Raw food diet and constipation?

[paininthepoinsettia]

I'm on a new healthy eating diet lifestyle where I have a smoothie for breakfast and lunch and a normal dinner. Smoothies are mostly raw veg - carrot, celery and some frozen fruit to sweeten it a bit. I add 2 heaped tsp of chia seeds and 1 tsp spirulina to each one for fibre. I assumed I would be much more regular than usual but I'm actually really constipated. Ironically bread (even wholemeal) makes me constipated, so don't want to be adding any. I'm still in the first week of the diet so is it just a matter of time before things settle?

pain I add soaked (you can get them ground) whole linseeds to my smoothie, 2 and a half tablspoons , that keeps me regular. I agree about wholemeal bread ( wheat affects me that way too!!!) but I'm good with rye bread .

Maybe chia doesn't agree with you. Linseeds are good for most people. Of course it will take a little time to get used to it ( I would suggest using less ingredients too, I think it confuses the body if you use too many).

A low fat raw food diet left me massively constipated. While fibre is needed, too much can also block you up.

Add some fats, lots of them. Avocado, olive oil in warm water. Fatty meat like lamb also worked for me.

Also lots of water. You need to flush through.

Look into a magnesium supplement. Magnesium citrate works well. That will stimulate you bowel to move.

It got so bad for me that I had to have a colonic to clear everything out as the extra strength laxatives I got from the doctor didn’t work! However you can’t really go for something like that for a while. You could try a home enema if it gets really bad.

Also movement like walking and cycling help if you can get out when it’s quiet (or even March on the spot)

So fats, water, magnesium, walking, cycling,

(The lamb wasn’t raw btw! I noticed an improvement when I added small amounts of fatty meat back into my diet after trying all the other stuff)

Oh and lots of warm water with lemon in it can help too.

Chia seeds can cause some constipation if I eat too many especially if they haven't been soaked. I find flaxseed and dates help to keep things moving

Olive oil is great not nec. in warm water, I use it as a dressing mixed with tahini, a little sea salt and dried mustard ,on my salads with grated carrot, red onion (raw onion is great for out gut biomes). I have organic pure rye toast and olive oil (not spreads).