Want Gut Health? Keep Constipation Away

Want Gut Health? Keep Constipation Away

The link between Gut Health and Constipation

Gut health is more than a trend—it’s a cornerstone of overall wellness. From gastroenterologist to nutritionists, everyone is talking about the brain-gut connection, microbiome, and gut bacteria. For naturopaths, though, the focus on gut health is nothing new. It’s where healing begins.

Naturopathy emphasizes “gut cleaning” as the first step to restoring health. The gut, spanning from the esophagus/food pipe to the large intestine/colon, acts like a pipeline. If it isn’t regularly cleansed, waste accumulates, creating a breeding ground for toxins and harmful bacteria. Left unchecked, this can lead to a range of health issues.

Simply going to poop once a day does not make you non-constipated. If you have hard stools: take a lot of time after sitting on the pot, have constant bloating, or don’t feel light after passing stool, chances are you are constipated. If the large intestine or colon stool , starts retaining stool for more than 24 hrs, your health is going to get compromised. The colon also serves another important function: the human body absorbs water through the large intestine every 24 hours. Not pooping every 24 hours, increases the probability of water getting polluted with noxious gases and liquids that get produced by rotting stools. He same polluted water will get absorbed in your bloodstream.

This is why understanding constipation becomes important. Our ‘urban’ diets and sedentary lifestyles are one of the chief reason constipation is so rampant. There are also additional 5 reasons why you may be constipated.

1. Lack of Water

Drinking enough water during the day is not just for hydration but also to maintain good gut health. This is where drinking about 500 ml- 1 litre of water first thing in the morning comes in. During your night sleep, your body has done a fair amount of repair and maintenance work, throwing the debris of this into your gut. Plus the end products of all the food that you have eaten the previous day are now ready to be taken out of the body. These solid particles need a flowing stream (the water you drink) to smoothly flush them out. So chug (rather than sip) the first 1-2 glasses of morning water, on an empty stomach.

If you have to exert a lot of effort to push your stools out, have dry skin and eyes, constant fatigue, chances are that your water intake is low.

2. Lack of Fibre

I recently put myself on an all juice diet for 3 days and voila my stools stopped. One of the biggest reasons this happens on a liquid diet, is the lack of fibre in our food. The fibre in our food is what gives bulk to our stools, making it easy for the colon to push it out. This fibre is also a natural broom that sweeps our intestines as it moves along. When deficient, food sticks along the intestinal walls and the stools stagnate and rot in the colon. Most of us eating processed foods (anything that comes out of a bag, box, or bottle, is processed), will be deficient in dietary fibre, unless we are also eating large quantities of raw fruits and vegetables with rind and whole grains.

Loose, watery stools can sometimes indicate low fibre. If eating a large quantity of fruits for dinner gives you a smooth motion in the morning, then chances are you need more fibre.

3. Lack of Lubrication

If you are one of those people who likes drinking milk at night or a spoon of ghee or castor oil either at night or early morning, because it clears your stomach in the morning, then lubrication is a likely issue. Just like water is needed to push the stools out, the body must have enough good fats and oils to make this pushing smooth.

Dry and hard stools, dry skin and eyes, constant gas build up in your body, can all indicate a lack of lubrication.

4. Lack of Muscle Tone

This is by far the most important reason why gut health gets compromised. Every organ in our body has a natural movement; organs are not static entities. Just like muscles contract and expand (that is their natural movement), the intestines work through peristalsis. Think of this as watching waves in a beach. This wave-like motion is what moves the food along the entire alimentary canal, right from the mouth to the rectum. If, despite eating healthy food, you feel heavy and full even after 2-3 hours, chances are that your organs have lost their natural tone or are not performing their natural movements. Lack of activity, constant sitting, highly overcooked, spiced and processed foods are the main culprits behind this.

The solution is to walk everyday or do core muscle strengthening exercises regularly. Stomach muscles are the centre of movement for all muscles that line internal/hollow organs( esophagus, stomach, colon, bladder). If these are strong, your other hollow organs will also contract and expand regularly. This natural movement will move food and its by products pass through your gut smoothly.

 If drinking tea, coffee, or hot drinks, helps you clear your stomach, then there is a lack of tone in the alimentary organs currently.

(P.S: Please reach out, if you would like the core strengthening yoga sequence to be mailed to you)

5. Stress and Gut health

The human body when stressed, moves its nerve energy (which is needed for the organs to perform their natural movement) and blood circulation away from the alimentary canal and into the extremities i.e. the arms and legs. Remember the purpose of stress is to get us ready to fight or flight and not to rest and digest. So if there is constant stress, the organs (stomach, intestines) are not getting either enough blood or enough nerve energy. Sadly, the urge to have a stimulant like coffee or tobacco further increases once stress levels are high.

If you have a diagnosed condition of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), where you are constantly alternating between constipation and diarrhoea, or have a constant loose stomach, stress has been your major contributor.

Tips to Ensure Good Gut Health

1. Flush Out Toxins Daily in the Morning
   Cultivate a habit of drinking water first thing in the morning to kickstart elimination. Early morning water needs to be in large quantities and drunk within the first 1 hour of waking up to help with elimination. Make this a family habit and teach it to your children. This will ensure a feeling of lightness, energy and good digestion for the rest of the day.

2. If you find yourself constipated: bloated, heavy, have difficulty passing stool regularly, try a combination of the following:

Add fruit as Meal: Depending on whether it’s a fibre or tone issue, the following fruits will help: papaya, guava are high in fibre; apple, pears are a good combination of fibre and are good toners; muskmelon, stone apple(bael) are good toners. Only eat what is in season. Experiment with whether eating that plate of fruit for breakfast or dinner works better. 

Add Figs to your diet: If even after adding the above fruits your stomach does not open, eat 2-4 soaked figs everyday. Soak for a minimum of 8 hours and have separately from anything. Figs are great for children too. They can eat them like candy, without soaking.

Incorporate Healthy Fats: If lubrication is an issue( you notice gas, dryness ), drink a small glass of warm milk at night. Or take a teaspoon of castor oil, depending on what works best for your body. These are not to be done daily but used as medicine, to settle the gut.

Give Your Stomach a Break: If you immediately feel bloated or heavy after eating meals, your stomach needs rest and a break. Skip a meal regularly for few days and notice the difference.

Supervised Gut Detox: If your constipation or gut issues are chronic and have been there since many years, then get in touch to undergo a complete Gut reset or detox.

Read related post on the link between sleep quality and gut health.