What is constipation?

Dr. LD: I’m going to give you 2 definitions of constipation: the medical definition and my definition.

The medical definition of constipation as stated by the National Digestive Disease Information Clearinghouse states that “normal bowel movements may be 3 times a day or 3 times a week.” The Clearinghouse also says: “. . . constipation is the passage of small amounts of hard dry bowel movements, usually less than 3 times a week."

My understanding, life experience and opinion is much more specific and it is as follows:

Anything less than 2 to 3 good full complete total bowel evacuations every single day of our life is constipation. Unfortunately, most of the medical world basically offers little or no solutions to the severe and destructive ramifications of poor digestive and bowel health.

Question: Wow. What a disparity of opinions. Does constipation and the issues around it go deeper than just not going to the bathroom?

Dr. LD: My answer would be, absolutely 100% - yes.

For me, my professional and nutritional career in the world of natural healing has been spent - to a certain degree- being “bowel minded” or “digestive minded.”

Let me explain what being bowel and digestive minded means: first, we must understand that our digestive system – the 28 feet that runs from one end of our body to the other end of our body (and includes primarily our stomach, small and large intestines) is not only the center of our body, but it is also the center of our health.

Of all the organs that make up our body, the digestive organs’ level of importance is second only to the mind. Responsible for keeping us alive, it is the only way our body can digest, absorb and assimilate every single crumb that we put into our mouth. It is responsible for supplying all essential nutrients to all cells, all tissues and all organs.

And second, from a physical standpoint it is, in essence, our mother. In the same way our mother has kept us safe, clothed, fed, and has taken care of us since birth – our digestive system does the same thing; from a physical standpoint, it keeps us alive. It is our physical – or internal - mother. We can’t exist without it. It feeds us the nutrients that we need to keep us alive.

Question: I never thought about the digestive and intestinal system this way. Are you saying, “You are what you eat?”

Dr. LD: No! Over 90% of people’s digestive systems do not function properly – these are near epidemic proportions. The fact is most people do not digest their food, absorb the nutrients, assimilate the nutrients nor eliminate the waste and byproduct optimally. Many experts and people say “You are what you eat.” I disagree. I take it much deeper.

A great man and a great teacher of mine named Dr. Bernard Jensen (who helped millions of people) once said something to me that stayed with me to this day. Here’s what he said:

My nutritional experience over many years has proven to me time and again: if we follow a simple, effective and natural program that improves the digestion of all foods that we ingest – and one that improves waste elimination on a daily basis - it will positively effect every drop of blood, every organ, every cell and every tissue in our body . . . Our body will begin to heal itself.