brown rice, soups, vegetables… and when you do eat something dry or hard, make sure you drink lots with it.)

Don’t be afraid to drink ‘with’ your meal. I found that it made a significant difference to my digestion to drink a cup of herbal tea with every meal. I used to not do this because I read somewhere that drinking with a meal dilutes the digestive juices and therefore is no good. Now, I’m not saying drink gallons of water while you are eating; that would be rather unhealthy. But if you are constipated – drinking a little herbal tea with your food is a very good idea. 

• Avoid dairy, wheat, meat and sugar (as these can cause stickiness and inflammation in the colon)
• Also make sure you’re not eating eggs all the time (they are easy to digest, but promote constipation)
• Don’t let stress build up – Relax wherever possible (Stress tenses up your belly, restricting blood flow and generally impacting proper digestion.)
• Avoid eating lots of seeds, nuts and almonds (it made a big difference for me not to eat desiccated coconut with everything and other seeds)

What if You Really, Really Can’t Poop?

Only when I came across this marvellously outspoken post about healthy bmws on the Daily Tribes blog (whose gf free baking wisdom and blogging style I admire) with reference to the FartyGirl (uncanny & super funny fellow blogger girl writing about her struggles with IBS) that I realised that I’m not the only one with a poop problem, oops I said it – ‘scuse my french! Now, as much as you might be crinching reading this, you can bet that I am crinching even more writing this So, let’s get dirty!

Whatever you do – Don’t strain!

Or you’ll end up with painful or itching hemorrhoids. Who on earth came up with that term, I ask you! As if it wasn’t bad enough talking about it… Having said that, Kristopher from RealConstipationRemedies shares his remedies to cure hemorrhoids rather candidly

And if you really can’t go at all, don’t panic!

Follow the tips I have given you here and if all else fails, do the following:

• breathe deeply
• do a few squatting and star jump exercises
• massage your belly in a clockwise motion (this is a trick my colonic therapist showed me)
• slap a hot water bottle on your lower abdomen
• drink a big mug of herbal tea (preferably green tea, nettle or dandelion tea)
• take some  Magnesium Oxide capsules (they’ll quickly get things moving)
• If you feel super bloated, skipping a meal is not a bad idea or at least eat only little and very easy to digest, slushy stuff.
• and stop googling more natural constipation remedies – you know everything you need to know to get better, now put it into action ?

And above all – stay calm!

Your body will find a way, you just need to stay hydrated and relaxed!

If you’re interested in more remedies, recipes regarding natural living then you don’t want to miss this page on ‘Thank Your Body’s’ site, which is full of sound tips.

Constipation and Candida

Constipation is a typical side effect/ cause of Candida (classic chicken and egg problem – who was there first?)

If there is food fermenting in your gut, then chances are this will encourage micro-organisms to grow that are not helping your health.

From that respect it’s almost preferable to suffer from the opposite of constipation, namely IBS type diarrhea symptoms: Then at least you’d have no excess yeast lingering about in your lower intestines, causing havoc.

My history of Digestive Issues:

• I’ve had both issues. Initially, when my Candida problems started to get out of hand I had lots of trapped air in my tummy, painful bloating and IBS symptoms.
• Then the candida caused my thyroid to be hyper active and I had runny stools. (Don’t worry, I’m not gonna go into this in more detail ?
• Eventually after a few years and periods of prolonged stress, and after following a now sugar and protein candida diet for several months I developed constipation and have been battling with this for the past 3 years. Gosh, the things you already know about me, hey ?

Since then I have been on a constant mission to cure my constipation issues and re-balance my digestive system. And as a result of this I’ve tried & tested a fair amount of natural constipation remedies and several over the counter medications.

What Worked Best for Me:

• Strangely enough, what helped me the most was eating Sauerkraut, hummus & celery (not together!) When you think of it, this kind of makes sense, since Sauerkraut naturally contains bacteria that are beneficial for your gut, right. And the lemon in the hummus and the high water and fibre content in celery act as an effective, but gentle pipe cleaner.

• Also veggy juices work really well. I’m just struggling with making that a habit, as I haven’t found one that I truly like.

• Drinking salty solutions (‘Glauber Salz’) totally didn’t agree with me (caused water retention in my lower legs and made me bloated and nauseous, yuk! Dates and prunes are wonderful of course but with all the sugar in it that would be a yeasty suicide mission.

Treatment for Chronic Constipation Cases

To re-balance the whole digestive system long-term on the other hand is a totally different ball game, and one that I am currently still working on.

I believe this requires stress management, strong probiotics, a well balanced diet high in vegetables and fibre, the odd colon cleanse and regular physical activity, even just brisk walking helps.

Do you have questions regarding any constipation remedies? Then ask them in the comments below.

And if you want to follow my candida crusade along and be kept up-to-date with my recipes and remedies, then pop your name and email address in the box below.

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