Firstly, constipation is anything that isn’t opening your bowels daily. It can include straining or feeling incomplete when you do open your bowel or if the stool is dry, pebbly and difficult to pass. Once every couple of days, or once a week is not just “normal for you”, despite things which you may have read or been told by well-meaning relatives. The reason why Naturopaths and Nutritionists are obsessed with the type of food that you eat, and the look and quality of the stool (yes, we ask all sorts of questions), is that it gives us an idea for how well the body is functioning. The gut is the engine room of the body and it’s output is how we measure it’s integrity and likely risk for future illness.

A normal colonic transit time from ingestion to defecation is considered to be less than 72 hours. An easy way to determine what an individual’s transit time is to eat an entire large bulb of beetroot (assuming that it isn’t part of the regular diet). From top to tail there will be a change in stool colour which will give a rough idea of how long the body is taking to digest and excrete nutrients.

The body absorbs the nutrients present in the foods we eat as it transits from the stomach to the small and large intestine for excretion through the colon as stool. As the stool passes through the gastrointestinal tract (GI) the body completes a process of reabsorption of water while it synthesises key minerals and vitamins. Should this process be impaired and the body be unable to pass the stool, the body’s detoxification processes can become altered through hepatic involvement. As the foods pass through the GI the liver is also acting to filter the blood for drugs, hormones and other toxins. This system can deactivate oestrogen metabolites for excretion through the bowel and kidneys. Where there are slow transit times these metabolites can be reactivated and reabsorbed in a process called enterohepatic circulation. It can also be referred to as “gut-liver recirculation”. The body is quite thrifty and by reabsorbing the oestrogen metabolites present in the stool in can inadvertently lead to hormonal dysregulation by throwing out the delicate ratios of oestrogen to progesterone.

The female body is ideally meant to have a synthesis ratio of approximately 100:1 progesterone to oestrogen for healthy hormonal health. By increasing oestrogen ratios through enterohepatic circulation, it can cause undesirable consequences by shifting this ratio out of alignment.

So what causes constipation? It can be multifactorial and well worth discussing with a healthcare practitioner. In natural medicine we first seek to resolve the cause and implement small interventions for best effect. These solutions may involve:

• Increase fibre: eating a minimum of 28-30g of dietary fibre to increase the bulk of the stool (therefore the GI tract does not have to work as hard to excrete a larger stool).

• Increasing water: to improve the reabsorption process and help detoxification. Juices, alcohol, coffee or caffeinated teas do not count towards the 8 glass minimum per day.

• Hormone check: issues regulating insulin and excessive cortisol levels because of stress can impact constipation. The brain communicates with the digestive system via the parasympathetic, sympathetic, and enteric nervous systems. The parasympathetic nervous system initiates the rest and digest process by slowing the heart rate, relaxing sphincter muscles in the digestive tract and conserving energy. By contrast the sympathetic nervous system engages in a heightened state of alertness to help the body flight, fight or flee. It does this by decreasing gut motility, increasing the heart rate and redirecting blood flow to major muscles away from internal organs. Thyroid function can also impact gut function to slow down motility rates.

• Inappropriate gut bacteria composition (dysbiosis): to maintain appropriate gut bacteria ensure appropriate food handling, moderate alcohol intake, and increase dietary fibre intake. The reason you can eat your way to healthier gut bacteria is that the undigestible fibres present within foods act as the primary fuel source for desirable bacterial strains. High glucose, high saturated fats within the diet, however, act as the primary fuel source for undesirable species. Dysregulated gut flora can also increase susceptibility to ingested pathogens.

• Physical activity: exercise can help clear cortisol for stress management. After moderate exercise the body is more readily able to switch into the parasympathetic nervous state, ready for rest and relaxation. At this point the body is more likely to open the bowel.

Using laxatives as a treatment solution unfortunately ends up as a short-sighted option because the body becomes dependent on them. Thankfully, if the basic interventions described above does not address the issues, then there is a myriad of nutrient and herbal medicines which can help.

To find out more about whether you may be experiencing hormonal dysregulation or gut dysfunction book your free 15 minute discovery call here. If you are ready for change then book in your initial consultation here.

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The information provided on the Nurture Point Pty Ltd blog and greater website is for educational and information purposes. The information provided within the blogs, or anywhere else on this site is not, nor is it intended to be, a substitute for professional advice or care. Please seek the advice of a qualified health care professional in the event something you have read here raises questions or concerns regarding your health. We offer personalised Naturopathic consultations as an online service. We offer nutrition care, herbal medicine and lifestyle advice. If you wish, feel free to book in a time here.