Tips on Constipation
It’s true, everyone poops — or at least we should! But sometimes things slow down and that’s definitely not good.
In addition to being painful, constipation also wreaks havoc on your immune system, your skin, your cholesterol and triglyceride levels as well as your ability to remove toxins and release fat. Let’s take a look at four common causes and some easy tips to help you get things moving again:
1) Dehydration
If you find yourself at a weight loss plateau, checking your water intake is one of the very first things you should do. When you find yourself at a poop plateau, well… that’s an even better reason to check! Water is essential to your metabolism working optimally. Drinking water will make sure your body is able to flush waste and toxins. So remember to drink half your body weight in fluid ounces every day.
If you’re drinking plenty of water but things still aren’t moving, you might not have the right mineral balance to let your body easily shuttle that water between cells. Try drinking mineral-rich spring water with lime. It’s an easy, natural way to rebalance your electrolytes.
Also, the acidity of your bodily excretions is intimately tied to your hydration levels — so using pH strips to check the acidity of your urine and saliva can give you valuable clues about what’s going on. Ideally, both should measure about 6.8. If your urine and saliva are too acidic, the best solution is in every phase of the FMD and the three plans in The Burn: Eat more vegetables!
2) Food Allergies
Smooth muscle contractions in your intestines help keep digested food moving along. Your intestines are also lined with villi, finger-like projections that act like tiny pitchforks to sweep food through your digestive tract. If you eat foods you’re allergic to, the inflammatory response can cause swelling in the tissue and paralyze those villi, so they actually end up holding onto your stool instead of shuttling it through your system.
If you think you might have food allergies, blood testing is the best way to identify the allergens. If you have yet to unmask the culprits, the top food allergens that cause constipation are: dairy, gluten, and peanuts. Of course, it’s always better to be tested, but if you’ve been indulging in of the top three allergies, your gut is definitely telling you something.
3) Lack of Culture
Your intestines are colonized by friendly bacteria that help digest your food and even synthesize some of the vitamins you need — at least they should be. Imbalanced intestinal bacteria can contribute to constipation, so use probiotics and prebiotics, like kombucha and fermented vegetables, to help keep your little helpers happy.
The live bacteria in probiotics can be surprisingly vulnerable to environmental conditions, so I created Metabolism Pro-Biotic, which comes packaged to protect its precious cargo against whatever life throws at you.
4) Not Enough Kindling to Light the Log on Fire
If you’re not used to eating a lot of fiber, it may take a little while for your bowels to get used to all the healthy fiber in The Burn and every stage of the Fast Metabolism Diet — especially during Phase 2 when you’re not getting the oils that would naturally help things along.
You can sidestep this by taking a little bit of magnesium before bed — it helps soften your stools and hydrate your intestines. Some of my clients also use Smooth Move tea, which contains cascara sagrada. That’s a mild irritant laxative, so you shouldn’t go overboard with it. But most people are just fine if they use it conservatively. You can also eat rhubarb during Phases 2 and 3.
SUPPLEMENT SUPPORT: Metabolism Pro-Biotic is a powerful supplement that supports healthy gut flora, boosts your immune system, helps reduce sugar cravings, and helps put you in a better mood.
Metabolism Colon is our #1 supplement for you number two! When the bowels are slow or sluggish your body is not getting to remove those unhealthy fats from the body. If you are going after fat on your weight loss program very aggressively, adding in Metabolism Colon helps to support the movement of the muscle of the bowel, promoting a healthy bowel movement. Metabolism Colon is not a purgative laxative.
It’s true, everyone poops — or at least we should! But sometimes things slow down and that’s definitely not good.
In addition to being painful, constipation also wreaks havoc on your immune system, your skin, your cholesterol and triglyceride levels as well as your ability to remove toxins and release fat. Let’s take a look at four common causes and some easy tips to help you get things moving again:
1) Dehydration
If you find yourself at a weight loss plateau, checking your water intake is one of the very first things you should do. When you find yourself at a poop plateau, well… that’s an even better reason to check! Water is essential to your metabolism working optimally. Drinking water will make sure your body is able to flush waste and toxins. So remember to drink half your body weight in fluid ounces every day.
If you’re drinking plenty of water but things still aren’t moving, you might not have the right mineral balance to let your body easily shuttle that water between cells. Try drinking mineral-rich spring water with lime. It’s an easy, natural way to rebalance your electrolytes.
Also, the acidity of your bodily excretions is intimately tied to your hydration levels — so using pH strips to check the acidity of your urine and saliva can give you valuable clues about what’s going on. Ideally, both should measure about 6.8. If your urine and saliva are too acidic, the best solution is in every phase of the FMD and the three plans in The Burn: Eat more vegetables!
2) Food Allergies
Smooth muscle contractions in your intestines help keep digested food moving along. Your intestines are also lined with villi, finger-like projections that act like tiny pitchforks to sweep food through your digestive tract. If you eat foods you’re allergic to, the inflammatory response can cause swelling in the tissue and paralyze those villi, so they actually end up holding onto your stool instead of shuttling it through your system.
If you think you might have food allergies, blood testing is the best way to identify the allergens. If you have yet to unmask the culprits, the top food allergens that cause constipation are: dairy, gluten, and peanuts. Of course, it’s always better to be tested, but if you’ve been indulging in of the top three allergies, your gut is definitely telling you something.
3) Lack of Culture
Your intestines are colonized by friendly bacteria that help digest your food and even synthesize some of the vitamins you need — at least they should be. Imbalanced intestinal bacteria can contribute to constipation, so use probiotics and prebiotics, like kombucha and fermented vegetables, to help keep your little helpers happy.
The live bacteria in probiotics can be surprisingly vulnerable to environmental conditions, so I created Metabolism Pro-Biotic, which comes packaged to protect its precious cargo against whatever life throws at you.
4) Not Enough Kindling to Light the Log on Fire
If you’re not used to eating a lot of fiber, it may take a little while for your bowels to get used to all the healthy fiber in The Burn and every stage of the Fast Metabolism Diet — especially during Phase 2 when you’re not getting the oils that would naturally help things along.
You can sidestep this by taking a little bit of magnesium before bed — it helps soften your stools and hydrate your intestines. Some of my clients also use Smooth Move tea, which contains cascara sagrada. That’s a mild irritant laxative, so you shouldn’t go overboard with it. But most people are just fine if they use it conservatively. You can also eat rhubarb during Phases 2 and 3.
SUPPLEMENT SUPPORT: Metabolism Pro-Biotic is a powerful supplement that supports healthy gut flora, boosts your immune system, helps reduce sugar cravings, and helps put you in a better mood.
Metabolism Colon is our #1 supplement for you number two! When the bowels are slow or sluggish your body is not getting to remove those unhealthy fats from the body. If you are going after fat on your weight loss program very aggressively, adding in Metabolism Colon helps to support the movement of the muscle of the bowel, promoting a healthy bowel movement. Metabolism Colon is not a purgative laxative.
