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Relax the muscles of your chest first. Push your breasts as high into the air as you can. You will find that you tend to arch your back when you do this and you will feel tension along both your sides too. Breathe out and fall back, letting your breasts flop and remembering to drop those shoulders at the same time.

Now imagine that you have an extremely tight, old-fashioned corset on and it’s pulling in your belly even further than you thought possible. As you breathe in, wearing your corset, the tension will spread upwards into your chest and you’ll probably clench your buttocks too. As you breathe out, loosen the corset and let your belly flop and sag. This is a very difficult thing to do, because a lot of clothes are designed to show off a flat stomach- so a full, rounded belly is something most of us try to avoid. In other times and other places it was, and still is, considered to be a mark of great beauty. It may take quite a time to achieve entire relaxation of this part of the body. But it’s the most important bit, because these are the muscles which will clash with the muscles in your womb that are squeezing out the period, and they will squeeze no matter what you do. Don’t give them any opposition and the whole business immediately gets a lot easier. After all, they’re extremely powerful muscles; ten times stronger than any other muscle anywhere in your body.

At this point it’s a good idea to pay some attention to the position of your spine. If you started off supported by a lot of cushions and pillows and now your spine doesn’t feel comfortable, remove them all and start all over again. Many women find that if they imagine they are lying on their backs floating in pleasantly warm water they can curve their spines into a very comfortable position; others need to arch their spines up from the bed and then let them relax; others find that if they relax their necks and shoulders, their spines relax too. It takes time and experience to find the best method and position.

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We have spoken of the problems of food allergy and chemical susceptibility as the two main components of environmental disease. This is technically correct, but in actuality these two problems are usually found together, tightly interlinked in the history of each chronically ill individual. One of the major ways in which these two elements interlock is in the chemical pollution of our food supply.

It is no secret that our food is now treated with synthetic chemicals of every sort. Some of these chemicals have been deliberately added, to impart color, flavor, or longer shelf life. These deliberately added substances are called additives. In addition, numerous chemicals accidentally enter the food supply as residues of pesticides, fertilizers, or environmental pollutants. These are called food contaminants.

Together, food additives and food contaminants have become a major source of the problem of chemical susceptibility in most Western countries, since everyone must eat, and most food now comes from the giant agribusiness conglomerates. These giant corporations are mainly concerned with maximizing profit, even if the health consequences for the population are negative. What is more, these companies are often closely linked to chemical companies and thus have a built-in bias in favor of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.1

For any person who wants to avoid environmentally induced illness, it is necessary to understand the sources of such chemical contamination of the food supply. These chemicals can either cause, or help perpetuate, chronic illnesses of all sorts. However, their presence can be detected, and they themselves can be avoided, by methods which are explained later in this book.

I have already described how the role of chemical pesticides was discovered in the case of William Petersen, the man who found that he could eat unsprayed apples from an abandoned orchard, while commercial apples from a store gave him a headache. The principles discovered in this case were soon extended to many other food-allergy patients. It was determined that in some cases they were actually reacting only to chemical contaminants. Usually, however, patients with the chemical susceptibility problem also had the food allergy problem, and vice versa. Some patients appeared to react to commercial food in the winter, but to a much lesser degree in the warmer months. This was because in the cold months they were often cooped up in their houses and exposed to the cumulative effects of indoor air pollution (Chap. 6). The combination of food allergies, contaminated food, and such indoor pollutants greatly heightened their symptoms and made their winters miserable. Not infrequently their winter maladies, environmental in origin, masqueraded as colds or flus. In other cases, they did have genuine infections, but these were accentuated by allergic problems.

The variety of problems is endless, since environmental disease is above all things an individual problem. There is no single cause for all people, nor a single solution. Usually the disease is a result of the interaction between an individual, with his particular bodily makeup, and his environment. Certain exposures, however, stand out as most troublesome for the greatest number of patients. Of the food additives and contaminants, some of the most troublesome are residues of pesticide sprays which find their way into almost everything the average person eats.

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Constipation is a condition in which the bowel movements are too hard. The frequency of bowel movements is not a factor of constipation. Passage of six too-firm bowel movements a day is considered constipation. Passage of one normal or soft bowel movement every third or fourth day is not constipation. Many normal, healthy children have a bowel movement only every few days and are not constipated. The hardness of a stool is judged by appearance and by diameter. A stool greater than twice the usual diameter is probably too hard.

Over 95 percent of constipation cases involve no physical abnormality. This form of constipation can always be cured by changes in the diet or by using medications that soften the stools.

Constipation occurs in the large bowel (colon). The function of the colon is to store unabsorbed food waste and to absorb and hold water from the liquid material received from the small intestine. If the colon absorbs too much water, the stools become hard.

In children, there are two common reasons for constipation. The first reason is that the diet does not include enough roughage, which holds water in the stools. Foods that prevent constipation are all fruit juices and all fruits – particularly those eaten with their skin on – except bananas and apples; all vegetables, especially if eaten raw, except peeled potatoes; unrefined grains (whole-grain cereals and breads); and unrefined sugars (brown sugar, molasses, honey). All other foods, including milk and milk products, promote constipation.

A second common reason for constipation in children is that the child resists the normal impulse to move the bowels. This allows the colon to continue absorbing water out of the retained stools; it results in stools that are too hard. A common reason why children resist the normal impulse to move the bowels is that the parents are putting too much pressure on the child during toilet training. Once the stools become too hard, bowel movements become painful. Fear of such pain makes the child even more determined to postpone bowel movements. Constipation enlarges the colon, causing a loss of muscle tone, and the physical impulse to empty the bowel becomes weaker. This cycle can lead to chronic constipation.

Signs and symptoms

The major sign of constipation is stools that are too hard, too dry, and larger in diameter than usual. Constipation can cause pain in the anus during bowel movements. Red blood may appear on and around the stools. Other symptoms are cramps in the abdomen and an eventual loss of appetite.

If constipation continues for days and weeks, paradoxical diarrhea may develop. In this condition, loose, watery stools seep around the hard stool in the colon and are passed as diarrhea. When this happens, it can be difficult to tell whether the child has constipation or diarrhea.

Home care

For immediate temporary relief, use a glycerin suppository or disposable commercial enema. For a long-term cure, increase the amount of roughage and decrease the amount of constipating foods in your child’s diet. If constipation occurs during toilet training, stop training efforts.

Precautions

• Check with your doctor before using laxatives in children. Laxatives may force passage of a hard stool and cause pain that leads to further holding back by the child.

• Enemas, suppositories, and laxatives are habit-forming. They should never be used on a regular basis.

• Do not assume that a child is constipated simply because bowel movements do not occur every day.

Medical treatment

Your doctor will perform a rectal examination and a careful examination of the child’s abdomen. X ray studies of the bowel may be taken to look for possible physical abnormalities. Directions and follow-up by your doctor may be needed.

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