Fruit at breakfast or figs taken after meals often will
relieve a tendency to constipation. Regularity in going to the toilet is
one of the most important measures in treating constipation. Laxatives
or cathartics should not be taken except for an occasional dose or
during illness, upon the advice of a physician. So common is the
practice of taking daily laxatives that it has become a "national
curse." People do not realize that they are slaves to this habit. So
cleverly worded are the advertisements of many of the laxatives that
people are led to believe that if they drink certain "waters" or "teas"
they are avoiding medicine, while often these same teas and waters
contain drugs more powerful and harmful than any pill.
The bowels have some one to assist them, too, for the kidneys carry off
much of the waste material of the body. Indeed, they carry off so much
that they sometimes are called the sewers. It often is necessary to
flush the sewers of the city, that is, to send quantities of water
through them to clean the system. In the same way it is necessary to
flush the kidneys. We do this by drinking plenty of water. Every one
should drink about two quarts of water a day.
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