Consumption of an excess of calcium, including that in milk products is constipating. The opioid peptides in dairy protein and wheat gluten act in the body in the same way as morphine, with multiple effects, including relaxation of the peristalsis necessary to move the bolus along the digestive tract, worsening constipation (www.13.waisays.com/constipation.htm, http://osiris.sunderland.ac.uk/autism/executive.htm).
Trying to relieve constipation by eating large quantities of hard fibers that have been separated from the grain, such as wheat bran, can irritate and inflame the colon, possibly leading to polyps and cancer.
Beans and lentils, veggies, and fruit all contain beneficial soft fiber. Soft fibers from whole, unrefined plant foods, whether cooked or raw, help promote peristalsis (muscle contraction of the intestines to move the bolus along). Oatmeal provides soft fiber.
On the other hand, rice is mildly binding. Legumes have a mild laxative effect, so the rice can be minimized for maximum peristalsis, or the rice can be increased to firm stool up a bit.
Simply drinking more water can relieve constipation (as much as 48 ounces a day). The body draws extra moisture from the colon when too little water gets drunk, forming overly compact stools.
Ground flaxseeds provide both soft fiber and omega fatty acids. (Please see “Outstanding Omegas”.) If one eats a substantial amount of ground flaxseeds (3 to 5 tablespoons), fruit, especially apples and bananas, legumes, and green leafy vegetables, stool can soften and move along comfortably without hard bran or laxatives.
To remove some of the pesticides from conventional apples (non-organic), they need to get washed with soap or peeled, especially if the skin’s covered with wax. Conventional apple seeds contain pesticides.
Long term daily usage of laxatives can damage nerve cells in the colon as well as wash out beneficial probiotic bacteria, worsening constipation. One could take vegan probiotic supplements containing such bacteria, improving digestion. (Please see “Powerful probiotics, vegan cheese”.)
Chlorella nutritional algae are reputed to normalize the bowel, either easing constipation or diminishing diarrhea. (Please see “Super nutritional algae”.)
Without sufficient physical activity, peristalsis is not as efficient.
The frequency of bowel movements has been shown to increase with increasing consumption of veggies. Vegans have three times the chance of flesh eaters of moving their bowels daily ("Nutrition and Lifestyle in Relation to Bowel Movement Frequency," pgs.77-83 Public Health Nutrition: vol.7 no.1 (2004)).
If none of the above produces regularity, try supplementing a small dose of magnesium at bedtime, or eating foods that are high in magnesium such as lentils. Magnesium acts as a gentle laxative, helping to relieve constipation by relaxing tension on the colon walls, allowing for normal peristaltic action.
Excellent sections on constipation and diarrhea with many very worthwhile tips can be found in Balch (Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis A. Balch MD, ISBN 1-58333-077-1, available at many large health stores).
The Living End: X-rated, only read the following if you’re over 18. Bowel movements can be facilitated by putting a stool under both feet to approximate the natural squatting position. The pressure of the thighs on the abdomen may prove decisive. And while on the Throne: “In the name of God, go!” (Oliver Cromwell to the Rump Parliament, 1649). “Do as I bid thee, go!” (Paris to Page, Act V, Scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet).
Outing ouch! Osteoporosis
Progesterone and testosterone help build bone, while estrogen slows bone loss. Fosamax (alendronate, Actonel risedronate, bisphosphonates) has side effects that can increase risk of damage to the liver, kidneys, uterine and breast cancer, blood clots, heart attack and stroke. While Evista (raloxifene) may help avoid increased risk of breast cancer by blocking estrogen receptors in breast tissues while acting as estrogen in other tissues such as bones, Evista’s side effects do include increased risk of blood clots, heart attack and stroke, as well as hot flashes.
Evista increases estrogen-like activities in most tissues, including the action of killing osteoclasts, the cells that allow the body to dissolve the hardened minerals in bones bit by bit so that bones can get repaired by the body. (Fosamax uses a different chemical, bisphosphonate.) Although killing osteoclasts results in increased density since they can no longer dissolve minerals from bones, it prevents longer term repairs to microfractures, inhibiting increases in bone strength. In the long run, chance of fracture increases since the bones can no longer remold themselves to accommodate changing stresses (pg.76 Scientific American March 2003). A study of 9500 women found no benefit from estrogen supplementation, no decrease in hip fractures, for women over 65 (New England Journal of Medicine 1995).
Even when drugs get used to force calcium into bones, increasing density, the bones remain just as fragile. After all, chalk is brittle and fragile since it doesn’t have any reinforcing structure. The way to rebuild and maintain robust bones is through exercise and modest dietary sources of calcium and other necessary minerals from green veggies, beans, sea veggies and sea salt. Exercise causes electrical signals to travel along bones as the muscles exert force, stimulating the growth of more reinforcing structures.
The studies that condemn older people to osteoporosis unless they take medications are based on people consuming the SAD acid-forming diet (see Acid-alkali balance). The studies that show success via medications are based similarly. Instead of taking medications, one could try to ameliorate or reverse the worsening of osteoporosis by minimizing further loss of density, by adopting the changes in “Reversing advanced clinical disorders”. Those changes could result in greatly increased dietary alkalinity, obviating the body’s need to leach alkaline calcium from bones, restoring the balance between dissolution and deposition of minerals in bones, allowing natural repair and remodeling to continue unimpeded by medications, for increased bone strength.
Maintaining the body slightly more toward the higher alkaline end of the healthy range of pH promotes bone health. Carbonated soft drinks and meat contain a great deal of phosphorous, causing calcium loss. Phosphoric acid is added to soft drinks to keep the bubbles from going flat as rapidly. A bone will turn soft after soaking in most types of soft drink, which also can be used to remove the rust from a nail. Drinking fluoridated water increases risk of hip fractures 20% to 40%, since the calcium phosphate gets drawn from the blood to compensate for the acidic water. Diuretics may cause mineral loss. If one limits alkaline calcium loss to compensate for an overly acidic diet, one may well not have to supplement calcium, if one eats whole, unrefined foods.
Because diets rich in animal protein cause the body to lose more calcium, a person on a plant-based diet needs less calcium to stay in calcium balance. Food sources of calcium and magnesium include broccoli, leafy greens, almonds, legumes, figs, apricots.
Excessive calcium supplementation may suppress the secretion of parathyroid hormone and slow the natural turnover, the “renewal” of bone. The resultant “stale” bone is more at risk of microfractures. Calcium supplementation of between 1 g and 1.5 g daily have been associated with an increased rather than decreased risk of fracture (bmj.com/cgi/content/full/318/7187/862).
Contrary to the advertisements from the Dairy Council funded to the tune of $100 million a year, the top four dairy countries suffer the highest rates of hip fractures and breast cancer. These correlations for dairy consumption with osteoporosis and breast cancer continue over 150 countries, with the lowest consumption of dairy resulting in the fewest fractures and breast cancer. The calcium in dairy is not balanced with the magnesium and boron needed for utilization in bones. [For the boron content of common foods see the website (www.greenfacts.org/boron/toolboxes/boron-in-food.htm).] Excess calcium from dairy can cause the kidney to reduce conversion of vitamin D to the special form needed to promote utilization of calcium in bones. Therefore that calcium does not help prevent osteoporosis. The acid-forming phosphorus and protein cause alkaline calcium to get leached frombones. Got milk? Got crutches?
Older people who get little sunlight directly on their skin may need to take vegan vitamin D supplements, since D is necessary for efficient absorption of calcium and other minerals in the small intestine, for bone formation. Above 42º latitude no one can produce enough vitamin D in the winter, regardless of how much time gets spent in the sun.
Weight-bearing exercise can help to slow bone loss and possibly even increase bone density.
If progesterone is found low by blood test analysis, skin crème can be used to replace it, possibly allowing one to substitute non-prescription, non-internal medications for the pharmaceuticals. Taking a week off per month may help maintain the sensitivity of progesterone receptors (What Your Doctor May Not Tell You about Menopause by Lee and Hopkins). Arbonne offers progesterone crèmes both with and without added phytoestrogens (www.arbonne.com 1-800-ARBONNE Irvine CA).
Kyphoplasty is a procedure where the original height and angle of a fractured vertebra are restored by using either hydraulic or mechanical expansion, followed by the vertebra’s stabilization using injected bone cement (plastic). The most problematic complication related to kyphoplasty may be causing nerve damage, a neurologic deficit. This may occur through a cement leak of the bone cement into the spinal canal. Such a cement leak may occur through the low resistance veins of the vertebral body or through a crack in the bone which has not been detected previously. Cement embolization, or blockage of an artery, occurs by a similar mechanism to a cement leak. The cement may be forced into the low resistance venous system and travel to the lungs or brain resulting in a pulmonary embolism or stroke. Complication rates vary from study to study, from 1.2% to 8.6%, with mobility increased in 88% of patients (www.surgeons.org/asernip-s/net-s/procedures/Kyphoplasty.pdf ). Apparently one alternative to surgery is to live in a brace for awhile to see if pain lessens, but deformity might cause other fractures. However, the cement-strengthened verterbra might also cause otherfractures in neighboring weak vertebrae. What a dilemma! One way to proceed is to consider alternatives before kyphoplasty, then make sure that the surgeon is not a student, rather has performed at least dozens of kyphoplasties.
Please see “Fad diet hype”, “Dairy dubious for health”, “Acid-alkali balance”, “Swimmers’ asthma from chlorine”, “Diuretic disorders” for further comments on osteoporosis. An excellent section with many very worthwhile tips regarding osteoporosis can be found in Balch (Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis A. Balch MD, ISBN 1-58333-077-1, available at many large health stores).
