- Drink water! However avoid ice cold water because cold constricts and we want to open and move the digestive system, not constrict it. Warm water or room temperature is best. Keep track of how much water you consume sand how often your bowel movements are so you’ll know how much water can do the trick.
- Get moving! How can your bowels move if your body doesn’t? Walk 30 minutes a day or even longer if your constipation is severe.
- Use castor oil packs on your abdomen daily or at least 3 x week.
- Olive oil: pour it on just about everything you eat! (Don’t get the castor oil and the olive oil mixed up!). Olive oil is a healthy fat that helps lubricate the intestines.
- Keep a soothing heating pad or hot water bottle on your abdomen once or twice a day for 15-30 minutes.
- Drink 2 ounces of aloe vera juice per day. (The juice, not the gel! Save the gel for your sunburns.) You can put it in a smoothie or juice or drink it straight.
- Get an individualized Chinese herbal formula. Make sure you go to a nationally board certified Chinese herbalist.
- Eat chia seed pudding. Put 1/2 cup chia seeds in a bowl with 2 cups of liquid (water or almond milk or a combo of these) and stir well. Let it sit so it congeals into the pudding consistency that it should be. From 20 minutes to overnight in the fridge. Garnish it as you would a bowl of oatmeal: blueberries, cinnamon, walnuts, vanilla extract, etc.
