warning: bowel movement question

[jackieboomboom]

i was on the master cleanse for 12 days and have been eating raw since monday. i haven't had a bowel movement since. i didn't eat very much on monday but yesterday i did and nothing. my husband has been going non-stop.

is this normal?

heres what i ate yesterday

morning: carrot juice
afternoon: raw burrito (asparagus, mushrooms, sprouts, guac, salsa, wrapped in iceberg lettuce)
snacks: a few nuts while cooking, banana, grapes

this morning, i had a green smoothie.

i know i'm not eating loads and loads but something should have come out by now?

i was taking a laxative tea every day on the master cleanse. is it possible that my body is dependent on them? i haven't taken one because i want my body to go on its own.

any advice would rock.

x

[Kalimelle]

love your photo! do you go to nyu for law school? (oh how i miss it up there!!!!!)

12 days isn't an extremely long time, but with daily use it is possible that your body has become mildly dependent upon the laxative tea and is now just adjusting back to normal. i think you're right on target for stopping using it, and if i were you, i'd only use it now after trying everything else. if you do use it again, just do so with a mindset of "weaning" yourself from it. maybe dilute it to half the strength you used during the master cleanse?

here are some other tricks:

~hot liquids will help. try hot water with lemon, herbal tea, or even (and i know it's not raw, but it is fermented/living) some homemade miso soup with just the miso and some garlic and ginger for flavor. drink a large amount of the hot liquids.

~flaxseed meal stirred into water. try about 2 tbsp stirred into a really tall glass of water.

~self-massage: massage your abdomen deeply to get things moving in the right direction. here's the anatomy of it---look down at your belly. at the lower right side of your abdomen (above the pelvic region) is where your large intestine begins. it moves up the right side toward the ribs, then crosses over the abdomen horizontally underneath the ribs, and then descends down the left side. begin massaging deeply on the lower left side (you want the "oldest" stuff to move along first---if you start on the right you might back yourself up further) using a circular motion to warm the tissue up first. then, using deep pressure, press down into the belly and use deep strokes in a downward direction. you might feel tightness, air bubbles, or a feeling of "fullness", but you shouldn't feel any pain. (if you do, that's a red flag and you should back off with the pressure.) once you've worked the left side, come to the transverse colon area, and massage in the same way working the transverse colon from your right to your left. Finally, work the ascending colon on the right side, the strokes moving from the lower part of the abdomen toward the ribs.


i hope this made some sense! good luck.


oh, and caffeine will help too. maybe have some green tea?


namaste,
kali

[Eva]

Have you been exercising much?? That should help. Using the rowing machine at a gym or doing other vigorous exercise would be good.

The green smoothie should help some. If you have another green smoothie at lunch, I second the flax... ground up in the smoothie.

And drinking 2 glasses of water with one whole fresh squeezed lemon each should help big time.

So, it's only been two days since having a bowel movement. I bet today will be the big day if you do some natural things like this (and the massage sounds great too!).

Good luck! :eek: