Franco Berrino: «Constipation? A common evil. The diet to fight it »

15 percent of the population is chronically constipated, about 20 percent of women and 10 percent of men, and the prevalence increases in the elderly. A further fraction of the population, probably more than 10 percent, is occasionally constipated, for example when forced to change habits. It is one of the main causes of the deterioration of the quality of life in modern civilization. You can’t be happy if you don’t poop. A frequency of bowel movements between three per week and three per day is defined as “normal”. It may well be normal, that is the norm, but it is not right. Right is every morning, better between six and eight, when the energy of the large intestine, according to traditional Chinese medicine, is at its maximum. Doctors take little care of the intestine, prescribing laxatives for constipation without asking about the causes. Instead they should deal with it, why constipation is a risk indicator for the development of chronic diseases.

The American study

A large American study which followed over 3 million men for 10 years, 238,000 of whom suffered from constipation, found that the latter died more (+12 per cent), above all from ischemic stroke (+19 per cent) but also of coronary artery disease (+11 percent). The causes are mainly food: on one side the excess of saltof meats, especially cured meats, and salted and seasoned cheeses (very yang foods that cause yang constipation, i.e. dry, hard, painful stools to evacuate), on the other excess sugarrefined flours, pastries (yin foods that cause yin constipation, poor tone and intestinal motility, with stools that are pultaceous but equally difficult to evacuate).
Additional causes are lack of physical activity, stress, anxiety and depression. Those who are stressed, as well as those who are anxious, have thoracic breathing, while those who are relaxed have abdominal, diaphragmatic breathing, like that of children: the belly swells with each inspiration and massage the intestines 20 thousand times a dayhelping peristalsis.

Premenstrual constipation remedies

Popular wisdom has identified a number of remedies, in particular the flax seeds (the flax, a spoonful of seeds in a glass of water overnight, in the morning drink the mucilaginous supernatant or even all the seeds), psyllium seeds, kiwi, soaked dried figs or prunes, papaya (eaten with all the seeds). The macrobiotic route recommends bringing to a boil a cup of unsweetened apple juice with a teaspoon of powdered agar-agar, to be drunk warm before going to bed. It is a particularly suitable remedy for premenstrual constipation, also useful for painful periods. They are yin remedies, they are good for yang constipation, but they are not suitable for yin constipation, which instead requires toning, not relaxing, the intestine.

Remedies to strengthen the intestines

Yang remedies are needed to strengthen the intestines and stimulate their movement

, for example yang vegetables, the carrot and daikon soup is excellent, or the carrot and burdock root kimpira (cut into matchsticks, sautéed in oil and seasoned with tamari, a very yang sauce). Roots are yang because they sink into the ground with the Yang energy of the sky; vegetables that rise to the sky with the yin energy of the earth are more yin. Fruiting fruits and vegetables (tomatoes, eggplants) are very yin and should be limited if constipation is due to a sluggish bowel. Milk should also be eliminated, while miso soup, yang, is fine.

Umeboshi plums: properties and benefits

But the main remedy is the umeboshi plum. Umeboshi are a variety of apricot that has been grown in Japan for centuries. They are harvested unripe, dried, preserved under pressure in salt in wooden barrels together with shiso leaves and let it ferment for a year. One, two, three, four umeboshi plums and poop. If the plum is perceived as too strong for its sour and salty taste, you can prepare umé-sho-kuzu: dissolve a teaspoon of kuzu in a cup of cold water, add an umeboshi plum and bring to a boil for three minutes, add a few drops of shoyu (soy sauce and wheat) or tamari and drink hot; it is a thick salty broth with a pleasant taste, and then you eat the cooked prune, which is less aggressive. Umeboshi have extraordinary anti-inflammatory, antacid, antiemetic, antifebrile, digestive properties… but it’s always just a remedy.

Constipation, the importance of understanding the causes

A remedy and only a remedy, it was said. First of all, however, we must ask ourselves about the causes, about where we go wrong in our food and lifestyle. The main mistake of industrial food was the refining of cereals and the invention of a thousand alternatives to the traditional diet rich in legumes and vegetables, therefore of fibers that stimulate peristalsis and feed the microbes that keep the intestine healthy. But, be careful, it is not about eating bran, but whole grains, legumes, vegetables, much more interesting from a gastronomic point of view, to be gradually included in the diet so as not to frighten the intestines. The good news is that it can be healed (unless there are intestinal malformations): in the first DIANA study, the ladies participating, who came to follow macrobiotic cooking courses and ate with us twice a week, found, with pleasant surprise, that after only two months of well chewed whole foods they had resolved their bowel problemseven after decades of stubborn constipation.