Episode 380: The Real Reasons You’re Constipated (and What Actually Works)
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Can’t poop? If you’ve tried hydration, magnesium, and fiber, but STILL struggle with chronic constipation, this episode breaks down why. Erin and TFN practitioner Nicole Antes, MS, RDN, FHP-C™ are talking about the real root causes of sluggish bowels, like low digestive capacity and mineral imbalances, to hidden microbiome issues and chronic nervous system stress. Fiber also sometimes makes constipation worse (!)
Using a real client case study, Nicole shares how she helped a woman resolve decades-long constipation in just 3 months by layering digestive support, targeted nutrients, gut testing, and nervous system regulation.
This episode will help you rethink constipation beyond the quick fixes so you can finally understand how hydration, minerals, microbiome balance, vagal tone, and emotional release all work together for healthy digestion.
In this episode:
The #1 cause of chronic constipation (hint: dehydration!) and what your baseline water intake should look like
Erin’s favorite travel must-have for avoiding constipation while traveling
The fiber mistake that can make things worse if you have motility issues, plus the gut bacteria linked to methane gas
How chronic stress and a dysregulated nervous system literally shut off digestion
Erin’s go-to relief strategies, including coffee enemas and emotional “letting go” practices that address the energetic roots of constipation
Resources mentioned:
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Similar Podcast Episodes:
Episode 131: Can’t Poop? Constipation & Gut Health
Episode 332: Coffee Enemas: The Whys, Whats & Hows
Episode 337: Colon Hydrotherapy - Why Aren’t More People Talking About This?
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Nicole:
If you notice that constipation gets worse when you either add in more fiber foods or when you add in a fiber supplement, this may be a sign that we're dealing with more of a motility issue, which often relates back to something called our migrating motor complex, also known as the mmc. We can kind of think of our migrating motor complex as the wavelike contractions that are happening to move food and waste through our digestive tract. And if that process isn't working, well, adding more fiber is. Is just going to create a plug in the system. It basically acts like adding the bulb that's creating a plug, and then things can't move through the digestive tract.
Erin:
Welcome to The Funk’tional Nutrition Podcast, spelled with a K, because we do things a little differently around here. I'm your host, Erin Holt, and I've got 15 years of clinical experience as a functional nutritionist and mindset coach, creating a new model that I call Intuitive Functional Medicine™, where we combine root cause medicine with the innate intelligence of your body. This is where science meets self trust. Your body already knows how to heal, and this show is going to show you how. If you're looking for new ways of thinking about your health, be sure to follow and share with a friend, because you never know whose life you might change.
All right, friends, today we're going to discuss a really, really common issue that we see all the time in practice and that I know a lot of people struggle with, which is chronic constipation. Longtime listeners of this show will know that this is kind of my bag. It's something that I've struggled on and off. So today we have Nicole on the show with me. Nicole is one of our full time practitioners here at TFN and she's been working with a lot of our constipation clients. So welcome. Nicole.
Nicole:
Hi. I'm excited to be here and talk about this with you today.
Erin
You love talking about poop so much, or lack of.
Nicole:
I do. I just love it because it would.
Erin:
Be lack of poop in this situation. So in episode 131. So we're like going way back, way back Buffet for this one. We speak about common drivers of constipation. So I kind of really unpack all the different reasons that you might be constipated. Because as we'll talk about a little bit more in the show, there's a lot of reasons, but today we want to take you deeper into real world patterns that we see in practice. And Nicole's actually going to share a case study of One client who had chronic lifelong constipation and was able to find relief. And Nicole's going to share specifically what she did to get her there.
Erin:
So let's just like, take it from the top. Nicole, how would somebody know that they're constipated? Because that's something that you and I both see. People don't even realize that they're constipated.
Nicole:
Yeah, I think that's a really good point that sometimes people don't know because there's a certain way that we want bowel movements or like your bowel habits to look on a daily basis, at least one to three bowel movements a day. Ideally, we want them to be painless. We want them to be easy to pass. A key thing as well is we want them to be complete. So sometimes we can have a bowel movement, but it doesn't feel like we fully have emptied. So we want them make sure they feel complete. There's also, if people are familiar with the Bristol stool chart, kind of shows us what, ideally, we want our bowel movements to look like and what they can range from. From diarrhea to constipation.
Nicole:
And ideally, we want to see a 3 to 4 on the Bristol stool chart. I often tell clients that we want their bowel movements to look like a smooth snake. So we don't want any rabbit pellets. We don't want super dry stool. Yeah, yeah.
Erin:
I mean, if it looks like deer turds, it's. You're constipated. That's just a sign of really dry stool. But we also don't want it to be the opposite end of the spectrum. It's really runny and. And really wet. But you can just Google that Bristol stool chart, and it will show you, like, what a normal, healthy bowel movement looks like. And constipation is a problem for a number of different reasons.
Erin:
One is it's just very uncomfortable, and it can lead to a lot of symptoms like bloating, gas, or just discomfort. And sometimes when somebody has a lot of bloating and gas, it's not necessarily like, oh, a bacterial overgrowth or sibo. It's sometimes somebody's really just constipated. And once we get their bowels moving, their symptoms go away. The other issue is that the large intestine can reabsorb water, and that's part of its job, part of what it does. So if waste, if stool is sitting in the colon or the large intestine for too long, if your transit Time is too long. You can essentially reabsorb toxins and waste products back into the body, and that includes hormones. We've talked about this a bunch on the show lately, so I think it's Dr. Carrie Jones that says we have to take toxins all the way to the toilet. So it's really important that not only are you moving your bowels regularly, but things are moving through your GI tube at an appropriate pace. So let's get into some of the common reasons and common drivers that you are seeing in practice. What would you say the number one most common cause of constipation is?
Nicole:
The number one is the most simple, but it's definitely just dehydration. Not only just dehydration, though, also lack of minerals. I'll talk a little bit about why minerals are really important for hydration. I think a really important baseline for your water intake is just taking your body weight in pounds and dividing it by two. That should be the bare minimum. Like if we're working out, if we're sweating, if we're moving our body, we should definitely be drinking more than that. But that's a good baseline for just determining how much water you need to be drinking. It's not just about the water though.
Nicole:
We also need to be thinking about minerals. Our minerals like sodium, potassium, magnesium, they help our body properly absorb water. As you just mentioned in the colon, that's where we're absorbing water. And so we need those minerals for that. But minerals are also playing a part throughout the rest of the digestive tract as well. They help with our digestive juice production, which is really important for moving food through our system. They also help to regulate the muscle contractions that our digestive tract uses to move food through the digestive tract as well. And then we also know that those main minerals that I just mentioned with sodium, potassium and magnesium, they're also really important for maintaining our fluid balance.
Nicole:
And so some of my go-tos that I'll recommend in practice with my clients is things like trace mineral drops. These are a really great way to, you can add them into your water to just help boost minerals. We can also use things like electrolyte powders as well. And then oftentimes if I'm suspecting that somebody might have more of an issue with low magnesium, because this is really common in our modern life. And they're also dealing with constipation sometimes. I also like to bring in things like magnesium citrate or, or magnesium oxide, which can really help with constipation as.
Erin:
Well, yeah, those are the two forms of magnesium that tend to be the most beneficial for constipation. They help to relax the colon, but they also help to pull some water into the stool. So you're not getting that dry stool magnesium. I take magnesium powder every single night and will not travel without it because sometimes constipation, I mean, people that have constipation know this. But if you travel, if you're off your schedule, that can also contribute to more of a constipation, constipation picture. So that's something that I'm always taking. And I think that it's important to note, too, that anything else that can dehydrate you or dry your body out can also lead to constipation. So if you're drinking alcohol, if there's any change in your diet, if you're eating less, whole foods that tend to have more water, all of these things can be a factor in constipation.
Erin:
One thing that I didn't realize because I've never really ever had to take any histamines before, but this summer I had this, like, weird allergy thing going on with my eye. It was just red eye all the time. So I took antihistamines, like, for maybe like, three or four weeks straight. And I got so constipated, it just super, super, super dried out my stool. So just something to be aware of. Like, anything that dries you out, anything that is dehydrating can also lead to constipation. Kind of sticking with diet and what we're consuming. What would be another thing that you are seeing that contributes to constipation?
Nicole:
Obviously, we're going to talk about diet as nutritionists over here, but I would say fiber. Fiber is very, very important for a couple different reasons. It helps to bulk up our stool and soluble fiber in particular, because there's different types of fiber, and soluble fiber helps to draw water into colon as well, which makes our stool softer and makes it easier for us to pass. But fiber is also really, really good for our beneficial gut bacteria, especially more of those prebiotic fibers. Prebiotics are resistant to digestion until they get into the colon. So once they're in the colon, they help to. They basically act as food for our beneficial bacteria that will ferment them, and then it just helps those microbes to kind of survive and thrive in the gut. Our main goal is to help our clients get those prebiotics in through plant foods. So think a lot of, like, your reds, your deep reds, your purples, Your fruits, your veggies, all of those things. But sometimes I also will bring in prebiotic fibers in practice, especially if somebody has a lot of low beneficial bacteria or if we want to just see if bringing in extra fiber will help with their bowel movements. Two in particular that I really like to use are sun fiber. It's also known as partially hydrolyzed guar gum. I know that's something that you really like and have used as well.
Erin:
Yeah, I love it. It's just so well tolerated, even because fiber can be a little bit tricky. And, you know, like Nicole said, there's different types of fiber. We just did the whole fiber episode, I think it was last week. So you can go back to that one to get like the full breakdown. But just as like a general rule, soluble fiber tends to be a little bit gentler and easier on the system and sometimes insoluble fiber, which is a different type of fiber, can actually make constipation worse. So we're always trying to be mindful of what type of fiber that we're bringing in when we're looking at food or we're looking at supplements. But partially hydrogenized guar gum (phgg) is just seems to be super, super well tolerated, even with people with IBS, with SIBO.
I like a particular supplement. So Nicole mentioned sunfiber, which is great. I also like Regular Girl. So Regular Girl has the sun fiber, but it also has a bifido bacterium probiotic in it as well. That can also be helpful. So I've had really good success with that powder. It's just a white powder. It's totally flavorless. So you could add it to water, you could add it to juice, you could add it to smoothies. That would be a recommendation that I would make.
What other fibers, in terms of like supplemental fibers, functional fibers, are used using for constipation that you have good luck with?
Nicole:
I also really like paleofiber. Paleofiber is a different type of fiber than sun fiber. It's called resistant starch, which works similarly to how sunfiber does. It's also a prebiotic, so it doesn't get digested until the colon. But that type of fiber in particular is also really, really good at helping to support the beneficial bacteria. You can get it through food as well, but it works really well in supplement form.
Erin:
That's the designs for Health one?
Nicole:
Yeah.
Erin:
And there's a couple of different ones. So there's one paleo fiber that is a mix of different fibers. And I think that there's one that's the resistant starch. So you can just kind of like, play around. I know that, like, I have, personally speaking, have more luck with some fibers than other fibers. And I think that's kind of like an individual thing, probably based on what's going on in your microbiome at the time.
Nicole:
One other thing that I wanted to mention as well is especially because we're talking about fiber, we're talking about supplemental fiber. I do want to mention that if you notice that constipation gets worse when you either add in more fiber foods or when you add in a fiber supplement, this may be a sign that we're dealing with more of a motility issue, which often relates back to something called our migrating motor complex, also known as the mmc. We can kind of think of our migrating motor complex as the wavelike contractions that are happening to move food and waste through our digestive tract. And if that process isn't working well, adding more fibe is it just going to create a plug in the system? It basically acts like adding the bulk. That's creating a plug, and then things can't move through the digestive tract.
Erin:
Totally. I can certainly relate to that. That's why, like, just like the generalized advice of, like, if constipation, add more fiber doesn't always work. So if that is the case, you'll have more luck, most likely, with nervous system regulation. We're going to talk about that in a little bit. But also prokinetics would be something to consider. Prokinetics are a class of medications, but we can also use them as in supplement form, which is what we do here in practice, and they really help to support motility. One that we've used that we have some success with is called Modal Pro.
It has ginger in it, but it has some other things as well. And it really supports both serotonin and acetylcholine. These are two neurotransmitters that really influence our motility. Triphala is another one. It is three different herbs combined. That's more of an ayurvedic herb combination. And then butyrate. I don't really think butyrate is necessarily considered a prokinetic, but we know that it can enhance motility and increase transit time. I wouldn't say I'm curious to hear what you think, Nicole, but I wouldn't say that, like, butyrate is the thing that really moves the needle on chronic constipation cases, but I think we can, like, bring it into an overall protocol.
Nicole:
I agree. I don't think it's like the only the one thing that's going to solve it or resolve it. But I've seen it really, it does help because it's helping your beneficial bacteria, but also just inflammation, motility, all of that.
Erin:
And then also speaking of the migrating motor complex, I just happened to see this recently on a gut panel and I thought it would be an interesting thing to bring up here. Dicyclomine, Is that how you pronounce that medication? It's basically a antispasmodic for the gut, so it's commonly prescribed in IBS. It basically like blocks acetylcholine. That is that neurotransmitter that I was just talking about. And acetylcholine upregulates the migrating motor complex. That's why it helps with motility. It upregulates mmc, but also peristalsis and like the contractions that move things down the GI tube. So that acetylcholine, that neurotransmitter, is really, really important for just moving things through.
And when that's blocked, like with this medication, it can lead to constipation. So it's just something to consider because it is commonly prescribed for ibs, so it might alleviate some symptoms of ibs. But it's like, can sometimes be a situation where we're like, I don't know, stealing from Peter to pay Paul because it can lead to constipation. So I just figured on a show that we're talking about gut health, I would throw that out there because we commonly see that that medication lead to constipation.
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Erin:
I'd love to switch gears and talk about some common patterns that you see on testing, specifically GI testing that can impact constipation.
Nicole:
Yeah, I definitely can speak into this pretty well because we've definitely been doing a lot of GI maps lately so I've seen the common pattern here, and I will say one of the biggest root drivers that I've seen on testing is just overall reduced digestive capacity. This could be things like low stomach acid. It could be something like sluggish bile flow or gallbladder dysfunction. We can also see low digestive enzymes. And the reason why this is so important is because if digestion isn't working efficiently anywhere along the digestive tract, food isn't going to be broken down properly. And we can see that really set the stage for constipation because we need our food to be broken down. We need those digestive juices to really stimulate the flow of food through our digestive tract. So in practice, oftentimes I will add in digestive supports to aid this.
Things like digestive enzymes. Occasionally we'll bring in betaine, hcl as well. Things like digestive bitters are usually well tolerated and good to experiment with. And then something I've been using more recently that I've seen really good success with as well is taurine, specifically high dose taurine. It works really well to not only support the liver, the gallbladder, bile flow, but it also is really good at supporting constipation as well.
Erin:
Both you and Rachel have been using taurine more, more and more recently with like really, really good clinical results. So I'm glad that you brought that up. You're suggesting a thousand milligrams, two times a day. So basically two grams a day, all in as the high dose. That's like a really, really great clinical pearl for our clients struggling with constipation. But then also any practitioners who happen to be listening to the show. Okay, so just overall low digestive capacity, which we're seeing a lot on stool tests. Anything else that you're seeing commonly contribute to constipation on a stool test?
Nicole:
Yeah. Another root driver that we've been seeing is just overall gut microbiome imbalances, which this definitely can play into some of that reduced digestive capacity as well. But dysbiosis in particular, which is more of just kind of general overgrowth or imbalances in the gut bacteria. I've seen most frequently with constipation, just an overgrowth of methanogens in the colon. We can potentially have overgrowths in the small intestine as well with some of the markers that we see on the GI map. But it's most commonly that intestinal methane overgrowth that we're seeing because it's increasing methane gas production. Methane gas is known to slow motility on the GI map. It's particularly that methanobacteria group that we see.
And it is considered clinically relevant anytime it's in that E9 range or higher. But we've also seen significant elevations around, like, E7 or E8 can also be correlated to constipation as well.
Erin:
Yeah, that's like something that we're always kind of keeping our eye on, too. If somebody's coming to us with constipation. That's one of the first places my eyes go when I'm looking at a GI map or a gut panel. And definitely, even though it's. So if anyone's ever seen a GI map, things that are elevated or out of range will be in red and it will like, say, hi. There'll be like an H and an arrow. And you're like, okay, this is getting my attention. But even when that particular category of they're actually not bacteria, they're archaea.
But I mean, semantics. Let's call bacteria for the ease of use for this conversation. When that class of critters are in the E7 E8 range, we can see it correspond to constipation even when it's not flagged as high. So just another thing to keep in mind. And these guys produce methane gas, and methane gas leads to reverse hypermotility, which. Which is exactly what it sounds like. It's motility moving in the wrong direction. So it's backwards flowing, it's upward flow.
And we want everything in our GI tract to move from our mouth to our butt, unless there's an emergency. And if things are moving in the wrong direction, it can lead to constipation pretty obviously. But also other GI symptoms like nausea or acid reflux or burping. It's just like really uncomfortable when things aren't moving in the right direction. And so sometimes we have to kind of of corral these methanogens and knock them back as a way to reduce the overall symptoms that somebody's experiencing. So just as a heads up, we've mentioned the GI map, the gut panel a couple of times. We are reopening them up in a couple of weeks. We're going to open them up at a super limited time discount price.
The last time we did this, they did sell out. So just get on the wait list. We'll link it up in the show notes if that's something that you want to do. If you're like, okay, this sounds like something that might be going on with me. If you want the the hard data get on wait list. I review all of them myself. You get a little video from me and we'll walk you through exactly what's going on in your gut. Let's shift gears because honestly, the reason that we both wanted to do this whole entire episode is the biggest thing that we are seeing with a lot of chronic constipation is chronic stress and nervous system dysregulation.
Or I would even say like nervous system activation. Just being like locked in a sympathetic overdrive state so that that fight or flight, not being able to unwind yourself, not being able to decompress, that can really contribute to long term, chronic, ongoing constipation. Like you have to be able to switch yourself off in order for your gut to work well. So tell me a little bit about what you're seeing in practice, Nicole.
Nicole:
Yeah, the nervous system piece is definitely huge, especially in more of those lifelong constipation cases. Whenever I hear somebody, like I'm looking at an intake form or I'm talking to them and they put that they've had like constipation since birth or lifelong or for decades. The first thing I think about is, okay, what's going on with the nervous system? Because our nervous system directly impacts digestion. It will influence things like our stomach acid, our digestive enzyme production, motility. So peristalsis, like the muscle contractions that move things through and then also our transit time. And we know that stress can reduce vagal tone. Our vagus nerve is how our brain and our gut are communicating. It's also what regulates our nervous system, whether we're in that sympathetic or parasympathetic state.
And our vagus nerve can kind of be thought as the on switch for digestion. It helps control things like digestion. It sets the rhythm for how food is moving through our digestive tract, which is known as motility. And when it's working really well, it. It's basically telling our stomach and our intestines to move food along. It releases the digestive juices, it keeps everything moving how it should. And when it's not working well, when it's impacted from things like chronic stress or from that dysregulated nervous system, we can see things like digestion slow down. And we can also see symptoms like bloating or constipation showing up as well.
I also think it's really important to note that there's not really any supplement that can fix this. I think it's really. They're sure there are supplements that could Help. I shouldn't say nothing can fix this, but it really is more of the foundational lifestyle work that's gonna help regulate your nervous system.
Erin:
No, I totally agree. These are the clients and I'm. I'm one of them, right? So I'm constipation since birth, girly. And these are the people that have, like tried everything. They listen to every podcast, you know, like, they've searched the blogs, they've tried all of the supplements. And sometimes they'll move the needle temporarily in certain circumstances, but not always and not long term. And this is like the thing that kind of keeps coming back. And so I think it's fair to say that if it's truly more of a nervous system issue, like there isn't a supplement that's just gonna like fix everything overnight.
What would you suggest or what I should say? What are practices that you're finding helpful in practice right now with clients struggling with this?
Nicole:
Some of my favorite practices to recommend are specifically like calming practices. So things like meditation, breath work especially, because breath work really does help to. It is going to involve the diaphragm. And we know that like not breathing deeply, not doing the belly breathing can impact vagal tone, but it can also impact digestion. Just the muscles that are included with it sometimes. I also really like to recommend the physiological sigh. It's a particular breathing method that Andrew Huberman talks about that I really like. Like, it's super easy to implement.
Nicole:
I also really like any sort of mindfulness practices. Sometimes there's more kind of intense practices that we can do as well. Like aggressive gargling will stimulate the vagus nerve. Things like coffee enemas as well, which I know are not people's first go to.
Erin:
Listen, I know I posted about coffee enemas. I think it was like last year maybe and like lost like 500 followers. I'm like, really, out of everything that I've said over the years, this is the one that pissed people off the most, the coffee enemas. But I gotta tell you, I share about them because they are like such a game changer for me. And it's like, I honestly, it just feels like such a lifesaver might be a little aggressive, but like, you know, if you go on vacation for 10 days and you can't poop, like, you're not having a good time, that's not a hot take, you're not having fun. And sometimes it's like the anticipation or like the anxiety, the worry that what if I don't poop on vacation that like contributes to the stress that's gonna like lock up my butthole. And people that have like lifelong constipation know exactly what I'm talking about. They're like nodding along as they're listening to this.
And so having a tool that I know is going to provide me immediate relief is just, it like just calms me down. So I will travel with my little coffee enema kit and, and I don't know, like the last time that I've had to actually use a coffee enema while I'm traveling. But it's like my security blanket. It calms me down. So it's like, you know, it's there. If I need it, I have it there. Or if I come home from a trip and I just feel like little like, like funky and clunky, I will leverage that. So I really personally like to use it for acute use, like immediate constipation relief.
But you could also use them more regularly if you do have those motility issues that we discuss. It does help to support that and kind of get that brain gut connection online. If you're using them regularly. And by regularly, that could be like once a week or two to three times a week. So just, you know, heads up on that. If you're absolutely like, I will not put a tube up my butt with coffee. Like, that's a hard no for me. Respect.
Totally get it. You might look into colon hydrotherapy. We did an episode on colon hydrotherapy on it was episode 337 by the way. I also did a coffee enema episode 332. So those resources are there if you want to learn more about them.
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Erin:
Back to what you were saying Nicole about breath work in the diaphragm. Pelvic floor issues. Both tight and weak pelvic floor can lead to some constipation like issues as well. And so deep diaphragmatic breathing does a number of different things. One, it puts your body into the rest and digest state that it needs to be in for appropriate digestion. Two, it helps to relax the pelvic floor. Three, it supports lymph flow and just overall circulation. So all of these things are really like mission critical for bowel movements.
So just kind of keep that in mind. I know it seems so basic when we're like just breathe more. But if you really understood how impactful appropriate breathing is, you would probably do it a lot more. Other things to think about or other things that you're using in practice that are helpful.
Nicole:
Yeah, there's some other tools that I really like as well. I always recommend starting with those more foundational things like making sure you're breathing Making sure you're making time for rest. But some people also just really want something quick and easy that they can put into their routine. And I get it. And there are a lot of Vagus nerve stimulation devices on the market these days. Two in particular that I really like are Tru Vega and Pulsetto. They're really nice because you do it for two minutes a day. You can do it once or twice a day.
And I have actually really seen them move the needle. For clients with constipation as well, there's a gut directed hypnotherapy program that I often refer a lot of clients with ongoing digestive issues, but a lot of chronic constipation. It's called Nerva. It bakes in a lot of nervous system support, but you're also kind of. It's like nervous system support. Manifestation is kind of how I describe it.
Erin:
Yeah, it really helps to like if you have IBS symptoms, it's not just constipation, but if you have IBS symptoms or that like hyper reactivity, that visceral hypersensitivity can just calm things down. So that's a good one to use as well. And we also, like in house, will leverage Manifest yout Health. Which I just want to kind of give a little bit of a teaser. I don't know when this is coming, but it's coming with within the next couple of months. So Manifest yout Health really looks at the underlying emotional and on mental roots of symptoms and conditions and illness. So we're looking not just at the physical body, but the emotional body. We're looking at belief system and how they can play into what's going on in the body.
We know without a shadow of a doubt that what's going on in your subconscious mind with your subconscious beliefs directly impacts your physiology. And so to be honest, in order for me to move through the long term, lifelong constipation picture, I had to look at a lot of this. And so one of the things that I want to bring into this conversation. Conversation is looking at the emotional and energetic roots of constipation. So in this philosophy, every aspect, every part of the body has like symbolism. Like I believe that the body speaks through metaphors. So the colon has a lot to do with letting go or fear of letting go. So holding onto the past, gripping onto the past, really not being able to move through stuff, holding on to guilt of the past, sometimes that looks like resentment.
Holding on to resentment from the past, refusing to let go of old ideas. So you're kind of like stuck, where you are not being able to move on or let go of someone or something that happens. Feeling like a situation that you went through is undigestible, like you just can't handle it. One of my, my long term mentors, as people fall into one of two categories, either they can't hold on to their. Or they can't let go of their. So constipation is like you really can't let go of. You're gripping on and you're hanging on to stuff. There can also be fear associated with this.
Like fear of not being able to move things along or fear of being stuck. Like, I'm stuck here, I don't want to be here, but I feel stuck or stagnant. So you can see how like the body really does communicate through metaphors. So you're like literally can't let go of your. And then also figuratively, you can't let go of your own. And so if this is you and this is like, if you like went out and had a busy weekend and that just like impacted your bowels, you probably don't have to look at the like the emotional roots of your constipation. You should probably have to look at your diet. Be like, what did I do differently? Like, I won't do that again.
This is like ongoing. You've been dealing with this for years. When we look at a client who fills out an intake form and you're like, how long have you been dealing with this? And they're like, constipation forever. 20 years, 30 years. This is who I'm talking to. So it could behoove you to really consider, maybe journal about or meditate on what are you holding onto and what needs to be released. And some really helpful mantras or affirmations that I've used is I allow life to flow through me. I release the past with ease, and I allow experiences to flow through me with ease. So I would just like say these over and over and over again because. I'm a little bit of a control freak.
I'm a little bit of a gripper. I'm a little bit of like, I need to like, you know, have my fingers and everything. And I can see that really correlate to constipation in my body. So just do with that what you will. I always like to introduce that into every conversation that I am having about constipation. But circling back around to manifest your health, one of the things that we're currently working on behind the scenes right now is Turning that program, we've run it live three different times, but turning it into an ongoing membership that all of our one to one clients will get access to. So while you're in practice working with our practitioners on your physical body stuff, you'll also have the ability to dive into and explore the other, other components to healing. So stay tuned for that.
Okay, let's talk about your client. Like real world case study to kind of like tie this all together. The client that came to you that was struggling with long term constipation, what did you do?
Nicole:
Yeah, she was one of my clients who actually mentioned on her intake form, like since birth, that's what she put next to conservation. So it was really her entire life. And I really specifically wanted to talk about this client because I feel like her story really pulls all of the root drivers for constipation that we just talked about to life. She came with chronic constipation. We're talking like decades of dealing with it. And she also had some other signs that digestion might not be working well, like maybe some gallbladder symptoms, not digesting fat well, bloating, inconsistent bowel movements. And when we ran her stool test, there were a couple key things that really stood out to me. She had H.
Pylori, which was likely contributing to some of those downstream effects on her digestion, like the stomach acid and digestive enzyme production. We also know that a low stomach acid picture impacts the gallbladder and bile as well. So right away we knew at the top of the digestive chain that things were sluggish. And on top of that, her beneficial bacteria were really low. Her methane producing bacteria were also on the higher end of the range. Not quite in that clinically significant range of the E9, but they were definitely high enough to be slowing down her motility and impacting her digestion. So she basically was hitting constipation from multiple angles with digestion from just low digestive function, bacterial imbalance. And also she had some of those motility issues as well.
And so we started with the basics. We brought in digestive support, things like digestive bitters. We got her on sun fiber because she had those low beneficial bacteria. I also brought in the high dose taurine for her as well, for the bile flow support, but also the motility piece. And she definitely noticed relief pretty initially with bringing those things in. But what was interesting is she found the biggest shift when she went through EAT to achieve, which is one of your kind of foundational eating programs. She really leaned into the plant diversity Fiber and was just giving her gut microbiome the support it needed to help get things moving more regularly. And from there, we layered in more gut and liver support.
There's a product that I really like called Liver GI Detox. That is wonderful for the liver, the gallbladder, hormones, overall detoxification. I also had her add in some trace minerals as well for the hydration piece. So we brought in a lot of different things, and she was making really good progress with that. But I would say, like, at that point, she still wasn't at 100%. She would have days where she wasn't passing a solid bowel movement. And that's when I really was like, okay, we need to dig a little bit more into the. The nervous system side of things.
Because as we just talked about, we know that constipation isn't just physical. Our emotions, our nervous system also have a really big impact. And so we really dug into the vagus nerve piece. She started doing breath work. We talked about coffee enemas. I also referred her to the Nerva app, and that really was the missing piece for her when she added in that nervous system support. She had told me that her digestion had never been better in her entire life. She felt like her brain was back online.
And this was after her having. Having lifelong constipation that didn't improve with anything. So I think it's just such a good reminder that chronic constipation isn't just about fiber or magnesium or drinking more water. For her, it really was the combination of supporting digestion, balancing out her gut, bringing in minerals, and then the nervous system piece that finally moved the needle for her.
Erin:
Yeah, and I think that's, like, a really key takeaway for listeners today, is that, like, if you're trying one thing thing, you might be more than that. Right. Many chronic cases are multifactorial, and we need to look at not just diet, not just hydration, but, like, everything from tip to tail. And I. I sometimes feel with these podcast episodes, I'm like, do people just feel so overwhelmed by all the information that we're giving them? Because it feels like an awful lot. But then I think about, like, what it's like to suffer, suffer and struggle with your health and what it's like to not suffer and struggle with your health. And I'm like, it's so worth it to get from A to B. Like, even if it means doing all the things, like, do all the things, like, feel better.
And if you're overwhelmed by the prospect of, like, not knowing where to start, that's where we can help. It's like literally what we do is figure out exactly what you need to do. And we can tinker around so it's not like you're sitting there throwing spaghetti against wall to see what will stick. We will, like, kind of like help you be like, okay, we've done this, now we're going to layer on this. And then we're going to layer on this. And now you have, like a full life plan to ride off into the sunset with and, you know, poop every day. It's going to be great. And I just want to circle back around to, like, the emotional thing in case that seems a little, like, far out for people.
A really basic way to think about it is if you're perceiving fear or if you're perceiving stress, that is going to switch your brain into fight or flight response. And that basically turns the switch of digestion off. It can be as, like, basic and simple as that. So we really need to swim all the way upstream to the brain and specifically the mind to understand, like, what are you experiencing, what are you fearing, or what are you feeling, what are you fearing? So if you're somebody who's like future pacing all of the time and you're worried, okay, if I do this, then this will happen. If I do this and this will happen. If you're like, thinking of every situation that could go wrong in your life, that's going to keep you locked into a fear state. And fear dramatically shifts physiology too. So that's why we're kind of talking about hitting it from multiple angles, because we just see that be like a real key factor in not just constipation, not just gut issues, but overall health as well.
Any final, like, takeaways for listeners?
Nicole:
Yeah, I would say, as we just talked about, constipation is rarely just one cause. There's usually multiple factors that are contributing to it. We also talked about as well that there are great supplemental options to experiment with, like magnesium or fiber. But we also know if they're not resolving the issue, there's likely some deeper things that we want to take a look at. I also think it's pretty important to support overall digestion, support your nervous system relief, focus on a diverse, robust diet. And then I think it's just a nice reminder that relief is definitely possible even if you've struggled with constipation for decades. I think one thing I forgot to mention is when that client case that I just shared all of that happened within three months. So she went from having lifelong constipation and within three months she had said her digestion had never been better. So there really is hope that you can get to the root and resolve that.
Erin:
Awesome. And just as a quick reminder, you know you can work with us one on one if you need help with this. If you're like not totally sure and you're not want to ready to jump in, you just want to dip your toe in the water. That's what the GUT panel is for. And like I said, we will be reopening the GUT panel in a couple of weeks. So if you're listening to this in real time, get yourself on the waitlist and we'll email you as soon as it's open. You'll get a little discounted rate and we can really identify like, hey, this is what's going on with you and this is how we can help. So hopefully that was helpful.
I hope everybody has a nice bowel movement after today's show. Thank you, Nicole.
Nicole:
Thank you. Happy to be here.
Thanks for joining me for this episode of The Funk’tional Nutrition Podcast. Please keep in mind this podcast is created for educational purposes only and should never be used as a replacement for medical diagnosis or treatment. If you got something from today's show, don't forget, subscribe, leave a review, share with a friend, and keep coming back for more. Take care of you.