Strategies for Improving Gut Motility

Imagine eating or drinking…but without the bloat 🙏🏻

If you experience bloating “regardless of what you eat” or just by simply drinking water, this could be a sign there are some underlying gut issues ❌

But it doesn’t have to be this way forever.

Our client Katie came to us struggling with bloating and constipation and she said she was so discouraged that even by taking 1 sip of water in the morning she would immediately bloat. I know so many of you can relate to this too. 🫣

👉🏼What we discovered in our work together was that there were several underlying issues two of which included:

❌Poor digestive output: enzymes, stomach acid and bile flow

❌Poor gut motility: aka things moving too slowly throughout the digestive tract which can cause fermentation and an increase in bloating

✨✨The solution to her symptoms was much deeper than food. And I imagine the same is true for you too. We try so hard to figure out what the EXACT food is that is causing bloating and constipation and the reality is…it’s your gut. ✨✨

Feel like you struggle with bloating and constipation, like Katie? Could slow gut motility be the ROOT CAUSE of why you are feeling frustrated and stuck with your symptoms day after day???

Before we start pointing fingers, let’s make sure we understand what slow gut motility means! ✨ “Motility” is a term used to describe the contractions that mix and move contents throughout the gastrointestinal tract. Essentially, gut motility is referring to how well things move through the gut.

If your gut motility is slow, this means that you are not passing waste through your GI tract quick enough, and this can lead to symptoms you may be having!

💨 Slow motility can create excessive gas and bloating in your gut.

💩 You may feel constipated because your gut isn’t moving stool through your bowels properly.

🧠 Your gut and brain are connected – so when you are experiencing these gut-related symptoms you are likely also experiencing brain fog and anxiety.

Here are 3 signs that slow motility could be the root cause of your bloat:

👉Progressive bloating throughout the day (where you feel 6 months pregnant by 5pm) OR even worse…you wake up bloated

👉You go to the bathroom some days but not every day

👉You have a history of food poisoning. Food poisoning can actually have an impact on the nerves that coordinate your gut motility. So if you got food poisoning and have “never been the same” this could be why!

I know it’s awkward but we’re all friends here…

Have you ever gone to the bathroom and just felt like there’s no way that was “it”? 😬

Well, it’s more common than you think!

One of the top root causes that we see in our clients in gutTogether is slow motility. 

And if you have a history of SIBO you definitely want to consider motility as a piece of the puzzle. Your motility impacts the emptying of your bowels and when it’s too slow its what leaves you feeling constipated, bloated and probably frustrated 😜

But there are many things you can do to improve your motility including:

⭐Chewing your food – this is the first step of digestion. So if you can really chew your food, break it down so it’s really easy for your stomach to digest, then you’re going to be in a much better situation. So think about chewing your food and chewing it some more. That 20 to 30 chews per bite can definitely help you want your food basically to be applesauce consistency by the time that you swallow. 

⭐ Activating your vagus nerve – do this by gargling humming singing. A lot of times we have our clients hum Happy Birthday twice before they eat, and this can stimulate the vagus nerve, it will stimulate stomach acid secretion and then it will also improve your gut motility.

⭐ Drinking ginger tea in between meals – try drinking ginger tea in between your meals, you can even take ginger capsules, it can definitely improve your gut motility.

⭐ Improving your gut bacterial diversity – gut health is about abundance and variety. Food is fuel for the gut, and feeding your gut a variety of foods helps improve overall diversity and can improve your symptoms ✅

👉🏼👉🏼By addressing your underlying digestive symptoms you can improve your tolerance to food, improve symptoms like bloating, gas, constipation and diarrhea and learn to love food again! 🙌🏻

If you would like to understand more about your possible root causes, I have a free quiz called “Why am I bloated?”. You can take the quiz by clicking here