I've heard (and you might have too) that it’s normal to poop anywhere from 3 times per day to 3 times per week.
Hold on - WHAT?
3 times per week?
Honestly, anything less than once a day can be a red flag.
Because if you’re not pooping at least everyday, you’re holding onto the waste your body is trying so hard to get rid of.
Or maybe you ARE pooping once a day, but they’re small, pebble-like, skinny or thin, or unsatisfying bowel movements. Those are all clues that digestion isn’t working well, but can make it harder to realize you’re actually dealing with constipation.
I’m a stickler for ensuring healthy, regular bowel movements because they’re a prerequisite to…
Painless and predictable periods
An unbloated tummy
Getting rid of gassiness
Healthy gallbladder and liver
Robust immune function
And lower inflammation levels
So if you’re someone struggling with constipation (yes, even subtle constipation with the sneaky signs I mentioned above!), ensure you’re doing these things:
Drinking enough water and adding electrolytes (I like Trace Minerals Concentrace drops and pink salt). “Enough” water will be different for everyone, I recommend starting with a bare minimum of 60 oz, and increasing from there based on body size, activity level and climate.
Eating enough vegetables! Aim for at least 6 servings of vegetables per day. Make sure you’re getting a balance of starchy and non-starchy vegetables. Sometimes it’s the starchy veggies (potatoes, squash, plantains) that help with forming and bulking healthy BMs. Besides vegetables, foods like chia, flax and beans are other great ways to add fiber.
Eating enough healthy fats. Fats are so important for ease of digestion because they stimulate bile release and bile is a natural laxative. If we’re not eating fat and releasing bile, we might be dealing with some serious constipation as a result! Aim for at least 1 tbsp with meals, whether that's from fatty animal proteins, sauces, dressings, or a olive oil drizzle!
Manage stressors, and release tension from where you’re holding it in your body. You wouldn’t believe how much stress we hold in our abdominal muscles and pelvic floor. When we’re chronically stressed, we’re literally telling our body to HOLD ONTO everything in our digestive system. Belly breathing, abdominal massage and pelvic floor physical therapy can be good options to explore! If you're in the Boston area, I recommend checking out Wellest Health for pelvic floor physical therapy.
Moving your body moves your bowel muscles too. Walking, jogging, jumping rope, bouncing, all forms of movement are welcome by the body! Different forms of movement work better than others for different people, but lack of movement is going to stagnate everybody.
Those are the basics. If you’re not nailing those things regularly, start there.
If you ARE doing *all the things* and more, there’s probably more to the story.
If you’re resorting to Citrucel or Metamucil, stool softeners, Magnesium, Senna tea or other laxatives to get the job done every day, I recommend looking deeper with a GI MAP.
A comprehensive stool panel like the GI MAP will help us understand if there’s an imbalance of good and bad bacteria, potential pathogens playing a role, lack of digestive enzymes or bile flow contributing to the slow down, and more.
If you’ve “tried everything”, but haven’t worked with a practitioner using a GI MAP, fear not - you haven’t tried everything. I see this with clients a lot, there's SO much more to explore.
If you're interested in getting to the bottom of stubborn constipation issues, schedule a discovery call to chat about what might be going on with digestion, or other health concerns you’re dealing with.