Whether you suffer from constipation, gastric reflux or heartburn, irritable bowel syndrome or hemorrhoids there may be a very simple solution.   Don’t underestimate the impact of what you eat on the functioning of your gastrointestinal tract.

Here is a highly recommended book by Dr. McDougall

Digestive Tune-Up

Here are some articles from Dr. McDougall

See Articles on Acid Reflux, Constipation and Irritable Bowel

Dr. Fuhrman’s Diet is also excellent

Check Out His New Book, Eat for Health or His Older Book, Eat to Live

Regarding Constipation

Before you give up and resign yourself to a lifetime taking stool softeners, fiber supplements and doctor visits, consider a radical diet change for at least two weeks.  If your constipation is resolved then start slowly adding back the foods you eliminated over the next several weeks.  Dairy products (milk, cheese, cream, butter, etc) are the most common causes of chronic constipation, so I would add them back last.  Often just completely avoiding dairy products is sufficient to return them to a more normal stooling pattern.   I have wonderful success with these suggestions.  Nearly everyone I’ve put on this program has been cured of chronic constipation.  Even people with constipation secondary to severe illnesses like Parkinson’s have seen their bowels return to normal.

Here Is My Version of The Constipation Elimination Diet

 

Include These Foods

At least 1 pound fresh vegetables per day

At least 1 pound of cooked vegetables per day

At least 5-8 pieces of whole fruit, about 300 to 600 calories from whole fruit per day (A whole apple counts as 1 piece.  It takes about 5-6 strawberries to equal one piece of fruit, and about 15-20 grapes to equal one piece of fruit)

2 tablespoons of ground flax seed added to a salad or oatmeal daily

Choose From Starches Like These

Sweet Potatoes or Yams (more fiber than regular potatoes)

Oatmeal (excellent for breakfast)

Beans (start with small amounts if these cause too much gas)

Brown rice (more fiber than white rice)

Completely Exclude These Foods

No dairy products (milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, cream---nothing that originally came from a cow)

No refined flour products (no bread, cake, cookies, bagel, spaghetti.  These are wheat products with the fiber removed)

No white rice (only brown rice is allowed)

No Meat or Eggs  (meat means all animal flesh whether chicken, fish, cow, pig, shellfish)

No extracted oils and fats (no olive oil, canola oil, fish oil, peanut oil, lard, margarine)

Here Are Some Recipes

From Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine

From Dr. McDougall’s Newsletters. Use the recipe index to locate the recipe you want then go back to the appropriate newsletter.

If This Diet Worked and You’re Interested in More Information

Moving Toward a Plant-Based Diet

Return to Diseases