Quote of the Month
“The only thing worse than it raining after you wash your car… Is having to poop as soon as you get out of the shower”
What exactly is poop?
If you really want to know, it’s:
- foods we didn’t digest
- water
- bacteria (the good and the bad – hopefully dead!)
- fat (yeah!)
- metabolic waste (cells do what they gotta do)
- toxins (neutralized by the liver)
We need to ‘go’ regularly; otherwise, where is the metabolic waste and toxins going to go? You guessed it, reabsorbed somewhere! If toxins are not removed, we may be susceptible to other symptoms; such as, fatigue, food allergies, Crohn’s, Irritable Bowel and other inflammatory issues.
Now the next question is what does it mean to go ‘regularly’? We really should be going at least once a day. Twice a day is even better. If you’re going every other day or less, then there’s a pretty good chance you have a problem.
Consistency is also important (some of you are probably cringing at the thought). It should be:
- smooth like a banana
- about 1 foot in length
- may or may not float depending on what you have eaten
- shouldn’t ‘stink up the place’
Check out this bristol stool chart to see where you are at…
Do any of you remember Elvis Presley? He had something called Fecel Impaction. His stomach area was distending 3-6 inches further than normal and his colon was 2x the width and length of a normal colon. Apparently he had over 50lbs of you know what backed up in his system. He could’ve been suffering from bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, cramps and/or a need for constant laxatives.
There’s also something called ‘transit time’. That’s the length of time it takes something to travel from your mouth and out through the other end…it should be somewhere between 17-24 hours. If it’s too fast or too slow, you’re body’s not processing/absorbing properly.
Here’s how you do the Transit test:
- Eat something that you can easily identify when it ‘reappears’ at the other end. Beets bleed. Corn everyone can usually see, but most of us have an unknown sensitivity to them, so they wouldn’t be a good choice either. – sunflower seeds work well or some nuts.
- It’s important that you don’t really chew them because you need to ‘see’ it later. If you decide to try some nuts, then you might want to chew them a little – no need to choke!
- Remember to make note of when you ate it and again when it came out. While you’re at it, check for any other food that you see on its way out that your body may not be assimilating.
If you’d like your poop to bet better, try some of these things:
- Hydrate yourself – we should be getting 8 cups of real water daily
- Probiotics – sorry I don’t trust the regular grocery store brands
- Exercise – it helps to get things moving
- Fiber – ground or soaked flax/chia seeds, hemp, tigernuts, legumes, veggies are all good options
- Simulate Squatting – get a small stool and place it under your toilet. When you gotta ‘go’, put your feet on the stool to mimic a squatting position.
Did You Know?
There’s an app for that…not a joke…you can track your bowels with something called “bowel mover”
PS If there’s a topic you’d like us to talk about, just let us know!