Temporary constipation is something that people can experience when starting to eat LCHF.
Although it’s also worth noting that bowel movements change when you start eating this way, it’s normal to go from needing to go twice a day to only once, or once every day to every two days. As long as you don’t feel bloated and uncomfortable with it, that’s fine.
If however it is uncomfortable then there are a few things to do.
Drink more water. Sometimes all you need to do is to do is drink a couple of glasses of cold water in the morning to get you going, then make sure you keep hydrated throughout the day. A glass of water every hour should be fine.
Make sure you are getting enough salt. The processed carbohydrates that you have now cut out of your diet both contained salt and did a great job of holding making your body hold on to the salt. This salt was one of the causes of the bloating you may have experienced pre-LCHF. So top up your salt intake by drinking a bone broth, chicken or beef stock or a vegetable bouillon with a teaspoon of salted butter melted into it. Simpler still, drink half a teaspoon of salt dissolved in water or just a put a pinch of sea salt on the tongue.
Make sure to be getting lots of fibre from green vegetables such as spinach, cabbage, celery and courgettes, all the low carb veg that’s on the plan. It can be tempting to veer towards too much meat, especially at breakfast, but remember your tomatoes, spinach and mushrooms.
Constipation could also be caused by too low a food intake, so make sure not to be hungry between meals. See ‘What can I snack on.’
Go for a walk. Gentle exercise will definitely help keep your bowels moving. So regularly keeping your steps up will also help to keep you regular!
If you make these small adjustments constipation should ease in a day or two.
In the meantime a strong coffee on an empty stomach should bring some relief, and a bullet coffee with coconut oil definitely will!