Charcoal lemonade to test bowel transit time and motility and gas relief
Testing your bowel transit time can be very helpful if you are struggling with constipation, diarrhea, or other digestive issues.
I go into more details on how to you can test your bowel transit time in this video:
Charcoal lemonade is a very tasty way to test your bowel transit time at home. It is also a child friendly way to test your child’s bowel transit time as the lemonade is a interesting black color but doesn’t really taste any different from regular lemonade.
Activated charcoal has lots of other benefits to the gut in addition to helping to track transit time. It absorbs toxins so it a great drink if you are gluten-free and accidentally get “glutened” (I have more information on things you can do if you or your child get glutened in this video.
Activated charcoal can also help if you are struggling with gas and bloating. The lemon increases your stomach acid making this a helpful drink if you struggle with reflux or acid indigestion as well. This is something you can drink occasionally but shouldn’t be drunk daily as it will absorb nutrients as well as toxins.
Activated Charcoal Lemonade
1 16 ounce serving
Ingredients
- 1/2-1 tsp. food-grade activated charcoal (Amazon affiliate link)
- 2 cups cold water
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, approximately the juice of one lemon
- 1-2 tsp. honey, agave, maple syrup, or equivalent liquid monk fruit or stevia
Directions
- Stir the charcoal, water, lemon juice, and sweetener of choice together in a glass until combined.
- Serve over ice.
Drink the activated charcoal lemonade after you have had your first bowel movement in the morning. Wait at least an hour after taking any medicines to drink the lemonade, as activated charcoal can interfere with the absorption of your medications.
You can buy charcoal lemonade on Amazon but it is easy and cheap to make at home and you control the ingredients.
Take note of when you begin to see black in your stools, and when you are no longer seeing any black. Times of 12-24 hours are excellent, with many people seeing a peak around 16 hours.
If you have a transit time of fewer than 8 hours means that you are probably not getting all the benefit of the nutrients in your food as your food is passing through you very quickly.
If you aren’t seeing black in your stool until after 12-36 hours, you are constipated and need to intervene to speed up your digestion.
Magnesium is very helpful for constipation. I have a video on magnesium with lots of information that you can watch here:
Fiber can also help transit time for some people but makes constipation worse for others. I go into more detail in how to determine if you should increase or decrease your fiber intake in this video.
I hope this information has been helpful to you.
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