Step on the Gut Motility Gas Pedal

When I was a freshman in college, I kinda fucked up my Spring semester exams.

Well, I didn’t fuck up. I just didn’t budget my time well.

I had 4 exams, and 1 final paper. Nothing crazy. But, I spent all my time studying for my exams, and once I finished the 4th one, I realized I had 24 hours to write my entire paper. In German.

I was kinda fucked.

Luckily, I knew one of my good friends was prescribed a certain little orange pill that makes its rounds on college campuses.

I was a pretty straight edged kid.

I had never done any drugs (including cannabis at the time),

I was terrified of getting in trouble,

and I certainly did not partake in the illicit transfer of prescription medication.

Other than your typical underage college campus drinking, I was a pretty big stickler for the rules.

Dwight Learn Your Rules GIFfrom Dwight GIFs

But in this case, I felt like I had no choice.

I knew it was fairly impossible for me to write the paper in that time frame, but I knew from stories from friends that if I tried the ADHD medication as a study (well, writing) aid, I stood a chance.

So I decided to embrace my inner rebel.

I sent the text.

I paid the $10.

I poured a cup of water.

I swallowed a pill.

I wrote a paper.

I stayed up all night.

I edited and re-edited the paper.

And by the deadline? I turned it in.

I later found out I got an A on the paper, which was amazing!

But something else happened well before that:

I pooed.

via GIPHY

Now if you know my history with chronic constipation, you will appreciate how revolutionary that was for me.

At the time, I would strain and strain to pass the tiniest amount every 5 days.

But this time? I felt the urge, I eliminated completely, and felt really flat and empty after. Magic!

I knew that there was some significance to this. I knew that the complete-feeling, super-emptying, BM I had is how bowel movements are meant to feel, and something about this little limitless pill helped me do it.

So I started doing research.

And I talked to doctors.

And not surprisingly, I got zero answers from medical professions.

But, eventually, I was able to figure it out myself, and the answer has to do with gut motility.

What is Gut Motility?

Gut motility refers to the movement of food through your digestive tract, controlled by the smooth muscles in your intestines. This process, called peristalsis, ensures that food, liquids, and waste move at the right pace for digestion and absorption. When gut motility is functioning properly, nutrients are absorbed efficiently, and waste is expelled regularly through bowel movements.

When gut motility is slow, food and waste spend too much time in your intestines. Your colon re-absorbs the water from the stool, making it harder & more compact. This makes bowel movements infrequent, difficult, and often painful. Chronic slow motility can also lead to other digestive issues like bloating, nausea, and a feeling of fullness.

The reason that adderall helped me poo was because it stimulates gut motility. Adderall is a stimulant that increases the levels of neurotransmitters like dopamine and norepinephrine, which can affect many systems in your body, including your digestive system.

Stimulants like Adderall activate the sympathetic nervous system, which can increase peristalsis—the muscle contractions that move food and waste through your intestines. As a result, bowel movements may happen more quickly or frequently because the intestines are moving contents through the digestive tract at a faster pace.

Unfortunately, there are some awful side effects to adderall, and it truly is not something you should consume unless you are prescribed and truly truly truly TRULY need it.

But fortunately, there are other ways to increase gut motility:

no longer a 19 year old who takes other people's prescription medication, but luckily I found a way to poo without it!

Step on the Gas Pedal

Here are some more natural, less frantic-19-year-old-trying-not-to-fail-her-german-class-kinda-energy ways to increase gut motility:

1. Dietary Fiber: A diet rich in fiber (25-38 grams per day) helps bulk up stool and promote peristalsis. Diverse fibers from fruits, vegetables, and grains stimulate your gut and maintain balance. Try my tomato butterbean stew recipe.

2. Hydration: Drink water is essential for softening stool and helping it move through your intestines. Electrolyte-rich beverages can also aid motility by balancing fluid levels. Try my cleansing water recipe.

3. Physical Activity: Regular exercise (at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity per week) can stimulate intestinal contractions and improve motility

4. Probiotics & Fermented Foods: Beneficial bacteria from fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, and other fermented veggies can improve gut motility by enhancing your microbiome

5. Stress Management: Reducing stress through mindfulness meditation, and building resilience through breathwork, can positively impact gut motility by calming your autonomic nervous system

6. Ginger: As a prokinetic agent, ginger can inmotility and is known to stimulate peristalsis

Ginger is an especially powerful one.

Ginger is a natural prokinetic, meaning it can enhance peristalsis—the wave-like muscle contractions in the intestines that move food through the digestive system. This action helps prevent sluggish bowels and promotes motility.

But it also has other gut health benefits, including being anti-inflammatory, stimulating digestion, and relieving gas and bloating. Plus, it doesn’t make you rage-y and see-you-next-tuesday-y the way that little orange pill does, soooooo

let’s eat it baby!

This Dish

Baby gem lettuce, red butterhead lettuce, mesclun, frisée, raddicchio, wakame, tsunomataaka, akanori, tsunomataao, suginorishiro, sugar snap peas, avocado, cucumber, carrot, tomatoes, in a super ginger-y dressing; topped with sesame seeds, nori strips, chive blossoms, rocket-dame flowers, nasturtium

...can you even?!?!

The Benefits

good for constipation & bloating. specifically:

• in addition to ginger’s pro kinetic effects, this bowl is rich in both soluble fiber (carrots, cucumbers, avocados, the inner part of sugar snap peas, and tomatoes), and insoluble fiber (lettuce varieties, frisee, radicchio, snap pea outer shells, and seaweeds), both of which increase gut motility. soluble fiber adds bulk and makes stools easier to pass; insoluble fiber stimulates the digestive tract to move waste through more efficiently.

• the high water content (cucumbers, lettuce, and tomatoes) helps hydrate your colon, which increases gut motility

• the bitter compounds in frisée and radicchio increase bile production, which helps digest fats & prevent digestive discomfort; stimulate digestive enzymes to help absorb nutrients & prevent bloating and gas; and stimulate peristalsis, the wave-like muscle contractions that move food through the digestive tract, which helps prevent constipation

• radicchio and chives contain polyphenols, plant compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which can help reduce gut inflammation and support a healthy digestive tract

• this dish has a great combo of probiotics (from miso), and prebiotic fibers (from garlic & chives), which feed the beneficial bacteria; and the combo of the two helps the probiotics colonize in your gut

both taste-wise and looks-wise, this is some of my best work

The Recipe

Bowl ingredients—adjust quantities according to hunger levels & to taste. feel free to adjust as you see fit:

• a few handfuls of greens— I used red butterhead, baby gem, and mixed mesclun

• 1-2 cups frisée & raddichio

• 1/2-1 cup sugar snap peas

• 3 Persian cucumbers

• 1 cup organic cherry tomatoes

• 1 avocado

• 2 tbsp sesame seeds

• 1/4 cup dried seaweeds

• 1-2 carrots

• chive blossoms or chopped chives

• optional: nori strips or flakes to garnish

Ginger Dressing Ingredients:

• 2 BIG knobs ginger, peeled

• 1/2 cup tamari

• 1 clove garlic

• 6 pitted mepool dates

• 1/4 cup rice vinegar 

• 1/2 cup tahini

• 1/2 cup water

• 1 ice cube

Instructions:

1. Hydrate seaweed according to the instructions on your package\

2. Peel the ginger

3. Blend all of the dressing ingredients together in a high speed blender until super smooth

4. Chop up your greens & veggies, toss with dressing, garnish & eat

that dressing though droooooool

Links

• I used South River Sweet White Miso

• I bought the seaweed from a local asian grocer (Sunrise Mart in Soho, if you live in NYC). I found an online retailer that sells this product (linked here), but I want to emphasize that I did not use this online retailer, and I’m not familiar with them or know if they’re legit, or anything like that! I’m sure you can find similar dried seaweed mixes at asian grocers (just make sure there’s no sugar added!), or you can use just Wakame, or add some Arame— I’ve used the Wakame & Arame I’ve linked here and like the products

• I tend to use Thrive Market Tamari, but I also like this one [note: if you’re not a thrive market member and want to join, use this link to save 40% off your first order]

• I use this rice vinegar

• Hopefully I didn’t miss anything, but just in case, here is a roundup of links to my common recipe ingredients

For More on Gut Health & Bloating

If you want more recipes that will help you debloat & eliminate regularly, I highly recommend checking out my [free] Gut Health Cookbook, which has 5 yummy, gut-friendly, recipes. You can download it here.