I'm on my way

[calvin]

I said this many times. Try to get a lot of vegies/leafy greens into your breakfast. They will not ruin it. It now contains none, and the same into All your meals. Ground flax also. I like my vegies at least blanched because I like a warm meal but there's nothing wrong with raw. Meals without fiber are "meals", not meals.

[Fuzzy]

@Willijan Thank you for sharing. May I ask you how old you are? I'm a female 32, no children. Incontinence wouldn't be my first choice. I'm thinking it might be due to stress. I've moved into another country a year ago. So yes ... there is a lot of new things and things I can't control. Not related to food. I usually got stomach problems before major tests, reviews, presentations. But now it's like all the time. The funny thing is that when I visit our relatives I usually go off the chart for one or two meals (I'm working on Lisle's directions, I'm simply a very nice person). It's like McDougall's turkey, only with me it's about 4x times per year and I actually eat the meat . I know I know. And on those days I never had problems. If anything my poop was more firm and controllable. My thinking is, if I was incontinent, it would be present on those times as well? I might be wrong. I will try to experiment, I don't have anything special planned for next week, so there is a bit of a free roam.

@calvin Can you explain the logic a little bit? I'm more into Lisle's 3 starchy meals, one salat, fruit. I use CronoMeter from time to time, so I know that I don't lack fiber. And if we have a guy living on potatoes ... I've read that what you recommend might firm my poop. Maybe food is actually speeding through my intestines. But on the other hand, if you are constipated, people recommend the same thing - more fiber. The idea of my poop getting looser makes me nervous. I guess the next stage is diarrhea. I do have salat&veggies for dinner and lunch. In the morning I usually eat oatmeal&raisins. I will try skipping breakfast and maybe switch to rice&potatoes instead of pasta for lunch. Flax seeds? Grounded? As a condiment? Would whole seeds work as well?

[calvin]

@calvin Can you explain the logic a little bit?...I've read that what you recommend might firm my poop.

I'm just suggesting try something different.

...I will try skipping breakfast and maybe switch to rice&potatoes instead of pasta for lunch.

Heck, live dangerously. Try those for breakfast. What's the worst that could happen. I eat dinner for breakfast frequently. Did our evolutionary ancestors insist on porridge for breakfast? Monotony v. variety. Which is ideal? The Tarahumara thrive on no starch other than corn. And I have been happy for months at a time on rice (both brown and white), groats, potatoes, or bread. But other camps, e.g. the raw foodies who don't have the word starch in their vocabulary, are all about oooh variety. We don't hear much about their poop. I have been skipping breakfast on yoga mornings though, for two reasons: rather exercise on empty AND i hear good things about a restricted feeding window.

Flax seeds? Grounded? As a condiment? Would whole seeds work as well?

I throw about 1tsp ground flax in when cooking grains. More(less) if things are too loose(firm). Works for me. But I may just be enjoying a placebo effect and irregularity probably clears in most cases by doing nothing. Dr. McDougall is fine with whole seeds. I don't remember if he recommends soaking or even chewing them.

I'm happy to report my external hemorhoids have atrophied over my 3yr journey, which has minimized cleanup.

Oh, wait, you asked for a little bit of logic. Oh well, nevermind.

[Fuzzy]

No no, this was great! Thank you very much! You are right. I often have leftovers from previous meal. I just never use them for breakfast, but why the hell not. I will report in a week or so. I will go for a hunt for flax tomorrow

[Willijan]

Well, before I was on this diet I was highly constipated, with hard feces. But I have a special condition that I haven't heard of anyone else having (although I'm sure there must be many), and it is probably responsible for the hard poop. I have a super long large colon. I had an extended left colectomy in 1993, which means they removed more than a third of my colon. And it came back! I have it again. The reason for the surgery was that I was having debilitating gas pains and bloating. I have not had those since 1993, even though the long colon is back.

So, I think part or all of the reason I was constipated was just that there was such a long transit time, and the feces dries out a lot during that time. But now I am on this diet, I don't have that problem any more, and I have plenty of bowel movements. Before I could go 3 weeks with no bowel movement.

I am 68 by the way. And given my lifelong (since I was a teen or before) problems with my unusual bowel, who knows what changes have been wrought to it. But the severe problem I had a few years ago, that sounds like your problem, went away. I have no idea why. I was under a great deal of stress at that time. But then I always have had a lot of stress. And I was taking a new psychiatric drug, which I no longer take.

I don't know if this is at all helpful, but I hope so.

[Fuzzy]

That's seriously interesting. Too long of a colon? Go figure And it even came back? That's a colon with an attitude Our bodies are tremendously resilient in some ways. And three weeks without bowel movement Can't even imagine. Even on omni diet I pooped every day or at least once in two days. I once was constipated I guess. When I was 10 years old, camping with a bunch of children and there was always a line in the morning for porta potties which are disgusting on their own. So I just didn't go for ten days. But we were walking a lot and not eating as much, so I guess that might have been a factor as well (scouts and all). I remember telling my mum and she was thinking of visiting a doctor. But basically when I got home I went to the toilet right away. No problems and no pain. But three weeks I'm so sorry, I guess you are an extra great candidate for this diet.

But the severe problem I had a few years ago, that sounds like your problem, went away. I have no idea why. I was under a great deal of stress at that time. But then I always have had a lot of stress. And I was taking a new psychiatric drug, which I no longer take.

Hm, I don't take any medication. I seriously think that me being stressed out at this point of my life has merit. Does that sound strange? I don't want to even try to resolve it with drugs. Some things just need to be switched around and then everything will be ok. I hope. And I hope this year won't affect my health too much. But then there are people who are living under major stress their whole life. And others like me who probably get stressed for no real, big, good enough reason (but then: what is good enough?). I'm planning on having a session with dr Lisle at some point. I hope that will still be an option later on.

I have a job interview tomorrow. It would be great if this time around, I wouldn't have to go to the toilet ten times beforehand. Got enough problems with not speaking the language really well and not having the best work experience. So thinking "Don't poop!" all of the time, doesn't help

[Dougalling]

Hi

After years of speedy poop, I finally tried probiotics. I took one tablet three times a week for a couple of weeks and did it ever make a huge difference. Then I took 1 tablet weekly for a few weeks. Nopw I only take a tablet occasionally.

In teh past I've used white rice firm things up. I don't need it anymore.

[Fuzzy]

Hello, less stress I guess. Anyway I'm back on track.

I did some browsing through forum but obviously I'm not putting in the right keywords. Today I had a bit of leftover green salad and I put it in a blender, added juice of one lemon, a bit of water and a banana. It actually had a great taste.

How controversial is blending your greens? I imagine the process is a bit different, since you are skipping chewing and your stomach has less work. But you are still able to get all the nutrients, am I right? Compared to not eating a salad, I might just as well go with the blended version or not?