Um, Could Constipation Be A Sign You Aren't Eating Enough?

My private practice specializes in digestive health, and we help many clients who are looking to relieve constipation. The first step in our work with these clients is assessing if they are eating enough of both calories and macronutrients (protein, healthy fat, and carbohydrates). And it turns out that many of them are undereating (and might be completely unaware of it), which is affecting their ability to have at least one healthy bowel movement every day.

The gut is a muscular organ that moves food through its long and winding digestive tract via muscles. We don't have direct control over these muscles, but they function very similarly to the skeletal muscles in our biceps and quadriceps. The rule is the same: If we don't use them, we lose them!

The second layer of producing bowel movements involves your hormones and the adaptive protective shifts that can occur when the brain senses low resources in the form of calories or macronutrients.

Low caloric intake is a stressor on the body. When we are chronically undereating, our bodies experience a chronic stress response from the nervous system, which communicates to the body to conserve resources. When a stressor of low caloric intake is assessed, our hormones will shift the body's focus away from vitality and toward protection. These hormonal shifts can result in symptoms of constipation, but they can also present as fatigue or low energy, hair loss, irregular menstrual cycles, fertility issues, low libido, sugar cravings, poor sleep, bloating, and weight gain.

Symptoms such as constipation are a sign that our bodies are asking for more support. Choose to listen and respond to your body with gratitude and awe for all of the amazing functions it does for you every day. All of those functions require energy from food.

Undereating is not necessarily synonymous with eating disorders. It is a habit of many women and men in our 21st-century world where diet culture has led much of the conversation around nutrition and health for years. (However, if you suspect you have disordered eating, please consult with a trained specialist such as an eating disorder therapist, doctor, or dietitian. For more immediate resources, visit the National Eating Disorders Association.)

Tracking your nutrient intake in the short term can be helpful for identifying your current caloric intake (though I don't believe it is productive in the long term). Using a tracking tool such as CronoMeter for four or five days will give you an idea of how close you are to your calculated TDE from above.

Make the commitment to choose to nourish your body every day, at every meal. By increasing your calories and restoring nutrient deficiencies, you are teaching your body to move out of protection and into vitality.