Health Center

Digestive Health—More on Diarrhea

Diarrhea occurs when the gastrointestinal tract becomes hyperactive and passes food too rapidly through the tract. In the process, water and vital nutrients are lost.

In infants and older people, diarrhea can quickly lead to dehydration, nutrient depletion, and serious biochemical imbalances that may require hospitalization. A simple case of diarrhea, resulting, for example, from travel or exposure to new foods, will usually resolve on its own, but this process can be assisted by the solutions described below.

Whether diarrhea is acute or chronic, I don't recommend typical over-the-counter remedies, which work either by slowing the muscular action of the intestines or by absorbing excess water. These drugs have potentially serious side effects, including absorption of the very toxins your body is trying to expel.

NOTE: Consult a physician if diarrhea is accompanied by fever, repeated vomiting, dehydration or blood in the stool, or if temporary, uncomplicated diarrhea persists for more than 48 hours.

Natural Protocol for Diarrhea

• Drink plenty of pure, filtered water. Dehydration is the biggest danger when you have diarrhea, so drink ten to twelve 8 oz. glasses of filtered water per day. Keep a log of how many glasses you've consumed, or put rubber bands on your water glass or drinking bottle and remove one each time you drink a glassful.
  
  
• Fiber is so essential to normal bowel function that it is the treatment for both diarrhea and constipation. Adding more fiber—particularly soluble fiber (the kind found in fruits and legumes) to your diet during a bout of diarrhea enables your digestive tract to produce a stool with more bulk, which moves more slowly through the tract. Less water is lost, and diarrhea is usually dissipated.
  
  
• Another way to improve the overall health of the bowel is by replenishing the beneficial bacteria (called probiotics) that inhabit your gut. These friendly bacteria, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium, and Lactobacillus bulgaricus, provide multiple benefits. They aid the digestion and absorption of nutrients, produce B vitamins, and protect the intestines.
  
  
• Take digestive enzymes. Pancreatic or digestive enzymes are the most effective treatment for pancreatic insufficiency and the impaired digestion of food, malabsorption of nutrients, and GI symptoms that may be associated with it. A therapeutic trial of enzymes taken at every meal for at least a month will help you determine whether supplemental digestive enzymes can benefit you. Look for a product that contains plant-based enzymes, pancreatic enzymes, and bromelain, an exceptionally powerful enzyme from pineapple.
  
  
• Identify food allergies or try the specific carbohydrate diet. When under duress, the intestinal cells cannot produce the necessary enzymes to fully digest carbohydrates. When these unabsorbed, undigested carbohydrates reach the colon, they cause diarrhea, excess gas, cramping, and distention. The specific carbohydrate diet eliminates all cereal grains, including corn, oats, wheat, rye, rice, and buckwheat. This means that all bread, cake, crackers, cookies, cereals, flour, or pasta containing these grains is strictly forbidden. (Ground nuts are used in place of flour.) Also out is milk and all sweeteners except honey. The diet consists of fresh fruits, vegetables (including legumes), meat, eggs, homemade yogurt, certain cheeses, and certain nuts. Raw fruits and vegetables, though, should be restricted until the diarrhea subsides.

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