Your Poop is a Window to your Health

Poop. That’s what I’m talking about this week on the blog. This isn’t something that comes up in everyday conversation, but nonetheless it is important to talk about. Poo happens, and when you poo better, you feel better. This is a subject we want to hide- literally, behind the bathroom door- but this post may just help you to appreciate what perfect pooping does for your health.

Sometimes poo comes out too fast, nutrients aren’t absorbed and 'you lose some water - this is called diarrhea.

Sometimes poo gets too hard, stays in the colon too long and becomes difficult to pass, this is called constipation.

SO, what is your poo saying about you??

A healthy poo should look a little like this,

💩Ideal bowel frequency is 2- 3 bowel movements per day. Ideally, you should poop as frequently as you eat, so if you’re eating 3 meals per day, that translates to 3 poops per day! At minimum you should poop once per day

💩”Foot-long floaters” that float midway through the bowl

💩Optimum food transit time is 18-24 hours

💩Brown in colour

💩Easy to pass without straining

💩GOOD POOPING ATTITUDE! You have a natural urge to poop and actually look forward to it rather than dreading a potentially painful experience

💩The end of your poop tapers to a tail, this usually means your external sphincter has opened and closed in a relaxed and less forced manner

💩Ideally there should be a short anus-to-water distance in a long snake-like poop, with little to no splash

That’s a lot isn’t it! Have you ever taken the time to see what your poop looks like?

You might be thinking- ok, my poops need some help- but where do I start!?

Here are a few things that you can focus on!

1. CHEW CHEW CHEW CHEW CHEW CHEW. The lost art of chewing. We live is such a fast paced society, our meals are no different, and it shows in our poops. Chewing more thoroughly not only helps digestion because it slows down your eating, but it also helps to release more saliva which is rich in digestive enzymes. Chewing more thoroughly helps reduce large amounts of poorly digested food reaching the colon.

2. EAT POO FRIENDLY FOODS. Your lower intestine will THANK-YOU if you feed it foods like;

   • Fibre friendly foods! A combination of soluble and insoluble fibre is ideal and is prebiotic in nature (feeds that good gut microbiome)!

   • Plant-based foods over animal based foods.

   • Food chewed well or blended for better digestion

   • MINIMAL processed foods where the fibre and other nutrients have been removed and artificially put back in

   • LOTS OF colour! A rainbow assortment -red, green, yellow, purple- from both fruits and veggies

   • Fermented foods with probiotic benefits!

3. KEEP MEALTIME PEACEFUL! Stress paralyzes digestion. Eating while we are on the go, in a rush or just plain stressed is of detriment to our digestive health. Energy is shifted AWAY from digestion, and towards skeletal muscles involved in the fight or flight response. If you think about it, it makes COMPLETE SENSE, back when stress was something that we could literally RUN FROM (not the case anymore, usually) the LAST THING your body is thinking about is digesting your lunch. The only focus at this point is getting away from whatever is chasing us! The result of all of this is improper digestion with potentially undigested food ending up in the colon, feeding bad bacteria and impacting our poops!

If you need some help getting perfect poops that are a reflection of your health, let’s chat! Book a FREE 30-minute discovery call with me below!