Q: How Often Should I Have A Bowel Movement?

Ok so picture this: I am 19 or 20 years old and running down the stairs speedily to answer the phone. I trip and long story short, was rushed to the E.R. by ambulance. The nice lady checking me into the hospital asked me a series of general questions. She asked how long it had been since my last bowel movement. When I told her it may have been about 2 weeks ago she looked at me in horror. That is when I knew I was doing something wrong. Fast forward to today and I know exactly what I was doing wrong…EATING CRAPPOLA! Today, thanks to eating healthy I have 2 to 3 bowel movements per day.

So what is constipation? Constipation is a common digestive problem. It may be difficult for you to have a bowel movement, or your bowel movements may be infrequent. You may be getting constipated if you start having bowel movements much less often than you usually do. As the food you eat passes through your digestive tract, your body takes nutrients and water from the food. This process creates a stool, which is moved through your intestines with muscle contractions (squeezing motions). A number of things can affect this process. These include not drinking enough fluids, not being active enough, not eating enough fiber or produce, as well as taking certain medicines. If you eat three meals a day, then you should have three bowel movements each day. The first bowel movement should take place in the morning when you wake up or soon after you have had breakfast. Typically you should experience the urge for a bowel movement 20-30 minutes after you eat. The other bowel movements should be during the day and just before bedtime.

In her book, Healthy Digestion the Natural way, 2000, D. Lindsey Berkson defines constipation as,"A healthy person should have at least one bowel movement a day. Medical textbooks state that individual variation goes from several times a day to several times a week. However, having worked with people for many years on improving their health, I would define constipation as not having one to several daily bowel movements, or having too long an intestinal-transit time."

If you eat three meals a day and only have one or two bowel movements, then the second and third meal are backing up in your colon and staying there too long. When your fecal matter stays too long in your colon, water and toxins are pulled out of the fecal matter and absorbed through your colon wall. This makes the fecal matter stiff and hard. Your colon will now have a hard time moving this hard fecal matter through its sections and out the rectum.

Foods rich in fiber
• Unprocessed wheat bran
• Unrefined breakfast cereals
• Whole-grain bread and brown rice
• Fresh fruits
• Dried fruits (such as prunes, apricots and figs)
• Vegetables
• Beans (such as navy, kidney and pinto beans)