Here’s how I healed myself from constipation with these five Ayurvedic remedies
Losing significant weight (~25 kgs) in a span of six months came with its own share of health problems. The one that most impacted my life was being unable to experience the complete elimination of waste on a regular basis.
After having dealt with acute constipation for more than three weeks, I finally decided to seek help in ancient Ayurvedic hacks that have been tried and tested over the years to provide relief from constipation. These entailed simple tweaks to everyday diet and yogic postures that required little time and were super easy to follow.
Here’s what helped:
1. Eating water-rich fruits in the morning
It’s a well-known fact that water-rich fruits work as natural stool softeners. Therefore, I made it a point to eat watermelon for breakfast. Having fruits solo is always recommended. However, since watermelon has a neutral pH, I sometimes paired it with cucumber (peels intact for that extra fiber). The following infographic is a quick guide on combining fruits to maximize nutrition and avoid digestive problems.
Having prebiotic fruits like banana are definitely recommended, but Ayurveda and modern-day Science both advise eating banana in the afternoons, when the digestive fire is at its peak in line with the sun’s rays, and also never eating it empty stomach.
2. Morning drink
I am a huge coffee addict, and nothing gives me more happiness than a steaming hot cup of black coffee. However, determined as I was to heal, I delayed my morning coffee until the later part of the day and considered having raisin water instead. The reason is that coffee dries up the body, particularly when taken without milk. On the other hand, soaked raisins are a powerful antidote to heal constipation, as per Ayurveda.
I used to soak the raisins overnight, drink the water, and chew the raisins the next morning. This simple hack brought a ton of unanticipated benefits- from promoting glowing skin to preventing late-afternoon energy slumps. Today, there’s plenty of scientific evidence to back these benefits stated by Ayurvedic scriptures 5000 years ago.
3. “Snacking” in-between meals
The one thing that I learned from reading Jason Fung’s The Obesity Code was that snacking is the principal trigger of insulin resistance and chronic obesity. As I result, by the time I had lost weight, I had completely eliminated snacking from my routine, and it was easier than I thought so. All thanks to intermittent fasting (16:8). However, in a bid to regain control over my digestion, I ate two things in between meals:
- Ginger-rock salt
- Hot water
The reason is, that a piece of ginger laced with rock salt is an ancient remedy that is now proven by Science in aiding digestion. Hot water, as we all know, keeps the bowels moving and is basically a lubricant for the gut.
4. Meal add-ons
Speaking of lubricants for the gut, I made it a point to add two tablespoons of cow ghee (clarified butter) to my meals. Ghee is basically a gut superfood, with exhausting scientific literature to attest to its health benefits. Besides that, I used to sprinkle a ton of quick add-ons to my regular lunches and dinners to increase fiber intake and digestion, such as fresh, raw coriander leaves, grated ginger, black pepper, and toasted sesame seeds.
Since I am based in India, we tend to cook with a lot of whole spices like cardamom, cloves, bay leaf, and cinnamon. All of these are known to boost the digestive power of the stomach. Besides that, I used to make it a point to include water-rich foods in my daily diet, such as pumpkin, tomatoes, spinach, legumes, and chickpeas.
5. Post-dinner routine
Dinners were light and water-rich. I have always endorsed protein-rich dinners, but chicken and steak are drying for the body and not exactly gut-friendly. Therefore, I swapped eggs and chicken for legume-based soups, pumpkin soups, potatoes, and millet. Raw vegetables and salads were a big no because Ayurveda advises against having raw foods post-sunset since that is when the body's digestion is naturally low.
Post-dinner, I always made it a point to sit for five minutes in a certain posture, known as Vajrasan. This is known to promote quick emptying of the stomach contents and passage of digested food to the colon. Since I live in an apartment, taking a walk after dinner was not possible for me. Therefore, this Yogic hack was particularly useful.
In addition, before going to sleep, I took another piece of raw ginger and chewed it well to get the digestive stomach juices flowing for uninterrupted metabolism all night. Like most Indians, I also took the tried-and-tested psyllium husk drink, known for its gut-stimulating properties, with absolutely no side effects.
Conclusion
Adopting these strategies helped me reverse constipation and bring back smooth and successful bowel movements in less than a month, and that too without relying on over-the-counter laxatives, fiber supplements, or stool softeners. And the best news is that despite going way beyond my calorie limit for the day, I didn’t gain any weight either, maybe because I was eating whole, natural foods. There are several other remedies suggested by Ayurveda and backed by modern Science that work well- such as drinking milk at night, performing yogic postures (described in detail here), and of course, taking prebiotic and probiotic foods. However, I chose to follow only a select few so that the changes I make in my routine are sustainable in the long run and tolerable for my body. Overall, I am confident that these above remedies will definitely help you as well, just like they have helped me!
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