Hi, and welcome back to our channel.
Today we're going to talk about three constipation supplements other than magnesium.
And so the top things that I'm going to discuss is first of all understanding constipation.
Then we'll go through the drawbacks of relying on magnesium for constipation relief.
Then I'll discuss the three natural supplements that you can use for constipation.
Also, how to incorporate those supplements as well as any potential side effects and other natural ways to keep yourself from feeling constipated.
But first, before we dig into our topic, my name is Marcie Vaske and I am a licensed nutritionist with Flusso Nutrients and at Flusso Nutrients.
We work really hard to educate you on all sorts of different supplements to support your gut health and your other systems.
And so I will link the supplements that I talk about today down below.
So if you're interested in trying some different supplements for your constipation, they'll be easy for you to access.
And as well, if you're making decisions on choosing supplements that you've learned about on our channel and you have questions, make sure to talk to a supplement literate practitioner just to be sure that you're not having interactions with other supplements that you're taking in addition to any medications that you're taking.
Constipation Causes and Treatment
So first, let's understand what constipation really is.
And sometimes I have clients who don't really think they're constipated, but in technical terms they really are.
So what constipation can be is if you have a stool that is hard to pass or lumpy, also not going every day would be considered constipation and even going but not really getting the relief that you want. And constipation can be caused from a variety of different things.
First, it can be caused from just the types of foods that you're eating.
Maybe you have food sensitivities or maybe you're just eating a really high diet and packaged foods. Packaged processed foods.
Also, it can be caused from medicines that you might be taking as well as physical inactivity. So if you're not moving around a lot, and constipation could be caused by dehydration.
So for those of you who are struggling with constipation, you may have tried magnesium citrate and magnesium citrate does work wonders for many people, but sometimes it doesn't for some.
Best Supplements For Constipation
And so what are your options for best supplements for constipation?
And today that's what we're going to talk about.
But before we dig into those three supplements, what are some of the drawbacks of magnesium and taking it daily?
And I already mentioned one, which is some people just don't react to it well, meaning that they don't have any change in their stool on it or they have to so much of it that they end up with diarrhea or abdominal pain, even indigestion.
And so magnesium then isn't going to be a really great option.
Other reasons that magnesium may not work for people is if they have an underlying condition where they shouldn't be taking more than the magnesium that they get in their food.
And so you need to be mindful of that as well. And lastly, for some who have taken magnesium for many, many, many years and at the very high doses, it can begin not to work as it has in the past.
And so you are either leading up to taking more magnesium, which is making you sick.
And also we don't want to take more than we need.
Obviously you're going to have a bad symptoms from it as far as diarrhea and abdominal pain possibly.
But in addition to that, we need to remember that if we're taking way outside of the bounds of what's healthy for magnesium, it can disrupt our electrolytes and our cardiac rhythm because taking way too much magnesium is going to offset that at times or it can.
Natural supplements for constipation
So what are the other natural supplements for constipation?
And if magnesium is working for you and you're taking the normal amount and everything is running smoothly, then there's no reason to change.
But for those who can't, I'm going to run through three different ones and number one will be psillium husk and number two is going to be aloe vera. And number three is triphala.
Now each of these have a very, they're each different in their own way. And so one might work for you and another might not work for someone else.
So you just kind of have to find what works the best or in terms of listening to what your body is needing.
Psillium Husk For Constipation
So first on the list is psillium husk. And my go-to for that one is always Heather's tummy fiber.
And while Heather's tummy fiber isn't exactly psillium husk, it is a specialized form of psillium.
And so what it is is that it is a soluble fiber that helps to bring kind of a gel-like substance into your intestinal tract.
So it keeps the stool from getting firm and hard. It also acts as a really gentle laxative. And so because things are starting to move more smoothly in the intestinal tract, the peristalsis of it begins and you have a bowel movement.
In addition, soluble fiber also helps to improve our short chain fatty acid production.
And short chain fatty acids are what help keep the integrity of our intestinal tract healthy and keep that barrier between our intestinal tract and our food and all the stuff that goes through it really nice and healthy as well.
And so the fiber does this wonderful job of moving the stool through and making it soft and more malleable instead of those hard clumps that might come out as well as helping move with pers.
Now, if you choose to use this, I always recommend starting slowly because soluble fiber is fiber and you can get gassy and bloated if you just go up to a teaspoon or two teaspoons right away.
So I usually recommend starting at either a quarter to a half a teaspoon just to kind of get your body used to it.
Will you see much relief on that?
Some people do, but I would say if you have some pretty significant constipation, you're likely going to have to go up a little bit more than that, typically ending around one to two teaspoons.
But that should take you over a several weeks time to get up there just so that you don't have any other symptoms.
And in addition to starting off very slowly, one thing that's critical when you take any kind of fiber is to make sure you're drinking a lot of water.
So what does that mean? A lot of water.
A lot of water is at least half your body weight and ounces.
And if you are drinking any diuretic drinks such as coffee or caffeine in any way, you need to drink that much in water, but you want to make sure you stay very hydrated and so that the fiber can work on that and doesn't get bound.
Aloe Vera For Constipation
So the second supplement is aloe vera and aloe Vera has been around for centuries and can really be utilized in many different ways.
But for the case of digestion, it has been shown to work as in a laxative effect for bowel movements.
Aloe vera contains certain compounds that help give it that laxative effect and helps to stimulate the bowel and therefore having a nice bowel movement.
In addition, one of its specialties is it has an anti-inflammatory response, meaning that if your intestinal tract is inflamed, and that's why one of the reasons that you're feeling constipated, aloe vera can reduce that inflammation helping you to feel, helping the gut to move better.
If you think about when you're inflamed, everything is kind of tight or red and swollen and you bring down that inflammation and things move through much better.
And the third way that aloe vera helps is that it helps to move the gut motility.
So with constipation, it can be from, as I said, foods that you might be eating, food sensitivities, but also constipation for some people is just because their gut motility is really slow.
And that is our peristalsis in our intestinal tract.
So aloe vera helped to stimulate that gut motility, making things move better.
So not only do you have an anti-inflammatory response to it, but you also have a substance that's going to help move your gut.
Now if you decide that this sounds like something you want to try, you can do aloe vera by, you can drink it.
So there is like aloe vera juice. I often recommend aloe vera capsules and it comes in a couple different doses and I'm going to link that down below as well where you would just begin taking it at night.
I would start with one capsule at night and take and see what happens the next day.
If nothing happens, you could take two the next night.
Typically around there, two at least, sometimes people with really severe constipation have to take more than that, but you should see some movement with it.
And so that's just another nice easy way to get your bowels moving and find some relief.
Triphala for Constipation
Now the last supplement we're going to chat about here is triphala.
And triphala is been used in the Indian culture for many years and Talala is made up of three different herbs.
And when you combine these herbs together, they help wonderfully for constipation and other digestive issues.
Now each of the herbs in Talala work just a little bit differently, and when you combine them all together, it becomes a great supplement for digestive support.
The first herb is amalaki. So amla is really rich in vitamin C and just helps overall gut health.
The second one is bibhitaki, and this helps in the way of that laxative property.
So it helps to kind of get things moving in the digestive system.
And the last one is Haritaki, and that helps kind of in the same way as Bibhitaki, but what it does is it helps to the ability to just improve that intestinal function in general.
So not only just gut motility, but also giving you regular bowel movements.
So triphala really works gently. It works really. It's not going to be like, wow, I got to run to the bathroom. As soon as you take it. It's more just like alle vera as well as the fiber. It doesn't work like that either.
They're all very gentle. And so by putting triphala in, it might be kind of a nice one to try to get your gut moving, stimulate the bowel and see if your constipation relieves itself.
Now, you can triphala in a powder or even a capsule form, and typically the dose would be around one to two grams per day.
And so I always, again, have people start a little slower with it because we're all different. So just because someone can take one gram of somebody else, maybe you only can take 500 milligrams.
So it's best just to start slow and see where you end up best to take it at night before you go to bed and see what happens the morning.
So as I walked through each of those, I hope you were thinking, okay, well what kind of would work for me?
Or do I want to put it in with my magnesium and just reduce that magnesium amount that I'm taking, which you can do.
Other ways to incorporate these supplements into your daily life would just be number one, be consistent with any supplement that you take. You really do need to be very consistent with them because that's how they work best.
Constipation Remedies For Adults
And number two, you want to make sure that you're staying hydrated.
A lot of times constipation can be caused from dehydration or at least be a big piece of it.
And so if you're adding in any kind of supplement, making sure that you're hydrating yourself well, also making sure that you're eating a healthy, well-balanced diet.
You are not going to outs supplement a bad diet. You just won't.
And I say that all the time because it's true. And so in addition to taking these, you've got to change your food and make sure you're eating whole real food.
Now, of course, if you've started to take one or you've thought, okay, well this baby, I want to try one, what do I need to look out for in case there's some potential side effects.
And some of those side effects could be number one, you could have allergic reactions like we could to any supplement or even medication.
Also, making sure that none of these supplements are interacting with any other medications that you're taking.
So it's very important to understand the medicines that you are on before starting any kind of supplementation.
And one that might be more common is just a little bit of digestive upset when you do start different supplements, and especially these because we're working directly on the digestive system.
So in the beginning you might feel a little bit of bloating or maybe a little bit of gas, maybe just some abdominal discomfort, but that really should go away.
And like I mentioned with each of those, if you start slow enough, then that side effect of having any kind of digestive discomfort shouldn't be there at all.
So if you're thinking, all right, well I've been taking magnesium citrate for a long time, it doesn't seem to be helping the way that I want it to be helping, I hope that these three supplements I talked about today can be helpful and in addition to any lifestyle changes that need to be made will also be helpful all around.
So I'm going to link all of those supplements down below and if you have questions, leave them in the comments.
We love to see that and we'll see you next week.
Thank you.
Check out the high-quality supplements we discussed in this video - links below for your convenience!
1) Aloe Vera: https://flussonutrients.nutridyn.com/cape-aloe-r175
2) Triphala: create an account here, then search the name "Triphala by Organic India" - https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/flussonutrients
3) Psyllium: create an account here, then search the name "Organic Whole Husk Psyllium by Organic India" - https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/flussonutrients
4) ALL PROFESSIONAL QUALITY SUPPLEMENTS: https://flussonutrients.nutridyn.com & https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/flussonutrients