IT'S GO TIME!

What would you think if I told you, increasing your energy and immune function, lowering your risk for disease, improving your overall health and even losing weight can all be achieved just by restoring health to one area of your body? Well, you can.

I'll warn everyone ahead of time, it's no one's favourite topic. But when it comes to achieving optimal health today, it's “go” time. Literally. In case you haven't guessed, I'm referring to our bodies' eliminations, or more specifically the lack thereof. Constipation, literally that uncomfortable topic not meant for the dinner table - however things served at that dinner table do play a huge role in our bodies' ability to eliminate properly.

So how is constipation affecting Canadians? According to a report from the Canadian Digestive Health Foundation done is 2014, one in four Canadians suffer from constipation, with prevalence among women being twice that of men. Chronic conditions were also reported higher for low income groups than those in higher income brackets. In fact, 63 million people in North America suffer from constipation - greater than migraines, asthma, diabetes and coronary heart disease – at a total medical cost of around $7500 each. The report further stated that, “People with chronic constipation have a poorer health-related quality of life than the normal Canadian population, and constipation is at a level seen in patients with diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), diabetes, chronic allergy, rheumatological conditions, heart disease and depression.”

If this is you or someone you know, the report had good news too, saying “The quality of life of people with constipation improves significantly after relief of symptoms.” Not just feeling better, but quality of life improves significantly. And who doesn't want to improve their quality of life? Let's take a peek at what that would look like for the average patient.

First, let's look at some of the causes of constipation so we know what sort of sh*# we're dealing with. Medications, inactivity, diet, not enough water or fibre, overuse of laxatives, pregnancy, neurological conditions like MS, Parkinson's, under active thyroid (hypothyroidism), depression, stress, changes in your usual diet/routine, travel can all impact your body's ability to eliminate properly.

At first glance, there are only a few things on the list that an individual would have control over to change or improve immediately. What's interesting however, is that in tackling a few of the seemingly smaller things – diet, inactivity, water - the resulting changes and improvements create a positive ripple effect over the things you felt you couldn't change, offering some relief in those areas as well and turn out to be much bigger things. Hence increased quality of life.

For example, eating more fresh, whole foods, balancing meals, limiting or eliminating sugar and processed foods, going for a walk every night and drinking two to three litres (ladies) or three to four litres (gentlemen) each day goes a long way to restoring regularity. Oh an by the way, Canadian recommendations as well as those from the American Gastroenterological Association guidelines in 2013 recommend dietary and lifestyle changes first as treatment of constipation ahead of laxatives.

To get the bowel rolling so to speak, I encourage you all to get started today. Choose the area where you know you can make changes right away and do. Your quality of life depends on it and you're worth it. It's go time!