Constipation nation What to know when you can't go

Colorectal surgeon Fong debuts with an informative guide to maintaining healthy bowel movements. She explains that the colon primarily serves to reabsorb water from food after it's been digested, and that constipation occurs when the colon either absorbs too much water or has trouble contracting. To keep things moving, she recommends consuming "at least sixty-four ounces of water" and 25--35 grams of fiber per day, noting that fiber helps with motility by bulking up stool while producing short-chain fatty acids that provide the colon with energy. She encourages readers to get their daily fiber through foods rather than supplements and includes recipes for roast broccoli, pumpkin pasta, and egg drop soup with spinach and chicken meatballs. Stressing moderation, Fong suggests that while "coffee stimulates enzymes in the saliva and stomach that help with digestion," too much can cause dehydration, and that while exercise generally aids motility, overly strenuous workouts can trigger a fight-or-flight response that "diverts blood flow from the gut to... the heart and the brain." Fong's conversational tone keeps things light without slipping into the scatological ("Poop or get off the pot"). It's everything readers always wanted to know about constipation but were too afraid to ask. (Nov.)