Constipation as a Symptom
Runny noses and constipation have a lot in common. OK, so constipation is more inconvenient and painful than a runny nose but nevertheless they both make us head for the medicine cabinet and both are a symptom of another condition.

Your Peace of Mind
Anyone with chronic, long-term constipation will probably begin to wonder if they will ever be rid of this condition, and if you have not already, you probably should see a doctor to find out if there is a larger problem causing your constipation. However, most people suffering from long-term constipation will have gone to their doctors many times over the years, and you would not be reading this if you and your doctor had found a solution.

Defining Constipation
Any cure for constipation cannot be considered without first understanding what is the definition of constipation. From an orthodox medicine point of view it is probably something like this:

 Having a bowel movement fewer than three times per week. (http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov)
 ….an adult who has not had a bowel movement in three days or a child who has not had a bowel movement in four days…. (http://www.answers.com)
 ….fewer than three stools a week…. (http://www.mayoclinic.com)

Constipation at Wikipedia
Check out your stools on the Wikipedia Bristol Stool Chart

Symptom Focussed Medicine
All of these definitions do not acknowledge that constipation is a symptom and why should they? Orthodox medicine is symptom-focused. If you have an ache in your knee, then here is a pill to take away the pain. If you have a headache, here is a pill to stop the throbbing. If you have a sore throat, here are pills to get rid of your infection. If you have a gallbladder condition, come into hospital for an operation to remove the part that is causing the pain. You have to admit, that we have all been brainwashed to think in these ways.

Find the Cause, Not Treat the Symptom
How often do you find a doctor who is willing to find out the cause of your runny nose (low resistance? weak immune system?) or find out the cause of your headache (stress? too much caffine?) Not very often, and you can probably bet that this doctor does not manage to see many people in a day at his or her clinic. This is because there are often set amounts of time allocated for each patient and having a symptom-focussed approach allows them to stick to this allocation. I suppose we should be grateful for these symptoms for without symptoms, we would not know we have a problem. Without finding the cause, you will never find a cure for constipation either.

Lifestyle & Routine
Many chronic cases of constipation are due to a lifestyle which has become over taxing on the body. Our body is trying to tell us to stop a moment and look at the way we live. Not just the daily routine of rushing from here to there, but also other things too.

What You Eat
What you eat is important. A balanced diet, not one which is full of sweet carbonated drinks, processed foods, refined sugar, refined white flour, foods which focus on difficult to digest ingredients, enough water, not much coffee or tea, all these things are important, and can have a bearing on how likely you are to have chronic long-term constipation.

Where You Eat
Where you eat. For example, do you grab a sandwich on the way home from work because you have appointments in the evening? Do you eat lunch at your desk while continuing to do your work thoughout the lunchtime break? Do you eat in a crowded rushed atmosphere? None of these circumstances allow you to take a little time to relax and give your body a break.

How You Eat
How you eat. I realise that our grandfathers used to say that we should chew our foor thoroughly, but it is important today as much as it was then. Chewing mixes the saliva in our mouth with the food and starts the digestion process. If this is rushed or missed almost altogether, we have left out one of the vital processes which help our body to effectively digest what we put in it. Since constipation is a problem concentrated in the digestive system, don’t you think that we should do everything we can to help that system process our food effectively? Remember to chew, and learn to take time over eating.

Why You Eat
Why you eat. There is a saying in China that you should not eat when you are upset and you should not discuss very emotional issuess at the dinner table. This has a basis in the fact that our emotions can affect our digestion. The sight, sound, smell, and taste of food promotes gastric juices to flow, particularly when we are hungry, but the opposite can also happen if you are upset, your body will block digestive enzymes when you need them. You only have to look at the number of people who have ulcers or irritable bowel syndrome to know that these are worse when emotional issues are strong.

Moods….
Why you eat is important in another way too. People who eat as a result of feelings often tend to eat junk food. For example, some people like to eat when they are bored, some people like to eat when they are feeling lonely, others like to eat when they are unhappy. We cannot hope for a cure for constipation if our moods steer us towards snacks, and foods which only make our condition worse.

Sensitivities
Sometimes our body develops a sensitivity to something. It can be anything, from toothpaste to perfume, from beer to washing up liquid. Some things, such as foods, are more likely to cause sensitivity than others. Long-term constipation suggests one of the reasons may be that our body just cannot process a particular food substance and therefore it just stays in the gut for longer than it should.

Food Sensitivity
Occasionally too, some kinds of food will cause the colon to absorb more water than normal, or cause the peristalsis, which moves the waste through our colon, to become slower. These rhythmical contractions of the gut are the way the body moves our waste towards the outside world. Drier stools and weak peristalsis are just two reasons why we may have constipation. However, if sensitivities are the cause of your problem, many people have found that by cutting out the food to which they are sensitive, they can discover the long-lost cure for constipation that they have been searching for all these years.

Cure for Constipation
So, from an orthodox point of view, a cure for constipation consists of a quick fix of laxative which will probably overcome the immediate problem. It makes you dependent on the drug industry for your medications and does not offer you a long term solution. It certainly is not a cure for constipation. What you really need is a change in the way you live your life because this is leading to your constipation problem