Constipation can be a very painful problem and one that can lead to further complications if you’re not careful. There are many reasons why you may suffer from constipation, including a dependency on laxatives, hyperthyroidism or bad reflexes; do you disregard the normal ‘call to action’ when it occurs, which can cause your body to not spot the trigger?

The American Gastroenterological Association approximates that $750 million is spent each year by the American population on laxatives and, as with other types of non-natural stimulants, your body can become reliant on them, which can lead to increased bowel dysfunction. Stopping their use leads to an extended period of discomfort as your body tries to remember what it is supposed to do!

Hypothyroidism can be a common concern, particularly in women over the age of 40. Your under active thyroid gland can lead to constipation, which in turn may mask the underlying problem.

Try to eat vegetables and other foods that are known to be rich in fiber, as part of a holistic nutrition diet. Organic flax seeds can be an extra source of fiber and could be included in ground form and added to your food. Processed foods, junk foods and convenience foods are low in total nutritional value and should be avoided. If you find yourself attracted to large amounts of fast foods you may have a sugar addiction, which is a danger to your general wellbeing anyway and must be controlled.

If you have irritable bowel syndrome, you may need to try and balance the good and bad bacteria and should investigate a high quality probiotic to see if you can achieve your natural balance this way. Don’t forget that regular exercise is essential so create a suitable workout plan to boost circulation and the function of your inner organs, including your intestines and bowels.

If you must take supplements, consider magnesium and aloe vera at the top of your list. One third of a cup of pure organic aloe vera juice can be added to a cup of pure water, a teaspoon full of powdered acidophilus and two teaspoonfuls of ground flax seed. This cleansing drink should be blended well and consumed before you go to bed or on an empty stomach. This is sure to clean out your intestinal tract.

Always heed the call of nature and never wait longer than you have to for a bowel movement. If you choose to retain a bowel movement for a prolonged period of time, water will be absorbed from the stool into your body, and the resulting dryer stool will make it far more difficult to complete the movement, and with time, such choices will certainly keep you from staying regular on a daily basis.

Integrating these tips into your lifestyle and investigating holistic health solutions will help you to reduce your symptoms of constipation, get your life back on track and cure any number of ailments, many of which you were not even aware of!

It is a shame that, as human beings, we seem so vulnerable to excesses, and from a holistic nutrition perspective, sugar addiction ranks toward the top of the list. It is easy to set our bodies off-balance if we do not eat or drink correctly, yet generally we do not realize the consequences of doing so and tend to plow on with our muddled lives regardless. If we paid more attention to our daily eating habits, a vast number of illnesses and diseases could be avoided by most people, and psychologically speaking, we could also lead far more fulfilling lives and have a much more positive outlook on the future as well.

When most people get stressed (it happen all the time these days) even the idea of a balanced diet is quickly forgotten, and they immediately begin looking to convenience foods and “comfort” foods to find a temporary feeling of satisfaction. Processed, simple sugars flood into our diets as we get the quick fix and we believe that we feel better, although fundamentally nothing could be further from the truth.

To function correctly and to really understand the importance of holistic health solutions, we all need to adopt an 80/20 approach to our bodies and to our diets. Following the 80/20 rule will provide you with the opportunity to rapidly restore balance to your daily life, but only if you keep it in mind prior to each and every meal.

To really develop a good understanding of what the 80/20 rule is actually all about, it’s crucial to realize that our bodies are made up of both acid and alkaline properties, and when the balance between these two opposites is lost, everything falls apart! All foods need to be alkaline, acidic or neutral, with by far the largest amounts being made up of alkaline forming foods. In this instance, 80% should be alkaline, and the remaining 20% should represent the acid forming foods. When it comes to the average American diet, unfortunately, this goal is quite far from the usual mark.

Alkaline-based foods are largely vegetables and fruits and some nuts & seeds, while acid-based foods include animal protein, starch, sugar, alcohol, dairy and some grains. For some reason it has become traditional to serve vegetables as “a side” and in very much smaller portions, whereas according to the 80/20 rule it should be the other way around. Give it a try: 80% alkaline forming food and 20 % acid food on your plate at each serving.

The 80/20 rule also tells us that we should train our bodies to become satisfied before we feel “full.” In other words, when you get to 80%, stop eating. Over a period of time you’ll be amazed how this approach will really make you feel better.

Almost everything that we do, our careers, our personal lives, our aspirations, depend on how we maintain our health. This in turn has a great deal to do with how we eat, and if we apply the 80/20 approach to our diets we can expect to be far more productive, and have longer, happier lives as a result of our holistic nutrition approach.

Excess stomach gas can be a serious problem, even though late-night comedians often make the issue the butt of their jokes. Flatulence can be embarrassing and if severe enough can cause a significant social issue for you and your loved ones. As the subject is taboo and often referred to in jocular terms, many who suffer often do so in silence as they would rather put up with the symptoms than investigate its causes and cures.

Basically, any one of three primary problems could result in excessive stomach gas, and each of these could easily lead to issues in the future if not addressed for a long span of time.

Your body is a delicate balance of chemical reactions and yeast is a critical component. Under certain circumstances, this particular component gets out of balance and when an excessive level of yeast, or Candida is present, health issues can quickly develop. Apparently, this is the foremost cause of a gas problem, and it’s the common result of impaired digestion and a poor approach to holistic nutrition. If someone regularly pursues a diet which filled with “quick and easy” choices, it won’t be digested correctly and the proper waste won’t be expelled either. This causes the yeast to multiply within your intestines and ferment gas. Is this issue related to your sugar addiction? Generally, most processed foods have limited nutritional value and are quite high in refined sugars, and such ingredients – in these proportions, may provide the yeast with ideal conditions to flourish. Even more worrying, Candida can lead to the formation of allergies, increased levels of anxiety, difficulty concentrating and irritable bowel syndrome among other illnesses.

Constipation is another embarrassing issue that few choose to talk about. Experts say that you should have a bowel movement twice a day, or food will ferment within your intestines leading to gas and odors. When gas travels into the digestive tract it can lead to bloating and further discomfort. It is important to track your bowel movements and if irregular, think of a colon cleanse and a major reassessment of your diet.

The drug industry has done a lot to brainwash us about “cures” for indigestion. We are told we have too much acid and antacids are popped like pills. As the balance of stomach acid is again very delicate, these pills will essentially cause more harm than good. Food is not completely digested due to this imbalance and its goodness cannot be correctly absorbed. Undigested food will be attacked by organisms and once again will lead to gas, bloating and other bowel problems.

These are just some of the problems caused if you don’t concentrate on holistic health solutions to help you lead your life well. You need to take control of sugar and food cravings and stop relying on processed foods by pretending you don’t have enough time to prepare your diet accordingly. Many of the major illnesses we suffer today, including arthritis, diabetes and cancer can be traced back to poor dietary health. Next time you have an excessive gas attack, consider whether it could be linked to your sugar addiction and make plans for change as soon as possible.

As a fundamental aspect of sugar addiction, many individuals commonly refer to a sugar high or a sugar rush in the “same light” as if it were a psychological reaction to an illegal drug, causing intense feelings of euphoria, satisfaction and pleasure. The actual sensation is less like a chemical reaction, but more like a reaction to elevated levels of energy provided by the ingredient. However, the initial burst of energy might fade fairly quickly, and will invariably lead to a “crash,” leaving behind headaches and a variety of other unwelcome side effects, which we disregard at our own peril.

When people are looking for something sugary, they’re likely anticipating – consciously or unconsciously, that extra burst of energy and the feeling of “getting it together,” so they can better deal with the tasks ahead. What most people just don’t seem to realize is that the consumption of sugar triggers a complex series of events within our bodies. The concentration of glucose in the bloodstream rapidly increases from the sugars, which our bodies then work toward regulating as quickly as possible. Insulin is released from your pancreas which in turn aims to convert this extra energy into fat reserves. In all likelihood, this probably comes from a time long ago when our bodies didn’t have consistent forms of energy available, and therefore fats are now – just as then, reserved for times of scarcity.

You do not have to be a medical doctor to know that an illness such as diabetes must be avoided at all costs. Most nutrition professionals say that hypoglycemia is a precursor to diabetes, and it’s caused – at least partially, due to an ongoing cycle of intense sugar intake and insulin release, causing your body to establish a resistance to insulin, which is absolutely crucial for such regulation.

With sensible holistic health solutions, it’s essential for all of us to carefully watch the amount of simple sugars that we regularly consume. Most of us genuinely believe that we’re eating a fairly balanced diet, but in order to ensure that sugars aren’t masquerading within what may otherwise be thought of as a “healthy” approach, we should always be reading the food labels carefully. It is recommended that you only absorb a maximum of 40g of simple sugar per day. This can be found within one can of soda!

Few seem to follow a holistic nutrition approach to their diets, constrained as we are by our hectic lifestyles, schedules and what appears to be an inability to prepare wholesome meals creatively. We are constantly opting for the easy solution and loading our bodies up with excess fats, too many calories and those ever so sweet sugars. We know that the sugar rush will be followed by a sugar crash, but we do it anyway.

Many of us are proud of the fact that we do not resort to alcohol, drug abuse or cigarettes to get us through life and consider that our diets are sensible and realistic. However, while we may not have any of the more traditional addictions or vices, we may well have a sugar addiction without really realizing it.

All of us have to eat to survive, and one of our biggest pleasures comes from finding new ways of satisfying ourselves with the incredible variety of foods which are readily available to us. Most of us are able to easily differentiate between an array of tastes and smells, and because of this we’ve turned the task of eating into an elaborate ritual where we endeavour to regularly surround ourselves with all kinds of foods. Almost every day we’re tempted to eat much more than what’s necessary, or to indulge in poor diet “comfort foods.” Our relationship to food can become completely out of phase, should we be suffering through particular emotional changes or issues. As we are attuned to eating several times each day, unless we are very careful a poor and unbalanced diet may arise, leading to serious health problems.

We can see the gravity of the problem by looking at our population as a whole. The wide-spread problem of obesity in society – and many other problems as well, can be closely linked to what is commonly known as “emotional eating.” In its worst form, people are simply eating to try and address emotional issues or to satisfy their emotional hunger. The most common phrase with respect to food that most of us usually hear is “comfort food,” which means a kind of food which temporarily helps someone repair, replace or forget about something else. Unfortunately, our “right now” type of society means that we have instant access to all kinds of ready-made foods, processed products with little actual nutritional value and high sugar content.

It’s important to recognize whether you are an emotional eater or not. If you notice that you’re looking to ice creams, snacks and fast foods during stressful times, and you allow yourself to regularly indulge, then you’re just making your addiction worse. You are not thinking about holistic health solutions or holistic nutrition, but rather going for what you believe to be a quick fix, which in effect is just aggravating the problem. You might feel a short-term comfort or “high” but the consequent low will just make you focus even more on the issues which were there in the first place and have not gone away.

Realize that it may not be easy to overcome your food addiction and your emotional eating habits. The first step is certainly recognizing that you have a problem, but you may need the help of a trained health professional or a support group to intervene to break the cycle permanently. One thing is for sure, we will face challenges and emotional difficulties throughout our lives, but we should try and maintain a physically healthy life as much as possible to enable us to ride this roller coaster best.

Dr. Elson Haas of the Preventative Medical Center tells us that we will need “greater attentiveness and a willingness to deal openly with emotions and other adversities that may block our way to healing.” Analyze your diet very carefully and start planning to kick your sugar addiction, which may well be at the core of the issue. Chances are that whatever is holding you back and helping to create your challenges can be diet related, and if you are an emotional eater, the kind of fuel that you put in your body will not be able to provide you with the mental and physical tools to help you do battle.