When it comes to Digestive health, an ounce of prevention is definitely worth a pound of cure. Fortunately, what it takes to maintain a healthy digestive system is the same that it takes to recover.
Eat Well
Eating Well means consuming a diet that is both pure and sufficiently provides us with all the nutrients we require not to simply avoid disease, but to be optimally healthy. Below are some foods that are very beneficial to proper intestinal health that should be incorporated in a thoughtful manner as well as foods that are commonly consumed and can easily contribute to health issues such as constipation.
Foods that promote healthful digestion and intestinal mobility
- Water – half your body weight in ounces – coffee, soda and juice do NOT equal water
- Fresh fiber from fruits and vegetables
- Ripened bananas
- Prunes
- Kiwi – skin is edible, though most prefer to eat just the flesh
- Pears – with skin
- Berries – easy to add to otherwise low fiber foods like pancakes and cereal
- Beans
- Probiotics –
- A microbiome is first established through a vaginal delivery. The health of that micro biome is dependent on the the strength of mom’s microbiome. It is then reinforced through breastfeeding and a pure and sufficient diet.
- The microbiome is diminished with formula and other processed foods and with each antibiotic.
- For these reasons, it’s often essential that we as human supplement with a good quality probiotic.
- Steamed and broiled foods
Foods that discourage intestinal mobility
- Dairy*
- Processed foods,
- Very often lack fiber and therefore starve the healthful natural flora (probiotics) needed for a healthy bowel.
- They are also high in sodium, which causes us to retain water that would otherwise be needed to appropriately soften our stool.
- They also often take the place of fresh fiber options during our meals.
- Refined carbohydrates –
- cookies,
- white bread,
- pastries etc.
- Cereals
- Crackers – Goldfish included
- a better option is “100% whole grain/wheat” (looks for those words, “wheat bread” is not good enough!)*
- Unripened green bananas
- Fried foods – fried refined white flour
- Chocolate – remember this one when you’re deciding on potty rewards!
- Medications – not a food obviously, but it’s usually taken by mouth so here we go. Constipation is a common side effect of many medications. Read the insert that comes with your meds ALWAYS. If you’ve already tossed them, use drugs.com to look up side effects. Antibiotics kill all bacteria, including the good and necessary probiotics. Excessive use of miralax is not ideal, and should be used as a last resort after you’ve established Eating, Moving and Thinking Well.
* Despite popular thought and government recommendations, humans have evolved healthfully without access to wheat and dairy. While more and more people are aware that they are actually gluten and/or lactose intolerant, gluten and lactose alone are not the reasons wheat and dairy don’t contribute to intestinal health.
Move Well
Without a doubt, the American lifestyle is lacking appropriate movement. Not just exercise but consistent movement throughout the day.
- 1 in 3 children are physically active for 60+ minutes on a daily basis.
- 15% of teens are not physically active for at least 60 minutes on a daily basis.
- Daily activity levels decline with age.
Walking just 10-15 minutes a day provides fantastic health benefits compared to not walking. And 30 minutes a day is the minimum we should participate in to avoid sickness, but that’s a lot different than what it takes to create health.
Without appropriate movement throughout the day, our intestinal mobility is decreased and when this happens, there’s more time for water to be pulled from the stool, leading to a harder to evacuate stool. Additionally, movement stimulates the rest and digest portion of our nervous system, which then stimulates our intestines.
Potty Posture…it matters.
Unfortunately, modern day toilets were not made for squatting. Fortunately, someone came up with an ingenious solution. Introducing the Squatty Potty.
For children, a potty that sits on the floor is likely a better option than a seat that goes on a big potty. This allows for proper biomechanics – see above, and also allows the child to place their feet on the floor that can assist them in evacuating and allow them to feel more secure. To help with poo clean up, place a coffee filter in the potty.
Chiropractic
Chiropractic concerns itself with the proper alignment and movement of the spine and thus health of the nervous system. Without a healthy nervous system it’s very easy for a body to lose its normal function since it’s through the nervous system that the brain and body communicate. Without clear communication between the brain and the rest of the body, normal function is lost and when normal function is lost, so is your health which could include your digestive health.
What could cause one to lose that clear connection between their brain and body? Two things: toxicity and deficiency. Toxicity and deficiency of how we eat, move and think. Not getting sufficient and pure diet, movement and thoughts and getting too much toxic and deficient ‘food’, movement and thoughts. These are or will be elaborated on in other posts.
What’s one to do? Engage in chiropractic care where your spine is regularly checked and adjusted if needed regardless of present symptoms. It’s exactly like regularly brushing and flossing your teeth regardless of having tooth pain. It’s exactly like taking care of a cavity even though there is no pain.
Think Well
Being conscious of how our children and ourselves eat and move can go a long way in preventing potty issues. If your child’s diet and movement patterns are lacking and constipation occurs, then it can easily lead to a painful and thus scary experience for the child. That will have a couple of repercussions.
Emotional stress activates the fight or flight (protection) portion of our nervous system and in doing so, overrides our rest and digest (growth). We cannot be in both protection and growth at the same time. Therefore it is essential that we nurture our emotional health with as much consideration as we nurture our physical health.
First and foremost, our approach with children should be child focused, rather than adult focused. In my experience, we, as parents, tend to do a lot of things for our own reasons, without much consideration to the individual needs of the child. With children, it’s important to encourage them to use the potty on their terms. This is not the time to battle. Forget the many blogs that claim to train in a weekend. I believe these are statistical outliers. Great for them! And if you can succeed at this, great for you too! But, let’s be conscious of forcing our expectations on our children. Also, be conscious of other’s expectations regarding the “training” of your children and how they are projecting their opinions on us as parents. Opinions are like toilets…everyone’s got one. Allow this to be your child’s experience, not yours or anyone else’s.
Plan on setbacks. They’re going to happen. Control your own emotions and don’t project your negative emotions onto your child. When a setback occurs, don’t make a big deal out of it. Usually, without a fuss, these setbacks will correct themselves.
Poop in a diaper is far better than a child who holds it in. Holding it in increases the chance of constipation and when constipation occurs, its going to be very uncomfortable for the child to eliminate and can likely create fear which will lead to future holding it in and a cycle that can spiral out of control.
Use encouraging, constructive words to guide them:
- “It’s time to use the potty” over “Do you want to use the potty?” or “I think you need to use the potty”
- If the child can tell you that they don’t need to use the potty you can answer, “I know you will tell me if you need any help when you need to go”
No shaming, no scolding, no punishing.
- “I see that you are wet/soiled. Let’s get clean clothes.” Have the child get the clothes and help you clean up.
*Put these phrases on paper and pin them up some where you’ll see them so that it’s easier to remember constructive language.
Things to try:
Remember when you were a kid and life was pretty much nothing but fun? It really stinks when the fun has to be interrupted, especially for something as mundane as the potty. When training, kids need reminders to remember to use the potty while they are still learning the signs their body give them. However, being a parent in today’s society is tough and we need reminders to remind them! Fortunately, technology has a solution. There are plenty of apps available, or, just set a timer to remind you every hour or so.
Try encouraging your child to poop on the potty with their diaper on. Once they get the hang of this, allow the child to observe you cutting a hole in the diaper, so that when they sit in the potty, the stool can go directly into the potty while they still feel secure with their diaper on.
When a child eliminates in their diaper opposed to using the potty, help the child dump the waste into the potty. This way to child can learn to associate that the waste goes into the potty. Help the child begin to learn how to clean themselves up.
If you have been using language that isn’t exactly positive when your child has a setback, forgive yourself! Sit down an have a talk with your child about why you’ve been frustrated. Being a parent isn’t about being perfect, it’s about teaching our children to be awesome little human beings and don’t we all love a person who is able to admit when they were wrong, ask forgiveness and try again? Role model that behavior to your child whenever it’s needed. Practice using constructive positive language with your child. At the end of the day when you’ve evaluating how your day went and you recognize you could have made a better decision, take a moment and replay the situation but insert what you should have said and done. This will actually make new neuronal connections that will help you perform better next time.
Constipation Relief while You Implement Eat Well Move Well Think Well
In cases when you’ve got constipation going on and relief is needed right now, rather than reaching for something like miralax, I would prefer something a little more natural without all the potential side effects. Essential oils are just the thing. Massage a drop or two of Lemon or Wild Orange or DigestZen in a clockwise motion around your child’s belly button. To dilute, and you should with children, use a tablespoon carrier oil, either fractionate coconut oil or olive oil. Order Here
Keep in mind it’s Eat Well + Move Well + Think Well, not Eat Well or Move Well or Think Well. It takes all these things to regain and maintain health. You may have tried any of the above in isolation or in various combinations, with some to no success. All of these things must be in play to move consistently towards health and stay there.
For help on implementing appropriate lifestyle changes to move yourself and your family towards higher levels of health and vitality, contact Barto Family Chiropractic at 724-515-5481. For a chiropractor near you who is trained and equipped to help your entire family establish and maintain a clear brain/body connection through a healthy nervous system visit www.ICPA4kids.org
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