Does a High-Protien Diet Cause Constipation?

Transcript:

KARA: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition. Today's podcast is brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. I'm Kara Carper, Licensed Nutritionist and Board-Certified Nutrition Specialist. I'm pleased to be here today with Brandy Buro. Brandy is a Licensed and Registered Dietitian. We are going to explore a great question today that we received from more than one of you listeners.

And by the way, please keep the questions and topic ideas coming because we take them very seriously and we put together today's show based on some of your suggestions.

BRANDY: That's right. I love putting together an episode based on what our listeners want to hear. So everyone, please, if you have a nutrition question or a topic that you really want to take a deep dive into, please let us know. So thanks for having me here today, Kara.

KARA: Yeah, it's great to see you again.

Protein is beneficial for preventing muscle loss

BRANDY: Yeah, I love this. And the question that we are tackling today is pretty common actually. So I'm sure a lot of you can relate to this because high protein diets are getting a lot more attention lately. You've probably heard some buzz about how important eating protein is and protein is especially important to prevent muscle loss that can naturally occur with aging.

KARA: Even in thirties and forties, muscle just naturally tends to decline unless they're very kind of thoughtful and deliberate about strength training and eating protein. The specific question that we received from our listeners was “I recently upped my protein intake, but now I'm dealing with constipation. Any suggestions to help?”

BRANDY: Yes. So again, really relatable. This question comes up a lot when I'm working one on one with clients during their counseling session. If you've noticed that you might be a little more constipated after you start increasing your protein, you're not alone. So it is common for this to happen, but that doesn't mean that it's necessarily normal or healthy. So just to clarify, it's not healthy to have stool that is really compact, really difficult to pass, or if you are having bowel movements that aren't complete, you know, so if you're maybe having a bowel movement, but it's taking a few trips to the bathroom to actually eliminate completely.

KARA: Or you, you know, you have a bowel movement, but you still kind of feel like, oh, I really needed to go more, and I'm unable to, and I'm still kind of bloated and full. And I've noticed in talking with friends, family, or previous clients, that some people have gotten used to their constipation and it's become their new normal.

What is considered constipation?

So let's talk about what is constipation; what's the definition. If you're not going to the bathroom and having a bowel movement at least one time per day, First of all, that is constipation and that might surprise you. But also as Brandy had just mentioned, if you're having a bowel movement, but your stool is hard or dry, or you really feel like you have to push really intensely just to go to the bathroom, that's also constipation.

BRANDY: Right. And being constipated once in a while, maybe you have an off day when you're on vacation or periodically through the year, it's probably not going to affect your long-term health. But if this is an ongoing issue, this is the norm, this can lead to health issues down the line, and what I think of is that daily bowel movement is your body's way of eliminating toxins.

So if you're not having a daily bowel movement, those toxins are going to build up and they're just going to recirculate within your body. So again, that daily bowel movement is your body's natural mechanism of sort of taking out the trash.

KARA: And feeling the need to push a lot just to go to the bathroom, not only can lead to hemorrhoids, but over time can create situations like a weakened pelvic floor muscle. We hosted a show called Pelvic Floor Problems and in that show discussed the downside of needing to push to go to the bathroom and that's for urine or feces by the way.

A weak pelvic floor muscle can cause leaky bladder, bladder urgency, sometimes fecal urgency. Or even situations like a prolapsed bladder or prolapsed uterus. So those can all be pretty serious.

BRANDY: Right. Yeah. Some serious complications that are preventable if you pay attention to your gut health and turn this around, because the good news is that there are solutions to get you back on track if you are noticing that you're a little more constipated since increasing your protein intake.

KARA: Absolutely. And we'll explain why this happens. We'll share some practical tips to getting regular again with your bathroom habits. By the end of the episode, you'll have what you need to reap the benefits of eating more protein without the digestive discomfort.

BRANDY: Yay. We love that. So there are a variety of reasons why someone may want to start focusing on eating more protein. And if you have not picked up on this by now here at Nutritional Weight & Wellness, we are advocates of including high quality animal based proteins with every meal and snack throughout the day.

Protein helps with weight loss & appetite control

And Kara and I are going to summarize what those benefits are. So first of all, eating enough protein is going to help you with weight loss because it very effectively helps control appetite and reduce hunger. So studies have shown that protein helps you feel fuller with less food. And that's partly because protein boosts your levels of peptide YY. So that is a protein that basically helps you feel full and it also reduces your hunger hormone, ghrelin.

KARA: And there was a study that found increasing protein intake from 15 percent of total calories in a day, increasing that up to 30 percent of total calories in a day resulted in overweight women eating over 400 fewer calories without trying.

BRANDY: Yeah, that's amazing.

KARA: It was just natural because they felt more satiated after eating.

BRANDY: That's amazing. So just boosting your protein will naturally kind of reduce your caloric intake of processed carbohydrates.

KARA: That's usually what people are craving when they're feeling hunger pangs.

Adequate protein maintains & builds muscle

BRANDY: Another benefit of protein is we know that protein is the building block of our muscles. So maintaining adequate protein intake is not only going to help you build muscle, but it can also prevent muscle loss. So Kara, you already mentioned that as we age, we tend to lose some of our muscle mass, even as early as our thirties.

So I think it's never too soon to prioritize protein. Another common scenario though, where you may find yourself losing muscle mass is when you're losing weight, you know, especially if you are using one of those weight loss medications. So really rapid weight loss very often means you're very quickly losing muscle mass.

Protein supports bone health

KARA: And another added benefit of consuming protein, it's incredibly important for bone health. It can reduce risk of osteoporosis, osteopenia, and fractures, especially after menopause for women.

BRANDY: Right. So important for us ladies to think about our bone density.

Protein repairs tissues

And protein is also necessary to help repair our tissues, especially after an injury. So if you have any kind of surgeries coming up or you, heaven forbid, you know, break a bone, we need that protein to repair.

How is protein broken down in the gut?

KARA: Well, let's go back and address why increasing protein in your diet may lead to more constipation. To understand this, we need to look at how your body breaks down protein. So Brandy, would you mind summarizing just the process of protein breakdown in the gut?

BRANDY: Yeah, so when we eat protein, it doesn't magically just turn into that muscle, or magically boost our energy. It needs to go through a complex process, basically breaking down into its smallest components so that it can be absorbed by our intestinal tract.

So believe it or not, digesting food, even protein actually begins in the mouth. So that protein breakdown, a lot of it does happen in the stomach and some of it occurs in the small intestine, but your mouth first needs to chew that protein, breaking it into smaller pieces that your digestive tract can handle.

KARA: So let's pause here a moment as we're talking about digestion beginning in the mouth. Listeners, have you ever thought about why you need to chew your food? Because we all know that our esophagus is only so wide, so to prevent choking on food, we know that the food needs to be broken down into smaller pieces.

But here's something interesting that you may not know. The smaller you can make those pieces of chicken, meat, egg, maybe it's shrimp in your mouth, the more surface will be available on each little piece of food. And that's going to help the food come into contact with enzymes as it moves down your digestive tract.

BRANDY: So the more surface area, the better those enzymes can work on the protein.

KARA: Yeah. So the smaller pieces, the more available to the enzymes for digestion.

BRANDY: Yeah, that's perfect. Really interesting to think of it like that. The saliva in your mouth is going to help moisten the food, which makes it not only easier to chew, but easier to swallow. So if you've heard the health advice, chew your food thoroughly before swallowing, well, that's not just to prevent choking, but as we learned, it actually promotes overall digestion, too.

KARA: We have two enzymes in our saliva. They're called amylase and lipase. Although those do help with overall digestion, they mostly aid in the breaking down and digestion of carbohydrates and fats. They don't do a lot to break down protein. Okay, Brandy, let's move on. Let's go down from the mouth and the esophagus. Let's move into the stomach.

BRANDY: Yeah.

KARA: What happens to our chewed up meat once it reaches the stomach?

BRANDY: Well, I think this is where a lot of the magic happens when we talk about protein digestion. So proteins are really large molecules. So their chemical breakdown does take a certain amount of time. So when you compare protein against carbohydrates and fats, protein is going to take a little bit longer to digest than fat compared to carbohydrates, but a shorter amount of time to digest compared to those dietary fats.

KARA: Have you noticed when eating a higher protein meal, you aren't hungry afterward? Eating a higher protein meal increases that amount of time needed to break down the whole entire meal in the stomach. And of course, the longer the food stays in the stomach, the longer you feel full or satisfied .

BRANDY: That's also part of why protein is such a good, a tool to control cravings. And on the flip side, I'm sure we've all had a carbohydrate rich meal, maybe it's a big bowl of pasta with some breadsticks on the side, or there's a breakfast that I used to have every day for so many years, a big bowl of oatmeal with some fruit in it.

Looking back, I see now like all carbohydrates, and it's digested very quickly. The stomach will break down those carbohydrates very fast, convert those carbs into sugar or glucose in the bloodstream. So when that happens, basically those carbohydrates are moving through the stomach very quickly and that sugar is absorbed into the body very fast, which can spike your blood sugar, oftentimes followed by a blood sugar crash, and you're going to feel hungry, you know, within an hour after eating.

And that is exactly what would happen to me with this oatmeal breakfast that I just described. I'd have my oatmeal. An hour and a half later, I'd be looking for something more. So I've changed my ways since then.

KARA: That example that you gave is really touted as a healthy breakfast.

BRANDY: Yeah.

KARA: And although there's nothing wrong with a small amount of oatmeal or some fruit, it's missing the protein. It's missing the healthy fat, right? Creating that excessive spike and then dip in the blood sugar.

BRANDY: That's right.

KARA: It's interesting how different foods are digested timing wise. Brandy, what are the key players in the stomach that help break down these large protein molecules into usable parts? And by the way, these smaller usable parts are also known as amino acids. And I'm sure you've heard us talk about amino acids before. We know that protein breaks down into amino acids like tryptophan and tyrosine. That's just to name a couple. So that might ring a bell for anyone who just had a Thanksgiving meal.

BRANDY: That's right. I think we hear a lot about tryptophan around the holidays. Thanks to the turkey It's kind of famous for that, but actually all of our animal based proteins like beef, fish, eggs, they all contain these essential amino acids, tryptophan being one of them, but when you eat protein, those proteins are digested into those smaller molecules, amino acids.

But back to your question, what helps break down the protein into these amino acids? Well, there's two key players that break down protein in the stomach, and those are hydrochloric acid and pepsin. So our stomach should be a very acidic environment. And if somebody has enough stomach acid, this acid is going to help release other enzymes, like pepsin, to help break down that protein even further.

KARA: And you had commented earlier that the stomach is where the magic of protein breakdown begins. And you're right. You know, once this magical stomach acid begins the chemical process, it continues on into the small intestinal tract, which is actually not that small. When you measure it out, it's at least 20 feet long.

BRANDY: Yeah. It's actually much longer than the large intestine. So it's a little confusing, but that's where most of our nutrient absorption happens is in the small intestine. So once those protein fragments are broken down to those amino acids, they reach the small intestine. They can then work as planned. So the amino acids are in a usable form. They can transfer across the intestinal lining and into the bloodstream where they can then go off and do what we need them to do in our body.

KARA: And that's when we can finally benefit from all the work that our protein did to be digested. Protein goes through a lot of work and the beneficial outcome is when the amino acids transfer into the bloodstream to build muscle, repair tissue, and absorb our nutrients.

You are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. Just about everyone is on social media these days. It's become a prominent resource for information, especially when it comes to health and nutrition. Did you know that we have a Dishing Up Nutrition private Facebook page that you can join? It's a great way to stay apprised of our current topics and discussions. We'll be right back.

Join Our Dishing Up Nutrition Facebook Group

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BRANDY: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. I'm Brandy Buro and I'm here with Kara Carper today. I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. Kara is a Licensed Nutritionist at Nutritional Weight & Wellness. And we are passionate about counseling and educating people to help them reach their health and wellness goals.

Kara mentioned before break that we have a Dishing Up Nutrition Facebook page. So if you're on Facebook, be sure to do a quick search for Dishing Up Nutrition and select join. Our administrator will accept your invitation within a day or two, and you'll be able to connect with other people who are also passionate about their health goals. And I think that's so great. It's a quick way to find your people, you know, people that are like minded and are sharing this mission to eat real whole foods.

KARA: I like popping into that Facebook group occasionally, and there's some really good discussions. And the moderators and administrators are part of answering the questions, but you also get a lot of really intelligent answers from the listeners who have joined.

BRANDY: Yeah. So learning from each other.

Adequate stomach acid is required to break down protein

KARA: Yeah. So our topic today is, you know, I increased my protein and I'm more constipated. What can I do? So when we're talking about being constipated from eating higher protein, a very common reason is that there's not adequate stomach acid to break down the protein in the stomach and the small intestinal tract, as well as not having enough of those protein digesting enzymes that Brandy talked about before break. Pepsin is an enzyme released into the stomach, but there are also pancreatic enzymes that are needed in addition to stomach acid and pepsin.

BRANDY: Yeah, that's right. That naturally occurring stomach acid, it does contribute to the environment that we need to activate those pancreatic enzymes that break down protein into its usable parts. So if somebody has low stomach acid, digestion is going to slow way down, and basically that protein is going to remain in larger chunks that are not digested and it's just going to pass through the digestive tract without really getting broken down. So you're not really absorbing much from that protein.

And you can actually see this if you investigate and take a peek at your stool. Sometimes you can see undigested particles of food in your stool. That's a sign that something further upstream with your digestion is off balance.

KARA: Low stomach acid is a common cause of not digesting protein adequately which in turn can lead to constipation. There are signs and symptoms that you may not have adequate stomach acid. So constipation alone can cause you to be more bloated and have a bigger belly. And sometimes you're going to have more gas and more belching. And so, you know, if you're not going to the bathroom for several days, you probably will be feeling that anyway.

BRANDY: Right; things are accumulating. There's some buildup there. So even if you're not constipated, but if you tend to feel overly full after eating, especially if it's just a small amount of food and if that meal is higher in protein, that is a pretty clear sign of low stomach acid, especially if you've been on acid blockers either temporarily or maybe even long-term, like several years.

I've even had some clients that have been on acid blocking medication for decades, so basically, that medication is blocking your stomach's natural acid production that is needed to digest protein.

KARA: It's interesting that acid blockers have a warning label that says, these are meant to be used short term. Now, there are many reasons for that. And an important reason is that you won't be able to digest protein well without enough stomach acid. There are other side effects though, from long term acid blocker use. And they can be serious: a higher risk of fracturing a bone. Even a hip, for example, deficiencies of critical nutrients, like vitamin B12 and the mineral, iron.

These potential side effects should not be taken lightly because something like a vitamin B deficiency can lead to low energy, but can also lead to numbness, especially peripheral neuropathy or numbness maybe in the fingers and the toes and other nerve issues.

BRANDY: So vitamin B12, iron, they both play a lot of roles in our body and they are nutrients that are found in high quality protein sources. It makes sense if you're not able to digest and break down protein, you're going to be deficient in those nutrients. And an iron deficiency can also lead to fatigue, shortness of breath, really pale pasty skin, and it can even stunt growth.

So, we mentioned that long term use of those acid blockers can lead to an increased risk of fracture, and there's actually some great research around this. The National Institute of Health has research showing that taking proton pump inhibitors, or we often refer to these as PPIs, is associated with an increased risk of hip fractures, especially when you've been using those medications for prolonged periods of time or in high doses.

KARA: In the study, they stated That this is believed to occur due to a potential decrease in calcium absorption in the gut. Which can lead to bone loss. There are a lot of factors when it comes to bone health and calcium is just one player, but please know that taking long term proton pump inhibitors and Prevacid, Prilosec, I'm just throwing out a couple of brands, it's not good for your bone health. So you need to do your research to get to the root cause and wean off with the help of meeting with a licensed dietitian would be very, very beneficial.

Schedule Nutrition Counseling

BRANDY: So if you are on any of those acid blocking medications that Kara just mentioned, Tums would be another one. Omeprazole is another name that you might see. Please head to our website and listen to one of our previous podcast episodes on this topic. We have done multiple shows that focus on just this, giving you a bit of guidance on how to safely wean off those acid blockers. And if you have heartburn and acid reflux, these are just good episodes to tune into just to get a little bit of insight into how you can turn that around.

KARA: If you have not been to our website, it's weightandwellness.com, all spelled out “weight and wellness”, click on podcasts and radio shows.

Check Out Our Podcasts on Healing Acid Reflux/Heartburn!

All you need to do is type in the search engine a couple of key words. You might type acid reflux, acid blockers, or GERD, which is gastroesophageal reflux disease. Brandy and I recently hosted a podcast discussing undigested food. And we talked about some supplements that can help you to better digest your food if you feel bloated or full after eating protein.

BRANDY: Yeah, I think these two episodes go hand in hand. So if you haven't listened to that episode yet, that'd be a good one to listen right after you finish this one. And I want to mention that the Nutrikey brand Key Digestive Enzymes can be very helpful in helping digest protein because these capsules contain a little bit of hydrochloric acid, a little bit of pepsin, and the pancreatic enzymes amylase, lipase, and protease.

KARA: Plus there are some other ingredients such as taurine and ox bile. And that will help with bile production. There's also gentian root, which is a natural, what we call bitter. Bitters are an herb that have historically been used for digestion, I believe thousands of years.

You know, as I've gotten older and I know my body is naturally producing fewer enzymes and less stomach acid, I really like to take the Key Digestive Enzymes with my larger protein meals. So essentially all of my meals, except I wouldn't do it with a smoothie. I've noticed when I have digestive enzymes or hydrochloric acid tablets, and I'm just having a protein shake, I can kind of feel it sitting in my esophagus. So personally, for me, it has to be like a chewable protein meal.

BRANDY: Well, that makes sense. Cause I guess with a smoothie, that protein is already kind of broken down a little bit. So you mentioned that sometimes you do take additional hydrochloric acid. I could see that being helpful for somebody who is aging, producing less stomach acid naturally, or maybe for somebody that is taking acid blockers, trying to wean off, or maybe just has all the signs of low stomach acid, things we've mentioned: bloating, gas, belching, getting unusually full very quickly after you start eating.

KARA: So for example, if I were having a dinner, a pretty common dinner I would have would contain five ounces of cooked chicken. That would be my protein. So with that meal, I would take two capsules of the Key Digestive Enzymes and one additional hydrochloric acid tablet.

And so anytime I'm having a meal that contains anywhere between three to six ounces of solid, let's just call it like a solid chewable protein, beef, fish, poultry, pork, or eggs. And it works best for me when I take it in the middle of a meal, which can be kind of a hassle. And you know, certainly listeners, if you want to try this, if you suspect that you have low stomach acid, which is very common, or you need additional digestive enzymes, you can absolutely take it before or after your meals.

But if you notice that sensation that I mentioned, kind of like it's sitting in your esophagus if you can kind of feel a little bit of a burning, trust me, that should not happen if you take it right in the middle of your meal instead. And these are general recommendations. It's my anecdotal recommendation. If you're meeting with a dietitian, really ask for a specific plan that caters to your individual needs.

BRANDY: Yeah, good suggestion. And you can play around with it and see what works best for you. But I think the main thing is like, take it close to food, whether it's immediately before, immediately after, or somewhere in the middle, like you do.

But the point is that these enzymes are helping you digest the food. So it's not really going to do you a lot of good if you're taking it right away in the morning and then you have breakfast two hours later. Low stomach acid and not having enough of those digestive enzymes can be one cause of constipation when you're increasing protein in your diet, but sometimes I come across a client where it's not always a stomach acid issue, or it's not always an enzymes issue that's causing the constipation.

Importance of drinking enough water & eating high fiber vegetables 

I would say one other thing that I see is that people will start hyper focusing on the protein because they realize, wow, I'm really under eating protein, but there's all these benefits. So they increase their protein, they start feeling the benefits, but at the same time, they're not maybe letting some other habits take a back seat, so maybe they are forgetting to drink enough water, or they're feeling so full with their meals that they're not eating enough high fiber vegetables. So they could be kind of neglecting a couple other habits that are actually really important for your digestion.

KARA: Yeah, those are definitely two big reasons, and let's dive into both of them a little more. They might sound simple, drink more water, eat more foods that contain fiber, but we know that these are two of the most common causes of constipation. So we're going to do a little bit of a deeper dive.

BRANDY: I love it. And I think it's great that eating a higher protein diet is more filling, more satiating, and people report back that their cravings start to go away after they’re improving protein. They're not eating as many sweets, but I have learned that when it comes to drinking water and consuming fiber, you have to be super intentional about maintaining these habits. You really have to think about it.

KARA: I agree a hundred percent. And sometimes I struggle with both fiber and water. The average American consumes about 12 grams of fiber per day, but to maintain good bowel function, going regularly, feeling like you're expelling everything and you have a nice bulked up stool that's going to excrete toxins such as excess cholesterol, excess estrogen, we should be striving for 30 to 50 grams of fiber per day.

BRANDY: So we almost have to triple what we're normally doing.

Tips for getting in more fiber in meals & snacks

KARA: And Brandy, do you have any shortcuts on how you get enough fiber throughout the day, either with meals or snacks?

BRANDY: Yeah. You know, for me, I've noticed vegetables are extremely important for me when it comes to my digestion. So I have a personal goal to get some kind of vegetable in with every single meal of the day. My personal goal is five cups a day and it's not as hard as it might sound, you know, if you get a cup with breakfast and then two cups for lunch and dinner. That's kind of how I do it.

But what I like to do, this is a breakfast that I’ve been eating a lot lately because it's so simple for me to make. It's about a cup of cauliflower rice that I just heat in the microwave. In a skillet, I am throwing in a big handful of spinach, a few tablespoons of black beans, and some scrambled eggs. And then I am topping all of that with some salsa and about a half an avocado.

So the avocado, It has about six grams of fiber, and then my cauliflower rice, my spinach, I mean, I haven't calculated it, but I would imagine it's giving me like another three to five grams of fiber. So right there, I'm already starting with almost two cups of vegetables, a big whack of fiber, and my protein and my healthy fat, of course.

KARA: Yeah, that's fantastic. I haven't calculated that specific meal either, but in my head you're probably at 15 to 20 grams just with that breakfast.

BRANDY: Yeah, I imagine. So that gets me pretty far ahead for my day. So that's one thing I love to do and sometimes if I'm not in the mood for like the eggs, I will put together a really quick smoothie and a great way to add fiber into my smoothie is by adding maybe two or three tablespoons of chia seeds. So each tablespoon has about three grams of fiber and I'm usually adding in some berries like frozen blueberries is kind of my go to lately. So those are a little higher in fiber than other fruits. So that is a strategy that I like to use; mix that with protein powders and coconut milk. It's Amazing.

KARA: Right. And that's a very balanced smoothie. It's not just like a juice smoothie, you know, you have your protein, you have your additional fiber, your healthy fats, and you're not overdoing the carbohydrate content with berries.

Great tips. Simple. They're not overwhelming on how to incorporate vegetables and fruit just with a couple of meal examples there. You know, I struggled with being constipated when I was younger and If I'm not careful, it can kind of creep back in and one of my personal tips is also to have that daily smoothie, and I like to just throw in some vegetables as well.

BRANDY: Oh, yeah.

KARA: You probably do that sometimes as well. But just some riced, frozen riced cauliflower. I'll put that in the smoothie.

BRANDY: That does work really well.

KARA: Maybe either some frozen spinach, a chunk of that, or if I have fresh, I'll just put, throw in a couple handfuls of fresh spinach.

BRANDY: Perfect.

KARA: And then, you have your half cup of frozen organic berries. And like you had mentioned, berries do contain quite a bit of fiber, and they're also a lower sugar fruit.

Quality protein powder options

BRANDY: Adds such good flavor too. And I always have frozen berries in my freezer, so it's pretty convenient. So with your protein shake, I'm guessing you are also using a protein powder. And since we're talking about protein, maybe you could just talk us through what specific protein powders you like, because if you were to go shop for one, there's basically a whole wall of different protein powders to choose from. So it can be pretty tricky to know what's a good quality option.

KARA: Great question. You know, I am a bit biased because I did discover the brand at our office years ago, and I obviously have easy access to purchase it, but I have tried others. And I've never found one that I like more. I always just go back to our Nutrikey whey powder. It tastes great. It's very clean. I do like to have a flavor, although there is I believe a flavorless option as well, but I prefer the vanilla or the chocolate.

And you know, those are sweetened, but very lightly sweetened with monk fruit or stevia, which are plant sweeteners. It's not sugar and they're not artificial sweeteners either. And it's so common that those artificial sweeteners can sneak into other brands.

BRANDY: Yeah, you have to be really careful. Good thing to watch for. Stevia or monk fruit are fine sweeteners. I also watch for like the grass fed whey protein powder. And that's what I prefer. I also enjoy like the unflavored version that you were mentioning.

Sometimes I'll mix that with a little bit of the vanilla flavor, just so I get a little sweetness from the stevia that's in that, but it's not overly sweet. Maybe like half, half and half?

BRANDY: Yep, half and half. And a lot of my clients like to do that, per my suggestion, and that works pretty well for them. But I agree, like, trying to find one that's high quality, no additives, no preservatives, no weird ingredients. We kind of take the guesswork out for you with that Nutrikey Wellness Whey.

KARA: And thankfully, stevia and monk fruit, because they do come from plants and they're not sugar or artificial sweeteners, they're easy on digestion.

Many other protein powders will contain either sugar alcohols such as sorbitol, maltitol, xylitol, or they may contain artificial sweeteners like sucralose or aspartame. And you know, all of those ingredients I mentioned can cause bloating, gas, or digestive issues, depending on the person.

BRANDY Yeah, exactly. There's so many flavors out there. Sometimes I'm seeing like birthday cake protein powder, creamsicle protein powder. So a lot of times they have like the artificial flavorings and the sucralose is the one that I see a lot. All to say, the clean sources of protein are really important when it comes to your digestion.

More ways to increase protein consumption while avoiding processed, prepackaged options

So if you're trying to increase your protein, but you're doing so by focusing on prepackaged foods like the frozen dinners or even fast food meals, you know, these processed sources of protein could be contributing to the constipation. Basically, the longer the list of ingredients in a prepackaged food, the more likely there's something in there that's going to irritate your gut. So when you compare like the 20 ingredient chicken nugget that you get at fast food or from the freezer section compared to a homemade chicken nugget that has maybe like four ingredients, right?

KARA: We love making those homemade chicken nuggets or sometimes, you know, I like to make them into larger, more of a chicken tender and we'll make that for the whole family, but the teenager loves that.

BRANDY: I bet

KARA: They have three ingredients versus the 20 ingredients that you just referred to. You know, it's real chicken, almond meal and egg. And you know, you can certainly add some spices. I usually do that. Honestly, they don't take much longer to make from scratch compared to buying the frozen nuggets. You know, you have to either heat up the oven and then you're cooking a bunch of chemically laden prepackaged nuggets.

BRANDY: Yeah.

KARA: It might take a few more minutes to do the homemade, but they taste delicious. They actually taste better.

BRANDY: I agree. I find, kind of a funny story. I had a client whose kids would eat almost nothing other than chicken nuggets. She was having a hard time convincing them to eat the homemade version. What she did, she was a little sneaky. She made, she kept the box of, she kept the box of one brand of chicken nuggets and would make her homemade chicken nuggets when they weren't around, freeze them, store them in the box, and then when it was dinnertime, out come their favorite chicken nuggets.

KARA: Okay, did she ever get outed?

BRANDY: You know, I think eventually they kind of, caught on, and they had been eating it for so long, they were like, Oh, okay, these are good, it's fine. Parent’s got to do what a parent's got to do.

KARA: That's right.

Well, in general, you know, trying to shift away from the processed foods that contain refined grains, refined oils, and those artificial additives. Shifting more towards real food because those processed ingredients are going to contribute to health issues and certainly constipation.

KARA: In addition to eating high quality, real sources of protein like pasture raised or grass-fed beef, organic eggs, wild caught fish, maybe some grass-fed chicken or pastured chicken who have roamed around the farm, we also discussed the importance of eating enough non starchy vegetables as well as some of the higher fiber fruits such as berries. That's going to all help to balance out the microbiome in the gut and it will help break down and digest protein.

Healthy fat acts as a lubricant for the digestive tract

BRANDY: Absolutely. And getting a variety is always important for your gut health. And sometimes healthy fat takes a backseat when it comes to digestion. I don't think we often think about fat playing a role, but actually real natural fats like avocados, dry roasted nuts, coconut oil, they can actually act as a lubricant for our digestive tract. And they also play a role when it comes to regular bowel movements.

More on water’s importance for constipation

KARA: And then we don't want to forget about water. And I feel like whenever we bring up water, people might be rolling their eyes thinking, oh, I've heard this before.

BRANDY: Yeah.

KARA: But I'm going to still encourage you all to do a little test for a week. And part of it is like really tracking the quantity of water each day. And so how much water are you drinking? And then consider, are you drinking caffeinated beverages or beverages that contain alcohol? Because if so, you know, you should be drinking an extra eight ounces of pure filtered water to make up for the caffeine or alcohol, which are both diuretics and essentially pull water out of the body.

BRANDY: Exactly. So they're dehydrating. So you might need to give yourself a little extra boost after that. And I talk about how much water to drink with my clients all the time. So really the rule of thumb is about half your body weight in ounces of water every day. So make sure that you've got a water bottle with you all the time so that it's accessible.

I'll often encourage my clients keep a water bottle in their car, keep a water bottle in the office, keep one by your nightstand so that you've always got access to some good filtered water. Keep it in sight. Some people will even use a tracking app to actually see how much they're drinking throughout the day.

One of my clients is using an app where every glass that she drinks and logs, there's a little plant that starts to grow. And when she meets her goal, then the plant is flowering at the end of the day. That's a great idea.

BRANDY: It's kind of fun. Yeah.

KARA: Or you may prefer an old school approach. You know, there's always the rubber band or a bracelet trick. You know, if you have a lot of bracelets, you can put them on one wrist. And as you drink eight ounces of water, you transfer the bracelet to the other wrist. You can't really forget that. You can also do this with rubber bands on your water bottle, kind of move them up and down as you drink, you know, drink the water bottle and then refill it.

BRANDY: Right. That's a great idea. You can't forget about the basics.

Recap

KARA: Just to recap our show today, we had some listener questions on, you know, they'd increased protein and started noticing being more constipated. So first of all, just pay attention to your body and really watch for signs of incomplete digestion, feeling overly full, especially after eating a meal with protein, bloating, gas, of course, constipation.

And if this sounds like you, you may have. low stomach acid, which is very common. And you may also benefit from taking hydrochloric acid in a supplement, as well as digestive enzymes. You know, we do need this adequate stomach acid and enzymes to really help our food digest and benefit from all the nutrients, especially that protein. And shoot for a variety of vegetables and fruit. Ideally, five half cup servings per day, although.

BRANDY: Or more.

KARA: Or more. Brandy likes five cups, which would be technically 10 servings. That's even better. And you may want to add some fiber boosters such as chia. Don't forget to be drinking adequate water just to kind of lubricate your system and help those bowels. And that's half of your body weight in ounces of water; a little bit more if you're consuming alcohol or caffeine. And really focus on high quality proteins and avoid those processed proteins as much as possible.

BRANDY: Exactly. Well, great recap. It was great seeing you today, Kara.

KARA: You as well. Thanks, Brandy.

BRANDY: And that's a wrap for our show today. Our goal at Nutritional Weight & Wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. It is a simple yet powerful message. Eating real food is life changing. Well, thank you so much for listening and have a great day.