sometimes everybody needs a little help being regular. not that it's because we're "getting old", but because the modern day diet is full of processed foods made of chemicals our bodies aren't made to digest, with a healthy dose of stress and sedentary jobs thrown in! and if you are doing the candida cleanse, it is super duper uber important that you are getting your 2-3 full evacuations a day for best results! stress affects everyone in different ways but for me, i know that my digestion gets all out of whack. i get that nervous "knot in my stomach" feeling, my mind and mouth have no problem eating yummy comfort foods but my tummy says otherwise. when we are stressed, our stomachs contract and digestive juices don't flow as freely, so our food doesn't digest as thoroughly and efficiently as it should. who looks like they're more active and thus, more regular?! sedentary jobs of the modern day also add fuel to this fire of indigestion and constipation.. humans evolved running around in the wild either catching dinner or running away from it (imagine: back in the cavewoman days, cruisin' the fields of africa - you know that saying, hunt or be hunted. yum that bird looks delish. let's run and catch it for dinner. or, yikes there's a cheetah - RUN!). so all of our desk jobs typing at a computer not only give us posture problems and carpal tunnel but because we aren't as whole-body physically active, our digestive guts aren't getting that massage they'd normally get if we were. enter things like exercise, drinking enough water (caffeine is a diuretic and does not count) and eating whole, nutritious, non-processed, home-cooked foods. but what if you are already doing these things and you are still backed up? well check out our other posts on candida and getting your digestion going and see if those yoga poses or supplements help you out. we've heard of old-people metamucil, but if you are already eating organic ground flax seeds in your oatmeal, chia seeds in your smoothie, onions and garlic in your stir fries, whole grains like quinoa or oat bran and apples, bananas and prunes as snacks, you should already be getting a good amount of food-based fiber which would trump the powdery stuff. don't forget the probiotics of your cultured veggies (we sell the perfect pickler, check it out to make your own pickles!) and good old kyodophilus probiotic capsules to help break down your foods, assimilate nutrients and promote regular elimination of waste and toxins. try integrating these digestive teas. ginger, peppermint and licorice teas are good, and these are worth a try! a tea company called traditional medicinals makes these "smoothe move" teas - i've tried the original smooth move, which made my stomach cramp. but i recently tried the peppermint variety which didn't cramp my tummy and uh, did the job. like, multiple times in a day, with ease! and they make a chocolate version, which we have yet to try. i found them at rainbow grocery, but you can find them at whole foods or probably even safeway. let us know what you find works for you to get the poop out!