The most crucial question of them all

[gund]

SHTF.

You bug out to a more rural setting.

You hunt small game with your trusty .22LR rifle.

How do you prevent constipation?

 

[Hoosier8]

SHTF.

You bug out to a more rural setting.

You hunt small game with your trusty .22LR rifle.

How do you prevent constipation?

LOL, great question. Eat green apples?

 

[MarkR]

If that's anyone's plan for when the SHTF, they're going to have much bigger problems than constipation.

 

[gund]

If that's anyone's plan for when the SHTF, they're going to have much bigger problems than constipation.

There's only so many ways to get food.

I'm assuming that commercial food production has stopped suddenly.

There's pre-prepared non-perishables (i.e. can food, MRE), then there's small game and fish.

I'm trying to keep the situation widely applicable, so this isn't a specific plan. I don't know how you can tell a plan sucks when there's no specific plan in the two lines that set up the SHTF situation.

It's a tongue-in-cheek question with a hint of seriousness.

Does drinking enough water and continuous movement help sufficiently?
Does one have to take laxatives everyday?
Is there readily available fiber sources in nature?
...

 

[J.M.BROWNING]

We will always have plenty of food. There are many huge corporations that depend on that to stay rich. But we can have some regional shortages for a week or 2 as hurricane katrina demonstrated.

If everyone takes of for a more rural setting then there will be alot of you people lost in the wilderness. lol Better to stay put for anything short of nuclear war.

 

[Ashkelon]

The human body is like a wind up watch. Plenty of water and movement will keep the insides moving just fine. Constipation is the result of our poor diets and over processed foods. Just my

 

[infidel]

Well I would like totally go to Walmart and get some groceries with my credit card so I could get like a little more than usual. (It might need to last!) But IDK I would probably just like find somebody with a lot of food or something and they would let me have it, right?

/most people

If SHTF that bad, I will be crapping my pants; so I'm not worried about constipation lol.

 

[spartan933]

I guess I would use the "finger wave".

 

[El Cazador]

As extreme as most folks will have to change their diets, I doubt constipation will be an issue. It takes a while for the body to get used to digesting fiber like vegetables and coarse ground grains. Lack of toilet paper will probably be the bigger issue, and I'll bet people will start keeping their distance from each other for a while, too.

 

[Pamcake]

Bring your trusty bottle of mineral oil
Eat weeds & leaves that you already know are safe, like dandelion (which always seems to be abundant LOL), for their fiber content.

Prior posters are correct about drinking lots of water & keep exercising.
Especially if you are eating high-fiber foods like apples & whole wheat.

If you drink raw water, you'll get diarrhea anyway.
If you don't properly clean off or cook your foods due to lack of whatever, you'll get diarrhea that way too... remember everything on the planet is covered in a thin layer of sh!7, it just happens to be "thicker in Cairo than Indy", so contamination might almost be inevitable

You can always try to catch a giardia infection so that you have chronic diarrhea & never worry about it again

 

[tenring]

If push comes to shove, food will be in short supply. The ten most populous cities in the U.S. have only 3 days supply of food on hand. Remember the big snow storm several years ago that stopped all supply trucks from going into New York City? Homeland Security has a large office in the world wide headquarters of China Mart. Oil imports shut off, gas ration cards will be issued [already printed, stored in 'guvmint warehouses] so each licensed driver "may" get 55 gallons of gas per month when presenting your card. All kinds of other stuff, take it from there.

 

[Lex Concord]

Easy fiber.

Psyllium seed husks.

You can get it in capsules or powder form at Whole Foods and probably many other such places. Both forms are lightweight and portable.

I mix the powder with applesauce, but you can just put it in water and drink it. Don't overdo it, though, as you will get some wicked cramps.

It's a good idea even before SHTF.

 

[C.H.U.D.]

No food wont allways be avaliable, If the grid went down even the big companys can work, bigger city would run out of everything quick, havent you seen fla. before a hurricain empty walmarts??

 

[MarkR]

There's only so many ways to get food.

I'm trying to keep the situation widely applicable, so this isn't a specific plan. I don't know how you can tell a plan sucks when there's no specific plan in the two lines that set up the SHTF situation.

It's a tongue-in-cheek question with a hint of seriousness.

Ok, my apologies, I wasn't trying to be insulting. My point was as you stated above, that this isn't a plan. But there are actually a fair number of people who think like this. It really is there plan! No one is going to "bug out" to the woods and be self sufficient hunting game. You have to prepare BEFORE the event. Stock up necessary supplies. Actually have a Plan.
My original response was also tongue-in-cheek, because there was no plan described in the original post.

So the real question might be "How do you plan to prevent constipation after SHTF due to the changes in your diet, fiber intake, etc...?"

 

[clt46910]

Learn your local eatable plants. In this area, there are a lot of them. Plus have a good backpacking filter for good water.

 

[JD31]

Obama would most likely make it illegal to be constipated should things get rough. We have nothing to worry about. Nationalized health care will save us all.

 

[gund]

Learn your local eatable plants. In this area, there are a lot of them. Plus have a good backpacking filter for good water.

That would be a good thing to learn.

Hmm regarding water. I know you can boil water, or use iodine or chlorine tablet.

Is there actually a passive filter (no battery required, or high pressure) that can make water potable?

 

[melensdad]

SHTF.
...
How do you prevent constipation?

I'm assuming that commercial food production has stopped suddenly.

I think it is an almost insane assumption to presume that commercial food production would stop.

Think rationally for a few moments. Commercial food production is scattered all over the world, all over the USA, and even all over the state of Indiana. It is not controlled by common ownership and it varies from the corner bakery or butcher shop to the modest size pickle canneries (Selchers here in Indiana) to medium size businesses (Red Gold in Indiana) to co-ops of farmers to larger and larger companies up to multi-nationals with scattered production.

Now if you shut down the railroads then there were be some big problems as everything from grains to grapefruits will have trouble getting from the farms/orchards to the distant processing plants BUT not to the local processing plants, those will still have access to the food and it could still be trucked anywhere. Trucking is less efficient, takes longer, costs more, certainly will be a crimp on things.

I do think that there are potential problems, and there are realistic issues with regional shortages, specific shortages, and dramatically increased prices on food. But food production stopping? No. Farmers will still plant crops and people are smart enough to figure out how to use the crops.

 

[gund]

Until the farmers turn into zombies...

It's a hypothetical scenario (that is extremely rare). I could go into a long-winded post about all the different situations that could lead to such a scenario, but that's not the point (and I'm tired, and it should be obvious there are such situations no matter how rare).

It's SHTF. It's supposed to be rare.

It's only insane if it's impossible for this assumption to ever become true. Impossible =/= rare.

And there are situations where commercial food production has not ended, but to someone it has the same consequences because he is effectively cut off from it. For example, that dumbass that went to Alaska.

 

[melensdad]

Until the farmers turn into zombies...

It's a hypothetical scenario (that is extremely rare). I could go into a long-winded post about all the different situations that could lead to such a scenario...

Well they had SHTF in Bosnia, Poland, East Germany, Somalia, Chad, etc etc etc. Food of some sort was still available. Not necessarily good. Not necessarily lots of choice. But production never ceased, and when it did stop in one spot due to war/famine it continued in another.

The real question is can you and your supplies be varied enough and complete enough to last you through the shortages.

And there are situations where commercial food production has not ended, but to someone it has the same consequences because he is effectively cut off from it. For example, that dumbass that went to Alaska.

Yes, idiots exist. Darwin will save us from them.