On Cellular Constipation & Weightloss
Does your practitioner ever stop to ask you how are your bowels moving? What about your nutritionist? Your personal trainer? Chances are, unless you are suffering from a serious bout of irregularity or Irritable Bowel Syndrome, no one has brought it up yet, have they? It’s interesting, because the more you think about what you eat, the more you should be concerned about what is making its way out!
The old saying goes, ‘You are what you eat.” Generally speaking, our meals travel through our digestive system in about 12-24 hours. This passage is called transit time, and when all systems are firing properly, (ie: stomach acids, digestive enzymes, bile production) we will typically have 1-3 healthy bowel movements per day, assuring that nutrients are used, and waste is excreted. Healthy digestion means our body is able to use the micro & macronutrients we consume to build and rebuild healthy cells. A healthy system finds a natural weight. It also means an absence of symptoms such as gas & bloating, nausea, and constipation.
For those of us in the nutrition industry, however, we often modify the saying above to say ‘You are what you eat, and what you absorb,’ recognizing that you not only have to consume good foods, but your digestion and constitution must be strong enough to breakdown and utilize what you are getting in the diet. Unhealthy or impaired digestion can lead to a failure to absorb ones’ foods properly, causing a cascade of problems. As a result, we often see acid indigestion, irritable bowel & even chronic health issues such as dry skin, yeast overgrowth and failure to thrive.
Digestive care specialists will often comment, ‘You are what you eat, but also what you do not eliminate.” Indeed, if your bowels are irregular, then what are you made of? You may not be getting the building blocks of a healthy system, but compound that thought with this: Where is all that undigested & constipated food going? A-Ha! Waste and trash build-up is in the picture, isn’t it? I don’t intend that to sound flippant, I am genuinely serious about this. So there we have the connection between constipation & weight retention, and the answer is simple: Improve Digestion & eliminate constipation, and you will encourage your body to naturally shed excess weight. Simple dietary changes such as adding more fiber, and seasonal colon cleansing can help you promote regularity.
And it goes beyond bowels: did you ever stop to think about how much water is being held in your cellular tissues, especially if you eat a lot of salty foods? Kind of throws a wrench in the thought that we can weigh ourselves and assume that what we see on the scale, is representative of fat stores, doesn’t it? The scale is a difficult measurement tool to trust, especially over a short period of time. That is because our weight fluctuates due to the amount of food in our belly, as well as the amount of water we are retaining around our cells. Therefore, one can help prevent water retention by simply drinking more water…sounds ironic, but it is true.
If your body is dehydrated, it can become constipated, and will do all it can to hold onto what little liquid we consume. This can lead to a decrease in the number of healthy eliminations, (i.e. constipation,) which leads to a greater likelihood of a higher reading on your scale! It’s a vicious cycle, but one that can easily be broken if you give your body the right tools.
So let’s assure that, “We are what we eat and that we eliminate properly.” A diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains will provide the nutrients & fiber which keep our body functioning optimally, keep our energy high and our constitution strong and healthy. And isn’t that better than being full of waste.
My experience with clients has shown that many people who have a lot of weight to lose will lose a bunch quite quickly in the beginning, as their body sheds water. Our body will typically use water to neutralize toxins…that means if you are really toxic, you will tend to retain water, and as you cleanse, you will shed water.Certain carbs will also cause water retention, which is why so many people lose weight ‘overnight’ on a low carb diet. This is not real weightloss. You can prevent water retention by drinking more water…sounds ironic, but it is true. Again, this is why ‘overnight’ weight loss is typically not fat loss. Slow and steady wins the race.Nuts and other dehydrated foods that are low in water also cause dehydration of the bowel, and thus water retention & constipation…
Write a comment