I discovered the horror of maltitol-powered bathroom issues via sugar free mints. I tended to keep some beside me to nibble on; they seemed harmless and made my breath smell nice. It actually took a couple of events before I made the connection between “too many mints” and “Oh god I think my colon is trying to escape.”
For an all natural “cleanser,” try the fish escolar, also called butterfish. The oils in the fish apparently don’t affect everyone who eats it, and it matters how much you eat. But speaking for myself, I’ve never gone so quickly from being fine to realizing that all hell was about to break loose and there was little I could do to halt its progress.
Apparently the fish is banned for sale in Japan, but I see it offered occasionally in U.S. sushi restaurants. It’s honestly quite tasty! Because of all the oils. Which will go through you with an efficiency that makes Miralax or Dulcolax seem like serious underperformers. I think instead of the prep drink for my next colonoscopy, I’ll just go out and get an escolar appetizer. I’m pretty sure it cleared not just my bowels, not just my digestive tract, I think I passed foods I had yet to eat. It’s just that thorough.
We bought a bag when they first came out, and the warnings were barely noticeable. This was long before Jay Leno started reading the bag on the air: “May cause ANAL LEAKAGE?!?”
We took a road trip to see friends, and I ate most of the bag while driving. Lest you worry, we made it there with no trouble. But I was jolted awake at 2 am, and barely made it to the toilet in time. By the way, I’m so grateful that I had the forethought to grab a huge book, because I was on the john until breakfast. Every time I thought I was done… nope!
It’s not so much the fat content, but the type of fat. Escolar has a lot of wax esters in its flesh, which are indigestible (20% fat, of which 90% is wax esters).
My wife had the same reaction after buying a huge bag of sugar-free Riccola lozenges. It took a while, because they melt slowly, but she goes through them pretty quickly.