Is 3 days too long to go without a BM? I think it's due to lack of fiber... I used to go every AM when I ate more fiber....now, I'm getting hardly any fiber and am bound up.
When transitioning to a meat and fat based diet the food is digested much better and there is little waste. Also, there is little nutrition left to support large colonies of bacteria. The result is that the total amount of fecal material drops dramatically (probably less than 1/3). Your bowels have been stretched out and trained over many many years to accomodate this large amount of bulk before triggering a BM.
When you switch to a meat and fat based diet two things happen.
1) the amount of waste material drops so it may now take several days for your colon to "fill up" enough to trigger a BM. If the new amount of waste is 1/4 to 1/3 of the old amount, then it will take 3 to 4 days for this to happen. As time goes on the musclular walls of the colon will strengthen and contract and BMs will become more frequent with much smaller volume. This strengthening and toning is gradual and happens over many months. In my case it was over 3 years before I started having almost daily BMs of very small volume.
2) If you are eating a diet heavy in carbs you have a very large load of bacteria in your colon feeding off the "fiber" and cellulose that your body can't digest. The colony of carb eating bacteria in people eating a high carb diet is so large that often 80% of the bulk of their BMs is composed entirely of these bacteria - not waste food. These bacteria are very small and will compact together into very hard, (like plaster) stools causing constipation. To push then through you need rough fiber that these bacteria can't digest and gives the colon walls something to act on. But it often still requires some straining to evauate.
Also, as you remove excessive carbs from your diet, the bacteria in your colon will no longer have food so they will start to die off. Dying bacteria (like any other dying tissue) create toxins that can be absorbed through the colon walls causing some temporary discomfort. Over a couple of weeks most of the die-off will be completed and you'll begin to feel much better than before. These carb loving bacteria will be repalced by a very much smaller colony of purtefactive bacteria that will digest and handle the very small amount of meat residue that makes it to the colon. In a carnivore, less than 10% of their fecal volume is bacteria. This transition is what you are trying to achieve.
I eat a lot of fat and drink water!
The type of fat you eat is critical. It must be saturated animal fat. If you are counting vegetable oils like coconut oil as fat (which technically it is) this will not solve the constipation problem but contribute to it. Stay away from unsaturated plant fats and oils. They are very bad for you.
Water? Wonderful, keep it up.
I had to do a Miralax cleanse earlier in the week b/c I went over 4 days without a BM. It's as if my peristalsis is stalling! Has anyone else had this problem when transitioning?
As noted above, constipation alternating with loose bowels is normal as you transition. It has to do with the changeover in colon bacteria and starting to strengthen the smooth muscles of the colon walls. This will take time but after a few weeks you should be doing fine.
Remember that constipation is not the number of days you don't go. The question is, are you feeling stuffed or constipated or you just haven't had a BM and it worries you. Also, when you do go, is the evacuation easy or do you have to push hard. If it is easy, then the issue is one of just filling up your extended and strected colon until a BM is triggered - no problem your doing fine and this is expected. If you must strain and push hard to evacuate, then that is a sign of true constipation and a shallow enema may be in order to loosen things up a bit.
Is Senna Tea recommended? Prune juice? Mineral Oil?
These types of things (with the exception of prune juice) are irritants and I would never take them. They do more harm than good. You want to stop training your bowels to be dependent on these artifical stimulents to work and instead work normally on their own. Prune Juice would take up your fruit/salad ration for the day so I personally wouldn't want to do that too often either (I'd much prefer eating a cup of cherries, a peach, an apple or even a couple of small fresh prunes rather than be stuck drinking prune juice as a laxitive).
What I did was take a shallow (lower colon only- 2 or 3 cups of water) warm water-only enema just to loosen the packed stuff so that it would evacuate. I think I needed to do this a total of 3 or 4 times over about as many weeks when I first started and then I never had to do it again. I only did it when I felt discomfort from constipation, not just because I hadn't had a BM for 3 days. My BMs then varied and I often went up to 4 days but never felt constipated. When I did go, it was very easy with little or no pushing necessary to completely evacuate. It just took 3 to 4 days for my colon to fill up to the point where it would trigger a BM. Afte 4 years, I now often have a very small BM every day or two.
why do paleos frown on eggs? :-(
Not all paleos frown on eggs. Some swear by them, I swear at them. The whites of eggs are not well digested and have significant anti-nutrient properties. From a paleo standpoint, eggs would only have been available on a very seasonal basis (early spring). Most wild eggs are small, about the size of your thumb. They develop rapidly and within a week of being laid, they are well on their way to becoming small birds. In other words, large chicken eggs with beautiful golden yellow yolks would be very rare indeed. To think that consuming several of our modern, undeveloped, chicken eggs every day is anything like what our paleo ancestors would have done is pure wishfull thinking. Running across a nest and eating 2 or 3 eggs containing half formed chicks would be far more accurate, and this would only happen during a few week period in the early spring. I do eat egss, but only once or twice a year at most. When I do eat them I eat them lightly scrambled with lots and lots of fat - about 1 tablespoon (or more) of rendered saturated animal fat per egg. My eggs are litterally swimming in melted fat.
I suggest you consider eggs as a special treat to be eaten only on occasion - maybe once every couple of months. Your body will thank you for your restraint.
Lex
