by BlisteredWhippet » Wed 27 Dec 2006, 18:22:39
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dogf', 'I') have had the runs for about 20 years now. I go about 7-10 times a day and always soft at best. Around the same time I was not able to keep down vegetables and fruits. Love the taste of them, but they just don't stay down. So I really am a meat and potatoes type. And at 43 I do look like a pear. I think it's time I looked into this further. New years resolution and all.
Do you have some sort of reflux where the food comes back up your esophagus? This is not clear. But stool softness and frequent shitting clearly indicates a severe lack of fiber in the diet. If I were you (and I thank God I'm not) I would suggest replacing one meal a day with a product like this for immediate improvement:
http://www.mothernature.com/shop/detail.cfm/sku/40578
The key ingredients here are the Psyllium husk/seed and clays (bentonite and kaolin). There are quite a few products like this on the market, and most of them have these ingredients. You can also just get the pure ingredients, sometimes.
The way it works is pretty simple. If you take a tablespoon of ground or powdered psyllium husk and mix it in a glass of water, it turns into a gel. Increase the proportion of powder to water, and you will see an increase in solidity. A relatively small amount of psyllium mixed for a short time in water will make a spoon stand stright up in the glass. This is one of the basic ingredients of "Metamucil". Basically, psyllium is a plant fiber with a high degree of insoluble fiber, that is, that will pass right through the body. It will have several effects. One is it slows the metabolism. Since food stays in the body longer, more nutrition is extracted and you feel the need to eat less. Two, it "sweeps" the intestinal tract. The nature of the fiber is that it absorbs many times its weight in water. So when it gets into your intestine, it draws water through the intestinal wall, aiding the "sweep" effect. This is another reason why you need to drink copious amounts of water while taking something like this. Three, its the combination of fiber and water which creates the "bulky" stool. The bentonite clay is an aborbant for toxins, kind of like kitty litter for absorbing spilled oil. The other ingredients have supposed kidney or liver detoxifying effects.
New Year's Resolutions are for losers. If your own health isn't reason enough to start tomorrow, forget it. If you can't develop basic discipline in terms of your own body, forget it. I'm serious. The time you should've looked into this shit was back in your late 20s when you were still producing large quantities of growth hormone. The good news is that the sooner you start the sooner you'll feel better.
Others on this board might hold back from brutal honesty, but I will not, so consider this:
You will die without intervention. Its not how much, but really, what you eat. I am convinced that some large areas of the country no longer have access to wholesome food. Where do you live?
The problem is 90% your attitude. Its like this: you're like the kid on the playground that always gets picked on. Your body and mind have been kicking your ass for so long, you think they're in charge. Your body and mind, every day, is like, "Hey Fatass, why dontcha eat some more meat and potatoes?" And you're like, (*Sigh*) "Ohhh kayyy, Bert.... " I think it would be good for you, by meditation or therapy or both to cultivate a mindset where you are not a a victim. Assume, for instance, that you are an addict, only your "drug" is your own body and mind. They've been killing you. You need to assert some sort of Executive Control. You have to be more "Rocky" and less "Dilbert".
Another part of rehabilitiation no one talks about is pain. I would suggest getting in touch with it, because you're going to feel a lot of it over the next few years as your body changes. Another thing: don't ever jog, its stupid and will wreck your knees. Get a bicycle and have an expert "fit" it to you. Get one with the split seat.
Its highly likely that you no longer "hear" the signals your body is sending you. With over 100 million nerve endings in the Intestinal tract, if eating and health are one big "?", consider yourself digestively retarded. For real. Don't think too much about your options. It going to be better if you just start doing something for now.
I would suggest getting a book like "You: the owner's manual" by Drs. Mehmet and Oz (excellent), and take seriously their recommendations. Two, you're going to have to do focused exercise for at least a half hour a day, for the rest of your natural life. Plan on it. Three, I would suggest immediately transitioning to a completely vegetarian diet and cutting out milk products entirely.
I'm speaking from experience, not just recommending stuff I haven't tried.
And I would reiterate drinking lots of water. When I was experimenting with psyllium husk, I was ingesting double and triple doses of the stuff... cause I'm just like that. If you've never done it before, expect some mild to moderate pain and/or cramping as your digestive tract goes "wtf is this?" You're going to have to stick it out and resist the urge to puke. Did I mention drink lots of water?
Anyway, I took like a triple dose of straight psyllium. Like, imagine a ball of gelatin the size of a softball. Yeah... I slurped that down. Then, I didn't drink nearly enough water and went to sleep (which slows the metabolism). About an hour later, I woke up and was so extremely dehydrated that my tongue had dried out and my eyelids felt like sandpaper against my eyelids. Several quick glasses of water cured that.
The other thing is that you should space the ingestion of these products between meals. You should have a completely empty stomach. One time in my experiment I had psyllium WITH a meal. What happened was the psyllium and food mixed. Evidently, this was bad... the net result of this was that I did not shit for three whole days. So, only do it on an empty stomach, and not before bed. Before exercise is actually pretty good as the metabolic increase will aid the sweep effect.
You will probably experience abdominal pain, cramping, and gas pockets/flatulence as the fiber passes through your system. As you continue a daily program, these symptoms will wax and wane. Just FYI... which is what I mean by getting in touch with pain. Its a "good" pain. Some people get really emotional as well, probably having something to do with those 100 million nerve endings...