Let’s Talk Poop!

I wouldn’t be a functional nutritionist if I didn’t talk about poop ALL THE TIME. It’s a window into the health of your bowel, so a really good one to keep on track and know what’s happening! So LOOK before you FLUSH my friends! If you’re struggling to go to the toilet read on! I work with complex gut issues all the time in my clinic. If you’re not going to poop at LEAST once a day and of VERY GOOD volume, things are out of balance in your gut.

Here’s my top 5 tips to a good release.

1. FIBRE Fibre is food for your GUT. Fibre feeds your gut bacteria and helps to bulk your stool which will help you pass it with ease! The best fibre comes from fibrous veggies (think leafy greens, celery, cruciferous like cauliflower and broccoli). This nourish bowl is a perfect example – how yummy does it look! All that goodness doing all that hard work down there hehe. Think 6-10 cups every day. I also recommend chia and ground flaxseeds, nuts (don’t overeat these), seeds, and fruits.

2. WATER We take this for granted! Drink your body weight divided by 30 in litres per day + 1/2 litre for every coffee/caffeinated tea/juice/alcohol. So think about that… for that reason most of us are walking around dehydrated. Water moves everything through our system, so is really great to get things moving.

3. EXERCISE Exercise also helps to move things through the system. We have two systems in the body – one is blood the other is lymph – lymph moves really slowly so every bit of movement is super helpful. I always recommend you find a form of movement that you love bc this is what you will stick to! Walking, yoga, pilates are all fab..!

4. STRESS This is SO important and something i am so passionate about. Stress stops us from pooping bc the body requires us to be in RELAX mode to poop! So yes even your bowel movements can be affected by stress!! What is one thing you can do to balance stress … do you like to garden? read? dance? meditate? breathe! We are all different with different interests – find something you love and that will calm your system down.

5. LEMON & APPLE CIDER VINEGAR (ACV) These are such weapons for digestion! Drink the juice of a whole lemon before you go to bed and / or a shot of apple cider vinegar (I love @braggs). This is greatttttttttttt to keep you regular! Make sure you save and like this post for reference in the future!!