Case Study: From Constipation & Severe Bloat to Daily Poops & Significantly Less Bloat
By Leah Barack, Gut Health Expert & Functional Nutritionist
My client E came to me after struggling with extremely uncomfortable bloat and constipation for over 3 years. She had already done functional medicine testing and had worked with multiple other practitioners, including a well-established functional medicine doctor, but she was feeling worse than ever when she came to me. She was desperate for some relief from her symptoms.
E’s main concerns were her debilitating bloat and severe constipation.
She had so tried many things before coming to me (see below):
Additionally, she had done a number of different tests including food allergy testing, two SIBO tests, a CT scan of her abdomen, comprehensive blood panels and urine testing, and a GI-Map functional stool test.
She was so uncomfortable in her own skin, and the bloat was so bad she’d even taken multiple pregnancy tests just to make sure she wasn’t pregnant.
Though E had tried a ton of different things, she was still very open to trying something new, and was hopeful my program would help her get the relief she’d been searching for for so long. She was understandably frustrated none of her previous efforts had worked.
By the end of our 3 months together, E went from being extremely constipated and severely bloated to having daily, easy bowel movements and significantly less bloat. Here’s exactly what we did.
With my clients In my gut healing program, I work on the five key pillars of gut health that make up the root causes of why someone is bloated and or constipated in the first place. Together, we work on each of these pillars in a strategic order to address the underlying cause of their symptoms so they can be symptom-free.
The five core pillars are: motility, digestion, nutrients, microbiome health, and the nervous system. Most gut imbalances stem from one or more of these core pillars. E had imbalances in all of these, so I created a personalized plan for her that addressed each of them step-by-step.
First, we worked on her motility. I had her implement a specific morning routine that would help her train her bowels to fully empty every morning. I also made tweaks to her current supplement routine, having her stop many of the supplements she had been taking that were not working for her, and getting her started on more effective ones that were specifically targeted to her unique imbalances, including her slow motility.
The reason we worked on her motility first is because so often bloat is actually caused by being backed up and not fully eliminating. On top of that, being constipated also makes you even more constipated because the backed up stool releases methane gas, which slows down motility.
Her bowel movements (BM’s) were starting to significantly improve: she was having daily type 4 BM’s (smooth sausage-shaped, “perfect poops”) daily (sometimes even 2x/day!). You can see on her Bloat & Bowel tracker here exactly how they were feeling for her:
We then worked on helping E improve her digestion, to help her continue to improve her BM’s and also start to address her stubborn bloat. I gave her tools to use at mealtimes to improve digestion, and we made a few tweaks to her diet to help her body have an easier time breaking down the food she was eating.
I also gave her some nervous system regulating tools to help ground her nervous system and decrease stress. E was a high-performing woman who put a lot of pressure on herself to succeed in everything she put her mind to in life. She had a hard time creating space to just rest, so we worked on helping her create structure and routine so her work and other stressors didn’t take over her life, and she could actually slow down (this is a hard one for any high-performing woman, myself included!).
E started to notice her bloat slowly improving, and even went on a 3-week trip during our time working together and still noticed improvements! Typically travel is difficult on the gut, so it was great to see E make progress even with the travel and drastic change of routine.
Her bloat had lessened but was still there at this point, and overall she was less uncomfortable and was feeling good. She said she “felt lighter and looser, and more free” in her body. Even though we still had more work to do to decrease her bloat even more, this was still a huge win, and one of her goals in working together had been to feel freer in her body.
Though her bloat wasn’t 100% gone, it was still very noticeably better - her mom even noticed she looked less distended!
She even had some days with barely any bloat, where she felt the best she had in ages.
We then worked on helping support her digestion even more, adding in foods to support bile flow (essential for digestion, motility and proper microbiome balance). We also worked on supporting her vagal tone. Vagal tone refers to how well your vagus nerve is functioning, and it’s key for gut health because it helps regulate motility, digestive enzyme release, and the gut–brain connection—supporting smoother digestion, less bloating, and more regular bowel movements.
Because her bloat was starting to decrease even more at this point, and based on the results from her GI Map functional stool test we started to increase the plant diversity she was eating, increasing to the gold standard of 30-40 different plant foods per week to help improve her gut microbiome diversity.
We also worked on increasing specific nutrients and minerals in her diet to help promote proper digestion and motility, which is the movement of stool through the GI tract.
Her bowel movements were still improving, even on busy days, and this was a huge win for her!
Once her gut was in a more resilient place and her BM’s were feeling good, we added in some herbal supplemental support and specific fibers to address the microbiome imbalances and overgrowths that we saw on her GI Map stool test to help get the bloat down even more.
When we started to implement these new supplements, she started to have more consecutive days with less bloat.
By our last session E’s digestion, bowel movements, and bloating had completely transformed. While she still occasionally experienced some bloat, it was nowhere near as severe, uncomfortable, or consistent as it was before our work together. Even in the midst of major life changes, more travel, and stress in her life she was still having good digestion and consistent bowel movements daily.
And when I checked in with her before our last session, here’s what she said:
In our work together we were focusing on increasing the overall resilience of her gut - so that her gut could handle essentially whatever came its way, without blowing up like a balloon and backing her up. The way to a resilient gut is not endless restriction, but rather a strategic plan that addresses all of the 5 core pillars of gut health that E and I worked on together.
At our last session, I was absolutely thrilled to see E’s progress over the last 3 months, and E was so relieved and happy to be feeling so much better.
Let’s look at E’s symptom tracker from before we started working together to our last session – a span of three months – to see how she improved throughout the process.
Before working together, she rated her bloat a 9/10 (10 = bad bloat, 1 = no bloat).
Then, after our three months together, she rated her bloat a 3/10! This meant her bloat got 3x better over the course of our 3 months together! This was a massive win for E.
Before our work together, she also rated her bowel movements a 5/10 (1 = bad, 10 = good).
Then by the time we finished our work together, she rated her BM’s a 9/10! She was thrilled to have easy, type 4 bowel movements daily.
Last but certainly not least, when we started our work together she rated her relationship with her body a 4/10 (1 = bad, 10 = good). This is such an important question, because I find so often when women struggle with gut issues they end up having very poor relationships with their bodies.
I was so happy to see that after our three months together, E’s relationship with her body had drastically improved. It had actually doubled, and she rated her relationship an 8/10!
This is such an important part of the work I do with women. Of course, improving their digestion, bowel movements, and bloat is a huge part of what I do, but equally as important is helping women improve their relationships with their bodies — treating their bodies as their friend rather than their enemy. Giving their bodies some grace and compassion. Treating themselves with love rather than hatred. All of these things are not only important but in my opinion actually essential for healing to occur, and unfortunately, I see it’s a missing part of many programs out there.
Perhaps you identify with some of E’s story — she was feeling so defeated and nearly hopeless by the time she found me because she felt like she had already tried everything and had struggled for years. But she finally decided to take the plunge and work with an expert who specializes in bloat and constipation, because she knew in her gut (pun intended!) there had to be a better way.
If you’re curious about what it could look like to work together, the first step is simple: apply for a Free Fit Call with me. This is where we’ll explore your symptoms, your history, and whether my program is the right next step for you.
If you’re feeling the nudge that it’s time for something different — that you can have daily, easy bowel movements, less bloat, and feel comfortable in your body again — trust that instinct. You don’t have to keep spinning your wheels or trying to figure this out alone. When you take the step to book your Free Fit Call, you’re already moving closer to relief, clarity, and confidence. Imagine waking up without bloat, knowing your digestion is on track, and finally having a plan that works for your body. Go ahead and schedule your Free Fit Call today — your future self will thank you.