You have gobbled up the juicy kiwis, creamy avocado salads, squishy bananas and sour berries with the hope of flushing out your digestive tract but your system continues to be clogged? Perhaps, more fiber is not the only answer to your constipation problem.
Solutions to chronic constipation are often centered around dietary changes, with great emphasis on the inclusion of fiber in meals. These changes are aimed at improving gut microbiota. However, constipation may not always be linked to the diet. Research has linked constipation to everything from over usage of antibiotics and other medications (like opioids, antacids, iron supplements, etc.), hormonal issues and neurological issues to lifestyle issues, behavioral issues and stress.
Each of these underlying reasons can impact gut health and gut microbiota, which is important for maintaining the intestinal epithelial barrier and the establishment of a balanced brain-gut axis. While fruits are a great way to balance the microbiota of your gut, eating too many fruits could potentially result in the opposite.
The vast number of underlying causes makes it imperative that one finds the root cause for one’s constipation problem to restore gut health and achieve peak executive function.
How can you find the root cause for your chronic constipation?
There are several medical practitioners and nurse practitioners proficient in providing root cause health solutions. The approach taken is holistic – popularly known as functional medicine – and involves gut testing and a one-to-one consultation aimed at discovering oneself and identifying one’s lifestyle habits that might be contributing to bad digestive health. At Thrive Nest Clinic in Pennsylvania, led by Ishani Shah, a board-certified nurse practitioner, such a holistic approach is adopted to improve digestive health and in turn, improve mental and physical well-being in adults.
What are the types of treatments available once the root cause is detected?
This functional health assessment forms the basis for restoring gut health naturally, through biological optimization. Some of the popular solutions to gut health restoration include peptide therapy and gut dysbiosis treatment, often used in combination. Thrive Nest Clinic’s Functional Medicine Program includes gut testing, comprehensive consultations, dietary recommendations and a personalized gut-healing protocol and regular follow-up, offering a customized approach to gut health restoration.
Does functional medicine really help improve gut health?
Studies have shown that even a short 3-month intervention can result in a positive change in microbiome composition, in turn improving psychosocial well-being in adults. Moreover, distinct dietary interventions and exercise routines can also improve gut health, contributing to alleviation of chronic constipation.
The solution to the non-responsiveness of your body to the popularly known solutions to constipation, thus lies in a more holistic, patient-centered approach to digestive health. Yes, self-treatments may offer temporary relief but a practitioner-aided approach could result in permanent relief.
Thrive Nest Clinic uses a holistic approach to heal the body. A customized plan and a 5R approach – Remove, Replace, Reinoculate, Repair and Rebalance – is applied to improve digestive health and improve mental and physical well-being.
What does the Thrive Nest Clinic’s Functional Medicine Program for Gut Health include?
- Comprehensive Consultations
- Gut Testing to identify the root cause
- A personalized gut-healing protocol recommendation
- Suggestions for dietary improvement
- Regular follow-up
- Resources to support gut healing
