Diverticulitis - Give your digestive system a helping hand, natural nutrients that can reduce the symptoms

Give your digestion a helping hand with a digestive enzyme complex. It is recommended that a digestive enzyme complex should be taken. The reason for this is that many of us, particularly those of us over 50, may not be producing enzymes at sufficient levels to break down our foods and absorb nutrients as efficiently as we would like. Also, enzyme activity is now sadly lacking in much of our fresh food. So helping to correct these deficiencies can be a very important first step in overcoming constipation. Traditional plant remedies can be helpful too. The papaya leaf is known to help protein digestion and soothe dyspepsia and gastritis. Ginger has also been found to ease pain, reduce inflammation and stimulate gastric secretions, and fenugreek seed has been traditionally used to ease stomach pains. Incidentally, the seeds of fenugreek have also been shown to stimulate enzyme secretion. But if all this is too much hassle, a good digestive enzyme complex will do the job for you. Probiotics – our ‘pro-life’ friendly guys  Probiotics, our friendly probiotic bacteria are recommended which I suspect that you know all about. In fact there are over 500 different types but there are five that are known to have significant importance. These are: Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium bifidum. The weight of bacteria in your colon is estimated to be around 2 lbs, which is pretty significant. Most of life is a balance and your bowels are no different. The crucial thing about any balance is to try and make sure that the good things exceed the bad. So it’s your job to try and make sure that the largest percentage of your bacteria is made up of the good guys. In a healthy gut the good bacteria will outnumber the bad bacteria and keep them in check. Good bacteria helps peristalsis which means if they are in short supply, the digestive process slows down creating an environment which favours putrefaction, mucus production and constipation. Low levels of good bacteria can in fact be the starting point of a toxic colon and diverticular disease. Topping up with a probiotic supplement is something recommended for anyone over 50. According to recent research, our levels of good bacteria start to deplete after this age. Keeping the good bacteria high must therefore be a priority for everyone who suffers from constipation. Even if you don’t want to take them every day, then certainly load up on them if you are going to anywhere that is a bit ‘dodgy’ as far as the water is concerned. Probiotics are not new. The discovery that certain types of bacteria could contribute to the health of the intestines and help ward off disease was first made way back in 1908 by the Russian scientist, Elis Metchnikoff. He was the first to use the term dysbiosis, to indicate an imbalance of gut bacteria. Since then more than ten thousand papers have been published demonstrating the benefits of friendly flora. What causes us to be depleted of this wonderful bacteria? Antibiotics - it is now well reported that antibiotics can be harmful to the health of your bowels. This is because they knock out the good guys as well as the bad. If you are prescribed antibiotics then remember to top up with good bacteria to prevent too much of a depletion. Remember also to not take the probiotics and antibiotics together. Leave a gap of around six hours. In normal circumstances, healthy bacteria can be easily replenished with a good diet but if you have to have to have regular prescriptions then you must seriously consider a proper supplementation programme. Otherwise the short and long term health of your bowels could be compromised. Constipation and diverticulitis are far more likely when bad bacteria exceeds the good. Many other medicines affect bowel function and so probiotic supplementation is often the first thing to consider when transit time grinds to a halt. As in all health issues, a good, healthy diet with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables can go a long long way in keeping bacterial levels at a positive level. However, a course of anti-biotics, alongside a bad diet and stress could be a recipe for disaster for your bowels. One of the most simple things you can do is to take probiotic supplements.  A good probiotic supplement programme can play a significant role in overcoming toxic constipation. So, probiotics are vital in the fight in overcoming constipation but there are several studies that now show that probiotics work better alongside other natural ingredients. Fibre is particularly important for creating the right type of moist environment for healthy bacteria to proliferate and there is one type of fibre in particular that is better than all others in achieving this. Fibre We are all told to eat more fibre but I read recently that we, in the UK, tend to eat on average less that 15g per day.  Generally speaking, the lower the fibre content of your diet, the higher the fat, carbohydrate and protein. Most types of fats, by the very nature, are going to be mucus forming. By comparison, the right type of fibre (not wheat) is cleansing! Psyllium – the Rolls Royce of fibre The reason for this is that it is an extremely gentle fibre. It absorbs more water than any other fibre. In fact it absorbs a staggering 25 times its own weight in water. Remember that the emphasis these days is on soluble fibre because of the extra health benefits this brings. Well, psyllium is the most soluble fibre you can get. It is so gentle. The ‘chamois’ leather rather than the brillo effect you can get with bran fibre. The great thing about psyllium is that it is good for both constipation and diarrhoea. It can help prevent you getting diverticular problems in the first place but it can also be good for consolidating stools if you get diarrhoea when the diverticular pockets get inflamed. In the case of constipation waste matter hangs around far too long in the large bowel. This means it gets too dry and becomes hard and difficult to pass and this causes pressure on your bowel wall, increasing the chance of small pockets developing. However, just by taking psyllium husk, waste that arrives in the large colon maintains its moisture because of the soft gel the psyllium fibre forms. As a result, the waste remains moist and soft and this means less pressure on the bowel wall. A moist stool is far easier to pass than a dry, hard one. A soft stool therefore means less chance of diverticular disease and haemorrhoids. The friendly bacteria just love the moist environment that the psyllium creates. It literally thrives on it. Taking psyllium and probiotics together form a good partnership. Magnesium – a simple mineral - works to rid you of constipation. Last but not least, is the mineral, magnesium. If you are one of these who have been unable to find relief from long term constipation no matter what you try, then this simple mineral could make the difference. I suspect that if you have been to see your doctor about constipation, then you will have been prescribed some sort of laxative which helps to ‘kick start’ the peristalsis action. This is fine in the short term, but if you continue down this road, then your bowels will simply get used to the laxative and eventually you will find yourself back to square one – and possibly worse. Also, if laxatives weaken the bowel wall, then this could make you more vulnerable to diverticulitis. Magnesium is a much more natural alternative that will not weaken your bowel wall. In fact it helps to strengthen it by feeding the muscles within your colon that are responsible for your peristalsis action. Some cases of constipation might be a sign that your body is deficient in this crucial mineral. The great thing about magnesium is that it works so well with the nutrients that I have already mentioned to get a synergistic effect. How Magnesium works If you have adequate amounts of magnesium in your body, this encourages water to be drawn into the colon, where it softens stools in the large colon making for a smooth, natural passage. Magnesium is a mineral – an essential nutrient necessary for a wide range of body functions. But research studies have shown that if you are eating normally, you are most likely to be deficient in this vital mineral because you are not getting anywhere near the RDA (recommended daily allowance) from your diet. There is no doubt that many cases of constipation may be due to a deficiency of this important mineral. By correcting your biochemistry and maintaining adequate levels of magnesium in your body, your bowel movements will become much easier.  Why is Magnesium deficiency so widespread? The answer is that the food that you eat today just isn’t what it used to be. It is nutritionally weaker and lacks many essential vitamins and minerals. That’s because modern farming methods have ‘burned out’ our top soils by planting the same crop year after year and by growing foods with artificial chemicals, pesticides and herbicides. So the agricultural products are not as rich in nutrients (vitamins minerals and amino acids etc) as they should be. Commercial food processing destroys even more of your food’s nutrients. And on top of this, the stress we all face in our day to day lives means that our use of magnesium is accelerated and this can result in ‘burn out.’ A stressed-out person requires greater requirements of nutrients than a person who is not under a lot of stress. By correcting your biochemistry and maintaining adequate levels of magnesium in your body, your bowel movements will become much easier. Taking Magnesium is not like taking a laxative A laxative is something that would not normally be ingested by the body through your normal diet. It works by ‘kick starting’ the peristalsis action of the bowels, acting as a purgative. This type of laxative is commonly known to weaken your bowel wall and become habit forming. On the other hand, magnesium is a natural substance normally supplied in your diet. It works by correcting the true underlying the cause of constipation. When you add magnesium to your daily supplement program (in the dosage you require to get your bowels moving) you are correcting the problem on a nutritional level, preventing constipation from happening. If you do consider taking a magnesium supplement for a while, then you will probably need to take around 600mg each day for a few days to get an effect. You can then taper things down as your diet improves. So, there you have it. Different types of ingredients which you can dip into if you feel you need some help to get things moving.