Only use laxatives if you are trying to dislodge mucoid placque, have transit times slower than 24 hours, or have less than 1 BM a day even tho you’re eating 3 meals or more a day.
Always find the minimum dose that works. Start out with fruit. Fruit laxatives do not cause dependency unless you use them for years. The best fruit laxatives I’ve found are:
Triphala, an ancient Ayurvedic remedy that tones and soothes the entire digestive tract and is a mild laxative. It may not be enough of a solution for chronic constipation.
Fruit-Eze, a combo of prunes etc.
Rhubarb – either eat it or get the tea or supplements. Medium strength and safe for most Doshas and ailments.
Fennel or Fennel Seed Tea or supplements – excellent for Pitta type complaints. A good medium strength laxative. You can also simply drink prune juice and include plenty of dates and figs in your diet.
Fruit eze laxative
Some herbal laxatives like Senna or Aloe Vera Gel (not liquid, gel is very strong liquid is mild) cause cramping and are unsuitable for Vata types. Senna is quite strong and should only be used for a month and only as needed. Cascara Sagrada works really really well and if you’ve never cleansed before or never passed mucoid placque and wish to, start out with this one. It’s quite strong and so a little goes a long way.
Dr. Schulze’ formula #1 and #2 are fine products. I only disagree with his prescription on how to use them. He recommends taking #1, the laxative, all by itself for several weeks and THEN take #2, the bulk fiber. This is good advice IF you have the worst kind of constipation and many many meals in your colon. And if you’re a large male, over 40, with a huge girth and a history of a red meat and potatoes diet, this is what you need to do. If however you’re smaller with only a bit of bloating and have generally tried to eat healthy and rarely experienced constipation, you’d be better off taking both #1 and #2 at the same time.
Other options are:
Vitamin C. Be sure to get adequate amounts of Vit C in your diet, and supplement with 500 mg a day, or one Emergen-C every-other day for a month. If you get diarrhea, stop taking it for a week.
Potassium: Drink the potassium broth. A lack of potassium will cause constipation.
Magnesium: TAke Cal-mag fizz, or take a detox bath with 1/2 cup baking soda and 3/4 cup of Epsom salts, or dissolve one tablespoon of Epsom salts in a liter of very cold water and drink.
Eat a spoonful of lecithin 1-3x a day for one to two weeks.
Do all four things if constipation has been chronic for longer than a year.