Is your constipation making your hormonal imbalance worse?

Are you going to the bathroom every day?

Yea, yea I know you’re peeing every day… probably multiple times per day. But are you having a bowel movement every day? A complete one, where afterward you feel a sense of relief?

I know I know, no one wants to talk about this. So many women hesitate to bring up the topic of constipation with their doctor. While it’s common, it’s NOT NORMAL. Constipation is not an issue you want to ignore. When your bowel movements are regular, chances are that your hormones—cortisol, estrogen, and thyroid—are working at their best.

So how do I define constipation?

Constipation is a condition of the intestines in which the stool is dry and hardened, and evacuation is infrequent and/or difficult.

Ideally, you should have a bowel movement at least once per day. I consider anything less than that constipation. My definition is more stringent than conventional medicine, which calls the cutoff for constipation, not one or two days, but three days for a bowel movement. EVERY THREE DAYS?!

No wonder there are women out there who are complaining of poor mood, bloating, weight issues, acne, and irritability when they’re not going to the bathroom…

About 50 percent of people have one bowel movement per day or more, which means the other half are likely suffering from constipation, even though their doctor may not see it as a medical problem.

Personally, I used to have that kind of backup in my system and I would never want it again. In addition to all the unwanted, going to the bathroom less than once / day makes the stool harder, which slows down transit even more. For example, if I ate seafood at a restaurant, I would absorb the mercury more than if my transit time were normal which leads to toxicity over time. Additionally, women are particularly affected because bowel movements remove unnecessary estrogens from the body. How we want estrogen to work is to use it once and then excrete it, not keep recirculating. That can lead to estrogen dominance and THAT can lead downstream to hypothyroidism, as well as breast, endometrial, and cervical cancers.

So are you one of the many women going # 2 less than optimally? Here are some things you should probably know:

• Women are more likely affected by constipation threefold compared with men.
• The female colon is longer and has more twists and turns, like a rollercoaster.
   
• We experience more stress and dysregulated cortisol than men meaning less blood flow to the digestive system and more constipation
• We’re more likely to overuse laxatives, leading to weaker bowel muscles.. over time this can be really damaging
• We’re more likely to have painful hemorrhoids, which occur in 40 percent of pregnancies and to restrain from pooping in public places.
• Women are also more vulnerable to social conditioning that it’s not ladylike to poop, again leading to conscious withholding of stools, and contributing further to constipation.
  
  Hopefully, this will convince you that pooping is normal, healthy, and essential to your hormone balance. Let me just tell you, when I got my digestive health in order, everything started to change for me and my hormonal health really improved.
  
  Constipation can be either a symptom of a deeper health issue OR THE CAUSE. In either case, it’s an important message from your body that there’s an imbalance. By fixing your digestion with ample hydration, improving your diet depending on your condition, the right supplements, and learning to manage stress, you’ll be on your way toward optimal intestinal health and keeping your hormones - thyroid and estrogen levels optimal.
  
  To find out more about maintaining optimal health and hormonal balance check out my free webinar and the WBK health and hormones course.