Question
Allan McIntyre
I started eating WFPB (whole foods plant based.) I feel great but constipation is a recent issue. What can I do?
Answer
Well, it's an interesting question. So, you know a couple of things that I think about with constipation. You know, if you're eating lots of whole plant Foods including cooked and raw, you should be getting enough fiber. So that would be the first thing is to make sure you're getting you know, another at least 50% of your diet from raw fruits and vegetables the rest cooked to have sufficient fiber second. I always think about water intake a drinking enough. And you can also cause constipation. So that's we're entering the summer season and it's hotter. We're sweating more drinking more water six eight. Lasts the day. A lot you may need to consume more so that would be important stress because of cortisol can slow down the whole system and cause constipation. So it's always good for all of us to do a stress check periodically and see where we are. um, there are some medications that can cause that and so just thinking through if you're taking any medications about medications Microbiome is important in this so if there's been a shift, sometimes I've seen this if people have you know, for some reason had to take an antibiotic course and it disrupts their microbiome and they develop constipation. Of require some rebuilding of the microbiome with probiotics. So that's kind of a good handful of things to think through and if it persists and it's not getting better. If you've done those things, I always recommend just seeing a doctor having them do a check make sure that nothing's being missed. That should be caught earlier than later. So Try those that handful of things first more water more fiber more raw probiotics more activity changing stress getting enough sleep thinking through any medications and see if those things don't change it and if it's still an issue go see your doctor and have them do a good workout.
