How to get rid of a stitch

Karen asked a great question, here it is:

A question for Julius i guess is I am reading the chapter about drinking til you wee clear,,,,great name by the way…i drink 2-3 litres everyday anyway but it talks about drinking during exercise…i find i get really bad stitches in my right side if i drink just before or during exercise….any helping hints?? The stitches get so bad i am doubled over in pain…i try to deep massage them out but they wont relieve for up to an hour or so….i try not to drink for an hour b4 exercise either as i find this also encourages stitches….

Here’s the answer:

Hey Karen, yeah stitches are definitely a result of your water. It’s a good idea to not drink too much before exercise, but long term, your performance may suffer if you are dehydrated. Usually, gastric emptying (when your stomach releases the water into your intestines) gets rid of the issue because your water is not sitting in one big “lump.” However, your fast weight loss has left you with so much extra space inside your frame (where the fat used to be) that your bowels essentially bounce around inside, which in turn stretches the muscles and tendons in your core, which then causes it to cramp.

Solution part 1: tightening your core muscles will definitely help, as a flat tummy will mean your abdominal muscles are tight around your organs.

Solution part 2: put a bit of himalayan rock salt on your food (you can get the best from Cyndi O’Meara at changing habits – www.changinghabits.com.au). Here’s why: on an empty stomach, drink a litre of really cold water as fast as you can, you should feel your stomach (under your sternum) go cold, then a few seconds later, you will feel the cold pass further down your insides, as it reaches your gut. At this point, it should (in theory) cross the intestine wall and enter your blood. If you feel it sitting there, however, you are not absorbing the water fast enough; this means that you are therefore low on electrolytes (found in real salt). When you exercise, you sweat out a lot of sodium (an electrolyte replaced through real salt – not that fake chemical crap woolies will sell you), and it is essential to replace this. So put a bit of real salt on your food, and try the exercise again a few days later. If you feel the water disperse into you blood, then you are right to try exercising with water

Hope this helps ya!