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I want to mention that I am NOT a doctor, so you should check with your health professional for any health related issues. The following are just my opinions.
My last post talked about how I relieve acute constipation, because sometimes, despite best efforts, your colon doesn’t want to play nice.
For me, if one 24 hour day passes, and I haven’t had the urge to poop, I start to implement my acute protocol right away because I know what happens when I wait too long.
But really, I don’t want this to happen at all. I want to be regular! So, here are the methods I use to keep my colon as happy as possible.
- Probiotics
- Probiotics can be controversial and counterintuitive to some people with IBS and/or SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). I talk more about my experience with probiotics is my Probiotics for IBS post.
- Apparently, people with chronic constipation can be low in certain beneficial bacteria, so taking a probiotic makes sense.
- Here’s one that has had a meaningful impact on my constipation: Prescript Assist. Check out the post I mentioned above for more info on other probiotics that have helped me.
- Prebiotics, Resistant Starches and Fiber
- Prebiotics and Resistant Starches are food for the probiotics. These can be controversial for people with IBS and/or SIBO because some are in the FODMAP group (these are foods with certain sugar types that can induce IBS symptoms).
- Good fiber supplements: Acacia, Inulin, Arabinogalactan, Pectin, Psyllium. I’ve tried a lot. I talk about what worked for me in my Fiber for IBS post.
- Includes sprouted legumes, sprouted grains, cooked and cooled potatoes and more. More detailed info on grains and legumes here on The Gut Institute. I am NOT eating legumes and still avoiding most grains. I just don’t think I’m ready to add those back in to my diet.
- What I’m currently eating:
- Soaked and cooked oatmeal, white jasmine rice, red/yellow/white potatoes. Sometimes I’ll eat really small amounts of soaked quinoa.
- When I bake my bisquity-flatbreads, I include some green-banana flour, millet flour, and oat flour.
- I still have to be careful with the amounts of starches and fibers I eat. I can’t eat more than 2-4 oz of any of these in one sitting and I’m still avoiding any of them during dinner meals to give my gut a break, and also so I have room for dessert! HA!
- Daily Magnesium Supplements
- I play around with how much magnesium I take per day because if I take just a little too much I end up with poops that are way too soft and not comfortable either.
- Sometimes I take 1tsp of Magnesium Citrate, and other times I take 100-400mg of Magnesium Glycinate.
- Exercise
- Weightlifting, running, walking, jump rope, yoga, bike riding. I try to keep moving throughout the day, even if the it’s something small like stretching every twenty minutes, or doing lunges while cooking dinner. Even if this doesn’t help my constipation right away, at least I’m still moving my body.
- Fat
- I make sure to always have enough fat with each meal, especially if I’m eating carbohydrates. That includes, ghee from grass-fed cows, olive oil, coconut oil (not sure my bowels like this oil but haven’t been able to prove it yet), beef tallow, or palm oil.
- There are many reasons why fat is important, you can read about that here on Empowered Sustenance. Acient Organic’s Ghee is DELICIOUS. Expensive but oh soooo good.
My process changes all the time depending on how my gut is doing, but the things I listed here are usually what I fall back to. Hope it helps someone else out there.
Heal on, my friends, heal on
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