Constipation is a common disease, which affect majority of the people. Constipation is not only associated with the stomach and the bowel movement, as is generally supposed, though they are partially responsible. But the actual cause is somewhere else, which can be understood very easily if we have basic understanding of how our body works. Let us understand it briefly:

• When we take the food in, it goes into stomach through gullet and then to small and then large intestine. During its passage through these organs, the food is absorbed by the cells of their walls and sent all over the body through Blood stream to supply the different parts that are hungry for it. So it must be remembered that the real eating of the food is done by the billions of tiny living cells of which the body is made up.

• And when these tiny cells eat, they pour-up waste in the same current of Blood. And this waste is removed from the body through different paths, Such as –

• • Through our Breathing – smoke or gaseous part
  • Through Urine – the soluble part
  • Through perspiration – the soluble part
  • Through feces etc. – The insoluble part

In nut shell, body should be able to get cleaned thoroughly, in order to keep it in good health. And for this, every gland should function properly.

• Now coming to the solid waste, i.e. the insoluble part. This is basically poured out through the glands of the lining of the lower third of the bowel (Rectum). Indeed, the bulk of the feces are mainly made up of these intestinal secretions, not, as is generally supposed, of the undigested remains of the food. Ninety-five per cent of our food eaten is absorbed, as our body burns up the food-fuel very clean. The next largest part of the feces is Bacteria or Germs; and the third and smallest is the indigestible fragments and remainders of food, such as bran, fruit skins, vegetable fibers, pits, seeds, etc.

“Constipation, therefore, is caused by disturbances which interfere with these processes all over the body, not only in the Stomach and Bowels.”

Myths and Fallacies about Constipation:

• Constipation Cure By swallowing Salts – This actually causes a flood of watery matters to be poured through the Food Tube and wash it clean of both poisons and melting food at the same time, leaving it in an exhausted and disturbed condition afterwards.

• Constipation Cure By Irritating Vegetable Cathartic, generally in the form of Pills: This “sets up a violent action of the muscles of the food tube”, driving its contents through at headlong speed.

• Washing out the lower two or three feet of the bowel with injections of water: This should only be followed under extreme conditions, very occasionally.

• Bran bread and bran biscuits are generally prescribed for constipation. This is just as wrong as removing the bran entirely. When an excess of bran is eaten, it causes too great irritation of bowel and in the end the person is at worse condition than before. The after effect of irritation is always depression and sluggishness.

Although any or all of these may be resorted to occasionally for temporary relief, but if long continued, will do the opposite.

Real and Permanent Cure for Constipation:

“The only real and permanent cure for Constipation is present in each and every activity which helps in cleaning the Body. And most important of these are – through exercise in the open air, sound sleep for minimum defined hours, and proper ventilation of bedrooms, with plenty of nourishing food, including plenty of green vegetables and fresh fruits.”