So, that may seem like a weird title, but it's true. You really do need to be moving your bowels every day! In school, we are taught that once every other day to 2 times per day is normal. But, I ask about this every day in my health history intake forms and I know people are not as regular as they should be!
Why does this matter? For a few reasons. First, we eliminate toxins by pooping. If we have slow elimination, we can actually start to reabsorb these toxins which may make us feel sick, tired, sluggish or give us a headache. That's no good! We can have trouble losing weight and feel bloated when we are not pooping every day.
So, what if you are constipated and not going every day? You can start with consuming enough water. What's enough? Take your body weight in pounds and divide it by 2. Drink that much water. If you weigh 150 lbs, you will need roughly 75 oz of water per day. If it's hot and you are outside, you can increase it. You can count non-caffeinated fluids like herbal tea, sparkling water, etc. in this amount.
Next you can check your fiber intake. Changes are, it falls short of the 25 grams per day recommendation. Increase veggie and fruit consumption (especially berries which are high in fiber and lower in sugar). Consider adding flax and chia seeds to smoothies and other things to bump up fiber intake.
If you need it, take some magnesium. If you create a free account on my fullscript platform, you can check out Innate Response Magnesium 300 - it's the food based form of magnesium that I use and recommend. It works great. Not all forms of Magnesium will help with bowel movements. Specifically, the glycinate form will not. That's the form I recommend when someone needs magnesium but DOES NOT want to increase bowel movements, so keep that in mind when choosing a form of magnesium.
If you have tried these things and they don't work, it may be time to consider what's behind sluggish bowels? A gallbladder that is struggling, toxicity, slow thyroid? There can be one or more reasons that might need some attention.
If you want to connect for a free discovery call, click the link below and I'll give you a call to see if I can help!
To your health!
Dr. Jeni
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