The supplements and foods that may be making your constipation worse

The quest to improve your gut health may lead you to take supplements that make your constipation worse. There are also many foods that can worsen your constipation. In this post, I'll outline what you need to watch out for if constipation is something you struggle with, whether you have IBS-C, IBS-M, Intestinal Methanogen Overgrowth (IMO) or Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO).

Supplements that may worsen constipation

I suggest either avoiding these or monitoring your response:

• Butyrate, including tributyrin
• S. boulardii - a probiotic yeast, found in Florastor
• Activated charcoal
• Green banana flour, used for the resistant starch

Foods to minimise if you have constipation

Relief from constipation doesn’t just mean adding beneficial foods - it also means minimising or removing specific types of foods that often contribute to the problem.

There are multiple reasons why these foods can constipate:

• they lack fibre
• inherent dryness, meaning they can soak up liquid in the digestive tract, drying out the stool which becomes harder to pass
• alcohol and caffeine can cause dehydration which also dries out the stool
• certain plant compounds such as tannins also have a drying effect in the intestines (think of when you drink a cup of tea and the inside of your cheek becomes puckered)

The most common foods to consider minimising or removing include

• white bread
• white rice
• processed snacks
• black tea
• pomegranate
• unripe/green bananas.
• some people also benefit from reducing or removing dairy
• highly processed gluten-free breads and snacks many gluten-free foods

So, what foods and supplements DO work for constipation?

Now that we've covered the foods and supplements that can worsen constipation, we need to look at the foods and supplements that can relieve constipation as part of an ongoing strategy. We have so many tools at our disposal - it's about choosing the right ones for your personal situation.

If you're tired of suffering from constipation, I've created a value-packed free resource to get you on the path to freedom from constipation. Sign up now to receive this instant download.