What can your poop teach you?
Become A One-Wipe Wizard!
One thing we can do for our loved ones, community, planet, and social change is to understand how we can be health and wellness warriors from our own personal emotional and physical well-being. So let’s start with what everyone on the planet does. Poops!
Your poops are an excellent indicator of your total health. Your gut and brain are in constant communication via the amazing Vagus Nerve, which I LOVE to talk about. If you feel depressed, experiencing mood swings, and all digestive issues, your communication between the brain and gut is not getting along. This disruption is the beginning of many symptoms and diseases.
I invite you to upgrade the communication between your gut and brain, so you can have stellar poops!
Tips For Better Movements
Pause until you feel hunger in your stomach before you eat. If you feel like your mind is hungry, but your stomach isn’t, this is a disconnect in the gut/brain communication. You can practice this EVERY meal, and every day, it isn’t a one-and-done thing. Once you feel the hunger in your stomach, your stress and digestive hormones, such as insulin, leptin, and cortisol, work better together.
Chew your food better: The slower we eat and the better we chew our food has a better chance to get broken down in the stomach and absorbed in the small intestine.
Drink liquids separate from meals: Sip a bit while eating, but try not to drink large amounts of liquids while eating meals. This can help the stomach acid break down those foods.
Hydrate first in the morning: Caffeine is a diuretic, and your poo contains mostly water. Too much caffeine can throw off your poops.
Lay on your left side after heavy meals to assist your stomach in digesting your meal better.
After you eat, it is time to remove the waste!
Perfecting The Pooping Process:
Don’t continuously hold it: It will dry out and weaken your muscles in your rectum.
Squat: This position helps you completely evacuate the colon. Check out the squatty potty or when out in nature, try it!
Lean over and rise up on your toes: My personal favorite! I had digestive issues as a child, and leaning over helped me feel like I could better navigate my poos!
Relax & Breathe: If pooping has been a life long stress for you, then just when you think about pooping, your nervous system is under attack. We need to reframe the toilet as your friend, not your foe. Try some deep inhale through your nose, find an app that you like, do gentle pelvic floor exercise, and make your toilet time your Zen time.
How often should you poop? The Journal of American Medicine says it is normal to have bowel movements at intervals ranging from 3 times a day to once every three days. That is a pretty general statement. Working with heaps of clients, reading books, and being curious, I see people have a healthier and vibrant life pooping every day. There may be a day here and there that causes you to skip, especially women, when they are ovulating. I highly suggest reviewing your relationship with your poop, and you may see some symptoms you have had your whole life lessen.
What is a good poop?
#1: Smooth, brown, formed, sinks, 6-8 inches long and solid is the GOLD standard!
#2: Formed, soft nuggets that float: Add more fiber from veggies and magnesium. (my favorite brand is Calm)
#3: Thin pencils: STRESS. Try to reduce inflammatory foods such as sugar, processed wheat, processed dairy, sugar substitutes, and processed deli meats.
#4: Hard rocks: Fiber & hydration. I recommend adding veggies, especially veggie soups, as your primary fiber source versus over-the-counter supplements. Some of those can cause more irritation.
#5: Hard logs that tear: Constipation, water, minerals, and absorption issues. Try adding in veggie broths and baked pears or apples, topped with cinnamon and organic, local, raw honey.
#6: Liquid: Gut health is under attack. Try adding in my Pumpkin Smoothie recipe, get it FREE here. Also, please see a qualified health care practitioner.
#7: Hemorrhoids: Too much straining can cause these ruptures. Soak in an Epsom salt bath and see your health care practitioner.
If you have poops that are green, yellow, or gray, it could be some liver, gallbladder, or pancreas issues. Please consult an Integrative Doctor who feels confident at looking at your entire body’s systems to heal.
Post Poo:
The goal is you can wipe in one stroke. If you have to use a lot of TP, there can be extra stress in your gut and life. Try some of the above.
Check out your poo first, then flush with the TOILET SEAT CLOSED!! I know some of us may flush in mid-poo. I get it, but the bacteria can fly up into your open areas:)
I love Poopouri, you spray before the activity, and it totally works.
And then there is the good old match trick — strike a match and let the sulfur dioxide mask your stench.
If you are rushing out the door in the morning, you may be missing your sweet spot. Your poop is essential for well-being. I repeat!
What To Do Next
As a practicing nutritionist trying to help clients understand what to eat, I know how confusing it can be. With all the conflicting advice and dietary recommendations out there, it's hard to know what to do. The truth is, there is no 'ONE' perfect diet for everyone or all phases of life. The only one who can truly decide what is best for you is YOU!
That's why I created the Feel Your Meal Program for the Embodied + Well Membership. This three-part program will help reduce your food-focused stress, decipher which foods to eat based on your body's cues, and free you from the vicious cycle of diet and restriction.
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