impacted fecal matter?

Question
Sorry for the indelicate nature of this question but I thought you might know-I cant find a good answer anywhere!
I suffer from IBS and an inability to lose weight. I am a 55 year old guy.
I discovered last summer that cutting out red meat really helped my symptoms especialy the bloated belly.
As a new years resolution I  decide to go vegetarian. I have gone off the wagon a few times but I am doing OK.
I am seeing lots of benefits even losing weight. I am wondering about bowel movements?
Mine are better now but every couple days I will let go a very small, hard, one. My vegetarian wife says that is 'impacted fecal matter probably meat'. It was this stuff putrifying that was contributing to the big belly.
Whats your opinion?
Also, what can I take or eat to help if this is so-for some reason bran cereal doesnt do a thing for me!?
Thanks and happy new year!

Answer
Dear Bud,

Our bowel movements are actually part of a very creative and transformative process, and not quite as indelicate as we have been raised to believe. Naturally, it is also a source of toxins, disease, and other unpleasantries, as an eliminatory process, but children are right to be proud of a proper bowel movement: they still relate to it as an "own work" (if not quite art!). In any case, stools are great indicators of health.

Good for you going vegetarian! If you settle into it as well as you seem to have, then it's always a nice thing to hear, since there are considerable health benefits possible, and it tends to make one feel "lighter" on many levels (also spiritually). Getting rid of impacted fecal matter however is not so easy to do. It tends to take an extremely strict vegan diet for a month at least and usually a fast with colonic irrigation somewhere in the middle. Otherwise, it may take at least a couple of years of a good vegetarian diet (low on cheese, milk and no white foods - sugar, flour etc) and high in sour-milk products (yoghurt or kefir etc) tons of salad, fresh greens and plenty of roughage (brown rice, wholewheat bread etc) before you have transformed the meat-tolerant climate in your intestines and developed a new kind of flora.

This period of transformation, however, may result in a few upsets here and there, as you are cleansing and indeed changing your entire system. Different bacteria are needed to digest meat - and often there is no way back after a certain (middle) age, or after many years of vegetarianism. It is certainly the case that meat-eaters suffer much more from constipation (chronic or regular).

In general, hard stools, when small, indicate there is not enough bulk being processed, but at the same time you are not taking enough fluids. Make sure you are not dehydrated. Some foods absorb a lot of water, which makes them softer. If you only eat cereals without enough fluid (counting yoghurt or fruit juice) you are going to irritate the bowel and this over-activity creates hard, dry stools. Spices can have the same effect (heating up the metabolic system too much resulting in a kind of dehydrating digestive system).

One great tip is to drink a (luke warm)glass of water before going to bed, preferably after some calming (evening, chamomile, peppermint, or oatstraw) herbal tea (which aids digestion). Also, first thing in the morning, followed by some herbal tea. You might like to try adding a teaspoon of high quality (green) clay for 3-4 weeks. See if you can find some in a healthfood store. Make sure it is suitable for ingestion (not just mud packs). The minerals in the clay will help regulate the metabolic system, and the clay tends to help "scrape" the bowels a bit. Read the instructions well (if there are any): sometimes you can just drink the watery part without the "grit" after stirring and letting the clay sink down to the bottom (if constipation gets worse in some rare cases). But if you can get used to the challenge of swallowing "earth"! have a go. Anything grounding is actually quite good in helping to reinvigorate the lower pole of your body.

Classical remedies to help soften stools are linseed and dried prunes(pasturised ones are available now a days in health-food stores, ready to eat and actually delicious). Three dried apricots a day are also very good for you. Not only rich in iron and great laxatives, they also help cool the liver (sometimes an "over worked" liver needs to be stimulated with digestive issues). Figs are another good fruit (especially in winter).

Sauerkraut is great, because of the fermentation process which introduces a lactose to your bowels. There are lactose drinks available - but cabbage has plenty of fibre which trains up the intestine, and helps put energy in the belly (fire, literally, with the "sulphurus" quality of cabbage - bringing down excess heat out of liver if necessary).

Cold drinks should be avoided: an under cooling diet also "shrinks" the activity of the gut. You need to think of warm, moist, alkaline (taste might be acidic but yoghurt etc is alkaline!). You could check out a website for alkaline diets to help dot i's and cross t's in your vegetarian diet in the most balanced way.

Finally, bear in mind, that the digestive system is quickly  effected by the head. If all the energy goes up, there will be little left to conduct a healthy digestive process. Nerves, worries, stress, haste, apathy etc, can all lead to constipation or other irregularities. Make sure to keep meals varied so that you remain fully engaged and joyful about eating (the digestive process really starts at that preliminary level!). And keep them peaceful, pleasant, blessed events. Don't rush, and be appreciative. These details can help set up a great final conclusion to the whole process!

Wishing you ongoing success with your vegetarian adventure.
Warmest regards,
Evelyn.  

1. Prev:nutrition and breast fibroids
2. Next:Lung Cancer and Renal failure