Sara Southgate - Naturopath & Herbalist

The results aren't the kind that send you running to the loo - just a gentle increase in the volume of stool and number of times you go to the loo.

What you're aiming to achieve is about 3 bowel movements per day - or a large increase in the volume - it really depends on where you start: if you go twice daily already, then one tablet will do it. If you go twice a week, you'll need more. The maximum I've known a person need is 9 tablets per day, but the average is 2-3.

If you don't go 3 times, you need to up your laxative dose by one tablet this evening when you go to bed.

The laxatives are a clever formulation: they contain a large amount of cascara, which is a tonic laxative. To explain this you need to understand that most laxatives work by irritating the lining of the intestine, and stimulating a bowel movement. It isn't great.

What Cascara does is tonify the peristaltic action of the bowel. Peristalsis is the squeezy movement of the bowel as it moves the intestinal contents along towards the exit. If you peristalsis is weak, your bowels will move ineffectively, or slowly.

You can measure how effective your bowels are by doing a transit time. This lets you know how long it takes food to 'transit' the intestine, from ingestion to expulsion.

Measuring Transit Time
This is simple. Eat a big bowl of sweetcorn, noting the day and time. Watch for when it comes out - we don't really break down sweetcorn well, so it is easy to see, especially when you've eaten a lot. An ideal transit time is 12 hours.

A bowel cleanse, or colon cleanse using a cascara formulation will increase transit time, so you can measure before and after. 99% of people - in my clinical experience - have a prolonged beneficial effect after the bowel cleanse, in terms of efficiency, regularity and transit time.

Detox Diet
You'll also be doing the first day of your vegan, wheat-free diet, which can be a challenge.

Today, I've replaced had quite a few dandelion coffee and oatmilk drinks, which is a tasty, creamy drink - when you're cutting out the dairy, I find it is the creaminess I miss - try coconut milk and oatmilk as substitutes.

I've also had a lot of snacks - carrots, apples, bananas, dried apricots - when I cut back to vegan and wheat-free, I find I do tend to snack more in the first few days while I'm getting used to it. I've also been really thirsty, so drinking plenty.