Category: Diarrhea

Posted by Christine Pope on in Cancer support, Diarrhea, Health Care, Homeopathy, probiotics

Supporting your gut through cancer treatment: practical ways to feel better and recover.
A woman sitting on a couch, appearing distressed, with her hand on her forehead and another hand on her chest, indicating discomfort or anxiety.

One of the most common questions I hear in clinic is, “What can I do to help my digestion during treatment?”
It’s no surprise — cancer treatment can be incredibly tough on the gut. You might notice changes in appetite, reflux, constipation, diarrhoea, bloating, or just a general sense that your digestion isn’t working the way it usually does.

The good news is that there are gentle, practical things you can do to feel more comfortable and support your recovery. You don’t need a perfect diet or a long list of supplements — just small steps that nourish your gut and help it do its job.

Let’s walk through a few that make a real difference.

1. Start With a Gut-Friendly Way of Eating

During treatment, your gut responds best to foods that are nourishing but easy to digest. One of the most supportive eating patterns is the Mediterranean diet — and it’s less complicated than it sounds.

Think of it as building your meals around:

  • Plenty of colourful vegetables and fruit
  • Whole grains like oats, barley or brown rice
  • Legumes such as lentils, chickpeas and beans
  • Extra virgin olive oil (your daily healthy-fat hero)
  • Nuts, seeds and herbs for added flavour and fibre
  • Fish and seafood a few times a week
  • Smaller amounts of poultry, dairy and eggs
  • Very little red meat, processed food or excess sugar

This way of eating feeds your good gut bacteria, supports regular bowel habits, and helps manage inflammation — all incredibly important during treatment.

If your appetite is low or your gut feels sensitive, try softer textures: blended soups, slow-cooked vegetables or warm porridge. Even one or two Mediterranean-style choices a day add up.

2. Feed Your Healthy Gut Bacteria

Your microbiome — the community of bacteria living in your digestive tract — is heavily influenced by treatment. Giving it a little love can help with regularity, energy and even immune support.

Easy food-based prebiotics

Prebiotics are fibres that “feed” your good gut bugs. Some of the most helpful include:

  • Inulin – found in onions, leeks, garlic, artichokes
  • PHGG (Partially Hydrolysed Guar Gum) – one of the gentlest fibres for bloating or constipation
  • GOS – great for boosting bifidobacteria and calming inflammation
  • FOS – naturally found in fruit, veg and honey

These can come from food and there is more information in this blog What are the best vegetables for feeding your gut ?. The key is: start low, go slow.

Everyday foods that help

  • Cooked and cooled potatoes or rice (a great source of resistant starch)
  • Yoghurt or kefir (if tolerated)
  • Bananas, berries, citrus
  • Almonds, pistachios and ground flaxseed

Even adding one prebiotic food per day can gradually improve gut comfort.

A bowl of purple flowers alongside two brown bottles with droppers and small white granules scattered on a wooden surface.

3. Gentle Homeopathics for Common Symptoms

Many clients find homeopathics helpful alongside their treatment plan — especially when symptoms fluctuate.

Here are a few commonly used options:

  • Nux vomica – feeling like you have over-indulged (headache and mild nausea), constipated or never feeling like you are completely empty.
  • Arsenicum album – nausea or vomiting with diarrhoea.
  • Ipecac – persistent nausea that doesn’t improve after vomiting
  • Colocynthis – bowel pain better for bending over or putting pressure on the affected area.
  • Bryonia – constipation with dryness or pain on movement

As always, check in if you’re unsure what’s right for you. You will often need to dose more frequently than you would expect during treatment.

4. Gentle Lifestyle Habits That Support Digestion

None of these require big changes — just small actions done consistently:

  • Eat smaller meals more often
  • Sip water throughout the day
  • Keep meals at similar times to support natural rhythms
  • Try a short walk or gentle stretching after meals
  • Avoid highly processed foods and artificial sweeteners when possible

These little habits can make a noticeable difference in comfort and regularity.

5. Supporting Your Gut During Recovery

Once active treatment finishes, your gut may need time to settle. This is where rebuilding becomes important. Continue with:

  • Mediterranean-style foods
  • Prebiotics (food first, then supplements if needed)
  • Good hydration
  • Gentle movement
  • A slow reintroduction of foods if your digestion is still sensitive

Your gut has an incredible ability to repair — and these steps help guide it back to balance.

A Final Thought

Caring for your gut during cancer treatment isn’t about getting everything right — it’s about choosing small, supportive habits that help you feel a little better each day. With nourishing foods, gentle prebiotics, targeted homeopathics and a Mediterranean-style approach, you can give your digestive system the support it needs to cope with treatment and recover well.

In clinic I usually recommend a comprehensive digestive stool analysis as a good way to get information on how well your gut is functioning and to direct treatment to improve your health. Currently I refer people to Microba for that testing. The testing is simple and can be delivered directly to you at home.

If you need more support book in for an online or in person consultation at Elemental Health .Christine in in clinic on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Posted by Christine Pope on in Allergies, Diarrhea, Health Care

Travelling with a weak gut?

It can be quite tricky travelling when you have a range of food intolerances but even more so when you have a weak gut that is quite reactive. I have put a few tips together for supporting your gut whilst travelling however I would always recommend that you get it in the best shape possible before you go as the ideal way to prepare.

First up how do you just prepare for an extended trip? Make sure you are taking a good quality probiotic for up to two months before you travel to seed your gut with a good range of protective bacteria for your journey and then travel with a heat stable probiotic. If you have quite a few food intolerances ideally do a bit of a heal and seal protocol before travelling which should include high doses of glutamine. Better still a full detox would get your whole system working as well as possible to protect you on the journey.

What are some things you can do to acclimatise your gut when you get to your destination? On an extended journey start consuming the local fermented food – it could be kim chi, sauerkraut or yoghurt but it will help innoculate your bowel with the protective species of your local environment.

Feed the good gut bacteria a range of fruit and vegetables, just remember to stick to cooked or peeled as much as possible as salads which are washed in local water can be very problematic in some regions. Ideally aim for at least six serves of vegetables a day which will optimise your nutrition as well as keeping gut bacteria happy.

For gut protection and repair you can’t go past traditionally made bone broths or stocks. Whether its a miso soup in Japan or just a hearty home made soup, bone broth is a great source of nutrients as well as providing healing ingredients for the gut, such as gelatine. On the off chance that you do pick up a tummy bug the tips in my Stomach aches and pains blog for suitable homeopathic medicines would be helpful reading.

Christine Pope is a nutritionist and homeopath based at Elemental Health at St Ives. Appointments can be made on 8084 0081.

Detoxing – is it for me?
Posted by Christine Pope on in Allergies, Diarrhea, Health Care, Nutrition, stress, Weight Loss

Detoxing – is it for me?

What’s the first thing you think about with detox? Not drinking? Stopping coffee? Mostly you think about the things you will miss for a little while.

Very rarely do you think about the benefits of detoxing and how great you will feel during and after the detox. I am constantly surprised in clinic by the significant improvements people get in their health from detoxing. Often there is little left to deal with after the detox as “surprisingly” when you nourish your body with healthy food and support elimination with the right combination of herbs and nutrients most people find a lot of health problems resolve. I have seen significant improvements with skin complaints, hormonal imbalances and a whole range of gut issues as a result of following a detox for four to six weeks.

The first time I did a detox I had recently gone off gluten so being wheat and dairy free wasn’t really that big a challenge by that point. The first few days I was a little tired and sluggish and I did get a fairly massive headache after doing a full on 90 minute Yoga class (probably because I hadn’t done any Yoga and then jumped straight in!) However for probably 2 years after that I noticed my hay fever was minimal and that my energy levels were a lot better.

So why do we need to detox? Well frankly if you live in a major capital city you are constantly exposed to toxins whether its from petrol fumes, personal care products, your own hormones, highly processed diet or sterile office environments. Other areas that can expose you to toxins can be both legal and “party” drugs as well as repeated infections.  Your liver is working hard to eliminate these toxins but if it can’t deal with them it puts them into fat cells and puts more fat around them to try and protect us. This is why eliminating toxins can help with weight loss as well as improving your overall health.

Tasty Summer Fruits On A Wooden TableThe detox diet is anti-inflammatory and most people can maintain a modified form post detox to continue to maintain good health. Generally the focus is on good quality lean protein, lots of vegetables, a reasonable three serves of fruit a day plus at least a handful of nuts (assuming you are not allergic). Gluten free grains such as rice or quinoa can also be included and fermented foods in the form of good quality organic yoghurt. Plus at least two litres a day of water and green or herbal teas to help flush out toxins.

Some people may find the dietary changes sufficient however usually its more effective (ie quicker) to support the process. The first stage in my program uses a low allergenic Rice Protein which has liver support in the form of Silymarin (Milk Thistle) plus digestive enzymes and a detoxifying green powder. The second stage is individual with several options based on what presenting symptoms dominate – gut symptoms usually require more of an anti-parasitic protocol to remove bad bacteria whereas hormonal symptoms usually benefit from more liver support. There is no one size fits all in detox and its preferable to do a program which is tailored to your needs.

So what do you think? Are you ready to make some changes to enjoy better health?

Christine Pope was previously a Head of Nutrition at Nature Care College, speaks for ATMS and practices at Elemental Health at St Ives. Appointments can be made on 8084 0081.

Posted by Christine Pope on in Diarrhea, Homeopathy, Research

Meta analysis?? Where homeopathy has been shown to work!

 

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Meta analysis – more research jargon I’m sorry but its not really tricky to understand.

Basically a meta analysis can be done when you have a number of studies that look at treatment of the same condition. So if you have a group of clinical trials on childhood diarrhea for example you can then conduct an analysis to see if it was effective across all the groups. This can be useful when the original groups were quite small (a common criticism of natural medicine trials).

There have been seven meta-analysis conducted of homeopathic trials of which six have shown homeopathy to be more useful than placebo. One of the older studies is on childhood diarrhea where there were three studies analysed. Basically what the meta analysis showed was that homeopathy reduced the average duration from 4.1 to 3.3 days as measured by the number of loose stools (1) .  Most people when they have some form of gastro bug are happy for a reduction in the time they spend suffering.

The major homeopathic medicines used in those trials were Podophyllum, Arsenicum album, Sulphur, Chamomilla and Calcarea carbonica – which were used for 78% of cases.

So what other conditions have been shown in meta analysis to be effectively treated by homeopathy? Meta analysis have been conducted for conditions such as allergies, hay fever and upper respiratory tract infections showing homeopathy to be more effective than placebo. Most people who have used homeopathy for those conditions would happily confirm that this is the case.

How do you find out which homeopathic medicine to use to treat acute conditions? I run regular Homeopathic Workshops at my practice in St Ives so come along to a short two hour workshop on May 1 , 2014 from 10-30-12.30  if you are interested. The cost is $99 and you can book in on (02) 8084 0081. Alternatively if you aren’t local  I find the book Homeopathic Self Care a great resource and the author is Reichenberg Ullman – you normally need to order it online from Amazon, but it does cover how to prescribe and up to 70 conditions with self naturopathic suggestions as well.

 

(1)  Jacobs J1, Jonas WB, Jiménez-Pérez M, Crothers D., Homeopathy for childhood diarrhea: combined results and metaanalysis from three randomized, controlled clinical trials, Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2003 Mar;22(3):229-34.