Abdominal obstructions can result from a number of unlike factors:

Strictures or scar tissue that has built up to the bespeak where the intestine is extremely narrowed, or a spasming length of intestine, or a volvulus (twist/kink in the intestine), or a diverticulitis burst.

Information technology is idea that mechanical blockage of a diverticulum, perchance past a slice of feces or food particles, leads to infection of the diverticulum. (Review commodity: management of diverticulitis Aliment Pharmacol Ther 26 Suppl 2, 67–76 2007 M. Thousand. SZOJDA, et al)

What Can Help?

Long-term healing of diverticulitis and recurring strictures involves a 4-step process:

1.     Healing inflammation and eliminating infection

2.     Restoring a beneficial gut flora (skillful bacteria and reduction/emptying of bad leaner, fungi, yeast, etc.) throughout the GI tract

3.     Restoring intestinal tissue (tone, structure) and mucosal lining

4.     Normalizing digestion, absorption (throughout the gastrointestinal tract) and defecation

Detailed instructions, explanations and dosages for each of these healing protocols are contained in my volume, Listen To Your Gut. We also have an experimental protocol for dissolving scar tissue that yous many desire to effort. For now, permit's look at a short-term strategy you tin can implement right away to bring relief and start you on your pathway to healing.

Notation: In the instance of strictures, if the scarring is severe, y'all also need to go a step further and implement strategies to straight soften the scar tissue; like craniosacral/visceral manipulation therapy, hot castor oil packs and DMSO.

To learn more than virtually DMSO, take a look at my DMSO Protocol For Anal Stenosis or Rectal Strictures, watch my video with Dane Johnson regarding DMSO-based Protocols for Intestinal & Rectal Scar Tissue, and my blog post containing information about DMSO and safety cautions.

Resting & Flushing The Colon

For the best treatment and management of diverticular or obstructive GI affliction, your diet should vary according to your symptoms. During practiced/at-home times, it's all-time to eat a diet that promotes like shooting fish in a barrel digestion and absorption and tonifies the abdominal wall. But during a flare-upwardly (diverticulitis or acute stricture), it's best to consume a liquid, pre-digested nutrition to provide a form of bowel balance and flushing of the colon, to assist forestall a blockage or obstruction from occurring. It is also easiest to heal infection or inflammation whilst on a liquid (merely highly nutritious) nutrition.

When you are in a diverticulitis flare (the diverticula – pouches – are inflamed or infected) it'south ideal if you can immediately consume liquid nutrients just. Past ingesting but liquids, you give your torso the best chance to flush out the nutrient particles that are stuck in the diverticulae and y'all besides avoid causing an intestinal obstacle through the build-upwards of stuck food.

Additional substances, like wild oregano oil, aloe vera juice, probiotics and MucosaHeal can be used to eliminate the infection and heal inflammation during this time.

Eating During A Diverticulitis Or Stricture Outburst

There are three forms of liquid diet that piece of work very well during diverticulitis or an astute (narrowed/inflamed) stricture:

ane.  Raw vegetable juicing – juice primarily vegetables, with only enough fruit added to make them palatable (or sweeten with stevia instead). Utilize a juice extractor (not a blender) so the fibre is removed.

2.  Raw (unpasteurized) moo-cow or caprine animal milk – from pasture-fed animals only (non barn-raised and grain-fed). Read more most the raw milk diet and experiment, my raw milk healing protocol, and rubber concerns surrounding raw milk.

3.  Absorb Plus elemental shakes

four.  Easily tolerated foods blended into shakes – more details here…

BrothEach of these liquid nutrient sources are all-time when combined with homemade broths: chicken, beef, fish, or vegetable broth. Y'all can derive your nutrients from only one of these sources, or you lot tin can mix and match and combine them together. Read about the benefits of homemade os broths hither.

If yous consume raw vegetable juices, buy organic or 'no spray' produce and juice fresh every day (or freeze portions to eat later). Make certain you lot consume plenty juice to provide you lot with adequate energy each day. Or, combine raw juicing with raw milk or Absorb Plus to add the protein and good fats needed for free energy. Call up to apply a juice extractor, so you consume only raw juice, not cobweb.

You lot can notice a raw milk supplier in your surface area by going to: www.RealMilk.com – just brand sure the animals are pasture-fed only and the farmer tests regularly for pathogens.

Absorb Plus Elemental Nutrition for Diverticulitis & Stricture Flares

Blot Plus is probably the easiest way to swallow first-class nutrition during a flare. Since it was specifically formulated for people with all forms of Inflammatory Bowel Illness (IBD), it contains many substances targeted to calm inflammation and promote mucosal healing of the intestines, like:

  • chiliad mg of Fifty-Glutamine per serving – primary substance used to rebuild the abdominal mucosal cell lining and used for musculus repair and growth
  • L-Serine – needed for proper metabolism of fats and fatty acids, aids in production of immunoglobulins and antibodies
  • L-Threonine – helps maintain poly peptide balance in the trunk, aids germination of collagen and elastin
  • 50-Cystine – aids in skin germination, helps heal burns and wounds, assists in the supply of insulin to the pancreas
  • 50-Aspartic Acid – increases stamina, protects the liver, aids jail cell function and RNA/Dna germination
  • 50-Proline – used in healing cartilage, strengthens joints, tendons and the centre muscle
  • 50-Tyrosine – aids function of pituitary, adrenal and thyroid glands.

The ion-exchange whey protein in Absorb Plus too creates sustained increases in glutathione (a key antioxidant and antiviral) which creates resistance to a variety of diseases and carcinogens. Other components of whey protein isolate provide the following beneficial actions in the torso:

  • Alpha-lactalbumin consumption enhances tryptophan and allowed function and reduces the stress hormone cortisol
  • Tryptophan is used by the encephalon to industry serotonin. This is important considering serotonin deficiency plays a function in the development of depression, anxiety, moodiness and insomnia
  • Glycomacropeptides stimulate the hormone cholecystokinin, which is responsible for the release of pancreatic enzymes and the good for you wrinkle of the gallbladder and bowels
  • Lactoferrin is an antioxidant that is also a powerful antiviral and antibacterial amanuensis shown to inhibit the growth of E.coli, salmonella and candida in the gut. It also helps ensure the optimal use of fe in the body past binding to iron and preventing oxidation.

Whey poly peptide is also an alkaline metal nutrient, and so it'south ideal for counteracting the commonly hyper-acidic body pH levels of people with gastro-intestinal bug. If you take heartburn, don't exist surprised if it lessens or disappears later using Blot Plus regularly – particularly if you lot consume iii or more servings per day.

Since Absorb Plus is 100% natural, nigh of the vitamins, minerals and trace minerals are natural-source extractions, the maltodextrin and fructose are certified not-GMO, the whey poly peptide is lactose-free and cold-extracted – and so the protein is not denatured, the amino acids are specifically targeted for gut inflammation and the flavors are certified organic – I think I can safely say that it is the highest quality elemental nutrition milk shake on the market.

If you've read the story of Absorb Plus, you'll know that I originally formulated Blot Plus to heal myself of intestinal hemorrhaging. When I was breastfeeding, I oft used it whenever I was likewise tired to cook or I only didn't have time. Many of my readers use it for breakfast every forenoon, since it's a keen mode to give themselves a salubrious outset to the mean solar day.

Of grade, it is even healthier if y'all tin drink a protein shake with chia seeds, or a blended raw veggie drink – just remember, we're talking about intestinal obstacle hither!

How Much Should I Have?

Absorb Plus powderIf you're using Absorb Plus during a flare – or whenever you're under stress, or likely to develop a flare – you should drink the number of shakes you require for your specific caloric needs each day.

Each Blot Plus shake (blended with i tablespoon of cold-pressed flax or Udo's oil) equals roughly 480 calories. Normal people usually require fifteen calories per pound of body weight. And then if y'all weigh 100 pounds, you demand 1500 calories per day to maintain that weight. And then you would consume three Absorb Plus shakes per day.

If you want to utilize this time to drop a few pounds, and so you simply figure out how many calories y'all need to swallow to maintain a weight that is 20 pounds less than your current weight – and consume the number of shakes needed to maintain that weight.

If you are malnourished or underweight, you can employ this flow of liquid diet to gain some muscle (healthy weight). In that case, yous would take your ideal weight and multiply it past xx.

And so if you lot want to weigh 170 pounds, you lot need to eat 3400 calories per twenty-four hours; which is seven Absorb Plus shakes per mean solar day. If your infection is severe, or if you desire to gain weight quickly, add some other ii shakes per day (so you lot would consume nine shakes per day).

How Long Should I Use Absorb Plus?

Ideally, information technology'south best to eat only liquid nutrition for the entire elapsing of your outburst. For some people, this means three days, for others, it means a few weeks. Since your diverticulitis or stricture flare-ups will depend on the severity of your illness, your surroundings (is it healing, or stressful?), other healing strategies or substances you are using, and your foundational level of health – your healing may exist a lot faster, or a lot slower than someone else's.

And so, information technology's best to listen to your own body and stay on Absorb Plus shakes for as long as your infection is acute and y'all are at risk of a blockage. It's also best to alternate your Absorb Plus shakes with bone broths since the gelatin in the broth is very healing for the gut and the savoury soup provides needed taste diverseness.

How To Introduce Regular Foods Over again

When yous're ready to innovate solid foods again, start with pureed foods and soups to gradually ease yourself back into solid foods. Yous may desire to stay on a mix of Absorb Plus shakes and soft foods for an additional week or 2, only to be certain y'all are well over the flare and give your torso the best fourth dimension/space for healing.

Then transition to depression residue foods – see my complete diet of Low Residuum Foods for all the details on what yous should eat, and not swallow.

Original post March 2011. Most recently updated August 2019.