Constipation: Easing the Strain

Health begins in the gut, and ongoing or cyclical constipation is a tell-tale sign that your digestive system is out of balance.

Passing a stool is the primary way for your body to eliminate waste products, bacteria, toxins, hormones and byproducts of digestion. When the stool stays longer in the large intestine, water and toxic waste products are reabsorbed into the bloodstream, for re-uptake into the cells to cause increased inflammation, toxic load, and hormonal imbalances.

Natural Clinic Constipation Consult: $75

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  • icon time 30-minute naturopathic consult to assess what is driving your constipation and identify any co-presenting conditions.
  • icon test Facilitation of further testing, where appropriate.
  • icon pill Access to practitioner-grade products.
  • icon script Prescriptions for custom-made products designed especially for you:
    • icon tick Liquid herbal formulas
    • icon tick Compounded creams
    • icon tick Compounded nutritionals
  • icon plan Written treatment plan, including dietary and lifestyle advice, to help you stay on track

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Reveal nutrient sensitivities and deficiencies driving your constipation

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Provide expert dietary and lifestyle coaching to regulate your digestion

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To learn more about why your digestive system is struggling, and how to get your bowels moving, read on for our Natural Clinic Clinical Guide to Constipation.

Natural Clinic Clinical Guide for Constipation

WHAT IS CONSTIPATION?

CONSTIPATION: WHAT IS IT?

Constipation is characterised by infrequent or incomplete bowel motions. Constipation can mean hard, dry and limited bowel motions, or bowel movements occurring less than three times a week.

When the stool is stagnant in the intestine, a more alkaline PH environment is created in the colon due to ammonia production from the waste products, discouraging growth of our good bacteria species Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, and attracting growth of bad bacteria to initiate dysbiosis.

A not so pleasant analogy to emphasise the importance of bowel regularity is likening the stool to the garbage bin; if you did not empty the bin regularly the waste will overflow into the surrounding room and the garbage would putrefy, begin to release unpleasant gases and attract higher levels of unwanted bacteria.

The associated dysbiosis, inflammation and re-circulation of waste products is what makes constipation a causative factor for numerous chronic degenerative diseases, including arthritis and autoimmune diseases.

This guide provides advice on how to treat the core foundations of constipation. For more complex, chronic constipation we advise booking in with one of our Clinical Naturopaths for tailored, individualised support.

Remove the guessing-game and get results.

CAUSES & TRIGGERS OF CONSTIPATION

  • Food sensitivities, intolerances
  • Insufficient fibre intake
  • Insufficient water & fluid consumption
  • Sedentary lifestyle
  • Bacterial/ fungal overgrowth (SIBO / SIFO, LiBO, LIFO)
  • Depression
  • Medication side effects
  • Change to routine (e.g. travelling, moving)
  • Pregnancy
  • IBS
  • Sluggish liver function
  • Low-fat diets
  • Magnesium deficiency
  • Hypothyroidism
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How your diet plays a role

Increased fibre intake and water consumption is the key dietary recipe for increasing bowel motions.

If increasing fibre makes your symptoms worse, we recommend booking in with one of our practitioners to investigate bacterial overgrowth.

Increase dietary fibre

Aim to get 30g fibre per day through:

  • Having 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed and/or chia seeds in smoothies / salads per day
  • Include a variety of vegetables with each main meal, and consume 1-2 pieces of fresh fruit per day

Avoid foods that will aggravate constipation

  • Dairy
  • Gluten
  • Inflammatory vegetable oils
  • Refined, white carbohydrates

Stay hydrated

  • Check your urine colour: aim to drink enough water to keep your urine clear or light lemon in colour.
  • Adults: aim to drink roughly 8 glasses of filtered water per day.

Limit alcohol intake

Test for deficiencies in blood testing and rectify through diet and supplementation.

Treatments

Pharmaceutical and conventional treatments for constipation

  • Stool softeners: for short term use only
  • Stimulant laxatives: for short term use only
  • Fibre supplements e.g. Metamucil, Benefiber
  • Osmotics

Suspecting an imbalance in your gut microbiome?

REVEAL EXACTLY WHAT BACTERIA IS IN YOUR GUT WITH OUR COMPREHENSIVE GUT MICROBIOME FUNCTIONAL TESTING.

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Natural treatments to manage your constipation

Draws water into the intestine to soften the stool so that it is easier to pass, and stimulates bowel motion.

The combination of Lactobacillus plantarum and Bifidobacterium breve is scientifically proven to increase the frequency of bowel motions, soften the stool and support healthy a gut microbiome to improve overall gut function.

Consuming a variety of fibre in the diet is associated with increases in bowel motions through increasing stool mass and stimulating the mechanical function of the colonic mucosa.

Soothing aloe vera extract alongside herbal extracts to stimulate the liver function to assist bowel regularity, as well as reducing inflammation in the gut.

Consuming dandelion root tea before your first main meal of the day is an easy, effective way to stimulate gall-bladder and liver function to assist digestion and relieve constipation.

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Constipation has multiple causes and that’s why you often need multiple products to get things moving.

We can compound one product that replaces all your existing products. Your very own, tailored nutritional formula with ingredients at dosages specific to your body.

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Georgia Fugar
Georgia Fugar

Georgia Fugar

Clinical Naturopath

Book a Consult with Georgia

Areas of interest

  • Women’s health
  • Skin disorders
  • SIBO
  • Gut health
  • Mental health

Georgia is a passionate naturopath with particular clinical focus on supporting mental health, hormonal disorders, gut health and auto-immunity. With a long-standing interest in human biochemistry and its interplay with nutritional and herbal medicines, Georgia uses a range of standard and functional testing to determine the root cause of patient symptoms and provide treatment that is highly tailored and clinical.

Thorough education around all symptoms, disease pathophysiology and treatment options can be expected from a consultation with Georgia, reflecting the importance of education as the first tool to achieving any health outcome. Continuous appraisal of progress throughout treatment protocols ensures that you leave feeling supported and confident in the healing process.

Georgia aims to correct imbalances on the deepest cellular and biochemical level to ensure healing occurs from the inside out.

Tayla Lovering
Tayla Lovering

Tayla Lovering

Clinical Naturopath

Book a Consult with Tayla Lovering

Areas of interest

  • Digestive
  • Skin health
  • Mental health
  • Migraines
  • General health
  • Fertility + pregnancy + post partum

Tayla is a qualified Naturopath with a passion for gut health, hormonal health (both males and females), fertility and mental health. Tayla combines clinical case taking, pathology and functional laboratory testing to get to the root cause of your symptoms. Her approach is truly wholistic and she will spend the time to uncover the uniqueness of your health.

A remarkably empathic practitioner with a real gift for making patients feel supported. Tayla understands how overwhelming it can feel to embark on a healing journey and focuses on simplifying this for you in a step-by-step manner, whilst also making changes that fit you and your lifestyle. Tayla has a particular passion for establishing a healthy foundation for her clients, so they can avoid traveling down the same path that led them here.

Tayla is happiest when amongst nature and when communicating with fellow humans. Tayla grew up on a farm on the beautiful Kangaroo Island of South Australia and quickly learnt the value of nature’s healing powers after her time at boarding school where she noticed nutrition and lifestyle choices began reflecting poor health.

Annie Stewart
Annie Stewart

Annie Stewart

Clinical Naturopath

Book a Consult with Annie Stewart

Areas of interest

  • Sports performance and recovery
  • Digestive conditions
  • Mental health
  • Men & women's health

Annie is a qualified Naturopath who considers herself a bit of a “professional generalist”. With experience treating a wide array of conditions, Annie particularly finds those more challenging multifaceted cases fulfilling. Her adventurous curiosity is what drives Annie to get to the underlying cause of disease adopting a truly holistic approach with each patient.

With 5+ years of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under her belt, Annie has a keen interest in helping athletes reach their sport performance goals and draws on her competition experience to achieve this.

Evidence based medicine underpins all of Annie’s clinical decisions. She regularly uses standard pathology and functional testing to establish base line health parameters, which are then used to refine her treatment approach for each client. Application of nutritional and herbal interventions with an emphasis on lifestyle and dietary education can be expected in a consult with Annie.

Diana Boot
Diana Boot

Diana Boot

Compounding Pharmacist & Nutritionist

Book a Consult with Diana Boot

Areas of interest

  • De-prescribing – helping you to reduce your need for prescription medications
  • Mental health
    Digestive health
    Women’s health

Diana is the Co-founder and Clinical Lead of Natural Chemist. She has practiced as a community pharmacist for over 30 years and as a Nutritionist for 12 years. She is continually learning to update her knowledge and is on track to graduate in 2023 as a Naturopath.

Diana is a rare combination of empathy, balance, maturity and knowledge. She listens and asks sensitive questions. She provides answers about what’s behind your presenting symptoms and she offers feasible, evidence-based solutions to help you regain optimal health.

Diana’s approach is truly integrative. Her training and experience put her in a unique position to advise what combination of conventional/mainstream and natural/alternative treatments are best for your situation.

Diana is also the senior partner in two independent community pharmacies in Sydney. She launched Natural Chemist in 2014 with her husband and business partner. Their goal was to work out how to take the level of service provided in their physical pharmacies and make it available for more people. Diana is supported by a wonderful and growing team of qualified professionals; all with the same dedicated focus on quality health outcomes.

Natural Clinic Constipation Consult: $75

Book a Consult
  • icon time 30-minute naturopathic consult to assess what is driving your constipation and identify any co-presenting conditions.
  • icon test Facilitation of further testing, where appropriate.
  • icon pill Access to practitioner-grade products.
  • icon script Prescriptions for custom-made products designed especially for you:
    • icon tick Liquid herbal formulas
    • icon tick Compounded creams
    • icon tick Compounded nutritionals
  • icon plan Written treatment plan, including dietary and lifestyle advice, to help you stay on track

References:

Zhao, Y., & Yu, Y. B. (2016). Intestinal microbiota and chronic constipation. SpringerPlus, 5(1), 1130.

El-Salhy, M., Ystad, S.O., Mazzawi, T., & Gundersen, D. (2017). Dietary fiber in irritable bowel syndrome (Review).

Neha R. Santucci, et al. (2021). Non-pharmacologic approach to pediatric constipation. Complementary Therapies in Medicine (59).