Photo by AK Photo'sSo I know this is a weird subject to be talking about but I feel as if I've gotten to know you all well enough through our juice feasting that I can go ahead with it and it won't be weird. I hope so anyway.
Remember when I had my dramatic colonic episode during my juice feast? If you remember, I had quite an emotional response to releasing probably years and years of "matter". I continued with the colonics throughout a lot of my feast and yet I still wasn't seeing a lot of improvement with bowel activity. So many of my juice feasting friends were all very regular while I was still stopped up.
Even when I broke my feast I was eating prunes for a week to try to get things moving. It was slow going but I am happy to report that I have for the first time in my life that I can remember gotten "normal" movements. I know it sounds crazy, but I am just thrilled about it. I am in the bathroom at least 3 times everyday. I am still having moments where I know I have to go but it takes a while to happen but at this point, who cares, I am able to go all the time, everyday! Woo hoo.
Now, the reason I have decided to write about this isn't just to pat myself on the back...or the bum as may be. I have noticed something about myself that I never knew before and I suspect it may be something other people with chronic constipation might be able to relate to.
I never liked the idea of going to the bathroom. I thought it was embarrassing and I thought it was gross so I didn't want to have to do it very often. I would hold it in so I wouldn't have to go when I was out in public etc. God forbid I would have to take a crap at someones house, no way in hell was that going to happen. I was too busy to stop and go to the bathroom too. Putting this on top of the emotional ties I have had to "holding on" and I set myself up to keep it all in.
So now that I am going more regularly I catch myself holding it in again. I will be sitting at the computer and feel like it is time to go to the bathroom but I don't want to get up so I wait. Or I will be watching TV and I don't want to get up so I hold it. What the hell, I have a DVR so I can pause live TV right? Why do I wait?
I find that it is a habit. I was like this for so long and I didn't even know it. So now when I catch myself doing it I stop what I am doing and go to the darn bathroom like my body was created to do. The cool thing is that I am so efficient now that I go so quickly and with little odor that I could go at someones house and they wouldn't even know it!
When I am in the bathroom on my throne I make a point to be grateful to my body for doing what it was intended to do, for releasing the toxins and for keeping things moving. I think it is really important for me to respect my body and all of its functions so that it will keep working for me.
Of course I don't think I would have been able to experience this abundance of movement had it not been for my juice feast. I really think that getting the fresh juice in my body everyday did some major healing in my digestive system. It is so cool.
So I hope this wasn't too much for you and I hope it was helpful to someone out there because I guess that is the only reason anyone would want to talk about their bowel movements in public, to help someone else. :o)
