Bran--it's your friend

I've had a throat infection all week, so I've been taking Tylenol with codeine every four hours since Monday. In case you don't know, opiates like codeine constipate you. I don't usually have a problem, even with taking codeine and my sleepy pills (for which Block-ahj is also a side effect) because when you make your own food you can fibre it up the wazoo.

But because I've been cooking less I've been eating more processed foods, except for the fruit I've had. I don't think I had Emptied the Bowels in 5 days. So tonight I made my favourite bran recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance--ginger bran muffins. I used a little more bran than called for (1 cup instead of 3/4) and I put in cut up dates, which rank at the top of the fruit fibre list.

I ate one and a half muffins, plus licked the bowl, and in one hour the job was done. Can you believe that? I didn't think the results would be so impressive. My system is clear as a whistle. No cancer causing polyps in that puppy. (And wouldn't you rather eat a zingy ginger bran muffin than metamucil?)

Apparently berries are very high in fibre, and I've been eating and drinking them a lot this week too. Yay! [Click here for a pdf of fibre content foods.]

I also had a ton of butternut squash left over from another recipe, and I had cooked it with the skins on because the skins get very soft and provide extra fibre. So I puréed it and made 2 dozen muffins, from a pumpkin muffin recipe. And also added more bran. I will be bathroom ready for weeks to come.