TMI alert: I have always had chronic constipation. It's not bad nowadays because of the aformentioned heavy fiber, but I can't indulge too many bad habits because I'm always prone to it and it is a living hell. Before I was vegan, it was normal for me to go 4 days to a week without pooping. I'm on the other side of menopause now, but I remember how intimately tied my periods were to the constipation cycle. The pain was unbelievably bad, like 4 - 5 Advil and a vodka chaser. This was when I weighed a hundred pounds. When I got my period at 12, it was so painful and heavy I literally wished I was dead. I wish I had known to quit dairy back then, but of course as a young vegetarian, I quit eating meat first -- dairy was not good for me.

I'm just beginning to get into herbs. Herbal medicine is night and day from allopathic medicine. What's interesting about it is how it crosses borders: soup is technically herbal medicine, and so is herb tea. Allopathic medicine seeks to remove or burn out the offending lesion; they always want to either amputate a body part or blitzkrieg it.