The Zen of Poop

I [heart] a good poop. Healthy elimination can only come from healthy digestion and if you have a healthy digestion, chances are, you are healthy.

In working with clients I’ve learned that the value of healthy poop is underrated. Many people are not even sure about their pooping patterns! They don’t pay attention or just don’t want to know. I’m sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, but just like the birds and the bees, we need to talk about this.

First of all, what constitutes healthy pooping?
Regularity is a great indicative. The whole journey from mouth to rear end should take any given food between 16 and 24 hours. If it is taking you longer, it means your digestion is sluggish. Not good.

How can you tell? Easy: Do the beets or corn test. Eat some beets — will tint everything red — or corn — doesn’t break down too well in the human digestive track. Make note of how long it takes for the red-dyed or corn—specked stuff to come out. Yes, that involves looking.

Are you really done?
Healthy poop has a soft but firm consistency and comes out without strain, usually in one piece. When leaving the toilet, you shouldn’t have that uncomfortable sensation that you’re not quite done.

Healthy poop is neither too heavy that it falls to the bottom of the toilet like a rock nor too light that it floats without being affected by gravity. The color depends a lot on what you eat, but in general, it shouldn’t be too light that reminds you of carrots or too dark that you would think it’s charcoal. And, surprisingly, healthy poop has a characteristic smell, yes, but it shouldn’t stink so bad that you need to light matches to avoid passing out.

Are you irritated?
Frequent diarrhea, constipation or episodes of these two mixed aren’t normal or healthy. Neither are painful bowel movements.

Some people know that a certain food (coffee, eggs, bran cereal, beans) triggers bowel movements immediately. This is not a healthy reaction, but rather comparable to a mild form of IBS.

So, how can you get healthy poop?
I wish I could give you a magic formula, but it’s not that easy. Just like headaches, unhealthy bowel movements depend on a variety of factors and they’re usually a symptom of something else not working properly in the body. I have some thoughts to get you started:

The fiber myth
Contrary to popular belief, fiber is not the panacea. In fact, sometimes it does more harm than good. I do find a huge difference between the fiber in, say, kale and other dark leafy greens and the fiber in grains and legumes. The latter can be terribly irritating to the long intestine, creating gas and inflammation. Proper preparation helps a great deal, but some people should consider removing these from their diets completely, at least until their digestion is strong enough to handle them.

In truth, the “fiber cure” — adding abnormal amounts of fiber in the form of bran or psyllium husk — doesn’t address the real problem — it’s only a temporary fix, and one that can make things worst in the long term.

Pay attention to the little guys
There are more bacteria along the digestive track than cells in your entire body. Healthy bacteria is absolutely essential to good digestion and therefore, good elimination — think of them as transformation agents. Sugar and excess carbohydrates, antibiotics, rancid fats and others mess up healthy bacteria. Good quality fats — including saturated fats with their strong antibacterial properties — are important to keep the good guys strong and the bad guys under check. Most people benefit from taking a good probiotic.

Is it your magnesium levels?
Another negative consequence of eating too much starch and sugar is magnesium (and zinc and other minerals, and  B vitamins) depletion. Magnesium is necessary for healthy function of the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for the involuntary movements in your body, including bowel movements. Supplementing with magnesium usually works out great for people that suffer from constipation, but it won’t work forever. At some point, you have to address the high-carb thing.

Where does the issue start?
Most people don’t think about the fact that digestion starts in the mouth and so does elimination.

Eating slowly and with awareness is important for healthy elimination. In order to digest food properly, you need to have a healthy mindset when you sit down to eat — not stressed — and chew your food properly.

Another overlooked place is your stomach. Many people don’t produce enough hydrochloric acid (HCI) which is big time responsible for the digestion of protein. People who have eaten little animal protein and/or a low-fat diet for extended periods of time are prone to this problem. The stomach gets “lazy” and stops producing the HCI you need. A HCI supplement might help.

Yet, one more place to look into is your liver and gallblader, which tag-teams to assimilate fats. Here again, things can get stuck if not working properly. A good liver and gallbladder cleanse or/and a biliary support formula could make all the difference — along with changes in your diet, of course. Otherwise the issues will not resolve permanently.

Do you see that good digestion and elimination is like a domino effect? All the pieces need to line up perfectly in order to trickle down as they should.

Could it be your thyroid?
In working with clients, I’ve learned that most times there’s some kind of hormonal issue underlying other more apparent symptoms —  and unhealthy pooping is not the exception.

Chronic constipation is a classic symptom of low thyroid function. Without enough thyroid hormone there can’t be healthy digestion because gastrin — the hormone that stimulates the secretion of HCI — is regulated by the thyroid. Also, the liver contains thyroid hormone receptors that are related to the secretion of bile, which is necessary to get fats moving properly. Here we go with the domino again….

In conclusion
Healthy pooping is the result of an incredible orchestration of functions and biochemical reactions  in the body that are all interdependent. As I said earlier, fixing the bad poop issue is not as easy as 1, 2 and 3, but it’s definitely not impossible. The really great thing is that in improving this, you are likely to be addressing other health issues. I hope these pointers help give you a good place to start.

Wanna talk poopy? Be my guest below….

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

Tagged as: bad digestion, constipation, diarrhea, elimination, healthy poop, IBS