Poop Talks...You Should Really Listen

The human body is fascinating. There are so many intricate things happening inside us every second of every day. One basic rule we learn as kids is you eat, then some hours later, you poop out what your body doesn't want or need. The conversation about bowel movements becomes awkward at some point and no teen or adult wants to face the poop facts! "Your bowel movements are the only real marker you have about what your G.I. health is like," says gastroenterologist Anish Sheth, MD, author of What's Your Poo Telling You? (7 Things Your Poops Says About You) 

Now when Jen told me to take a peek in the toilet to see what was going on in there, I thought...EEW. But after listening to her, and doing some more research; what your body gets rid of is a very good indicator of what is happening inside of your G.I. tract. Here are a couple of the things you need to look for. 

Color

The color of your emission gives you hints into your health. You want a nice brown BM. Any other color could possibly indicate troubles in GI land. 

There are a few possible problems that could be happening if your poop is consistently one of these other colors. The gallbladder disease one is more yellowish. This picture doesn't do the color justice. Yellow shows that there is too much fat in your diet, and that you aren't processing it well. Hence the gallbladder issues. Since I do not have a gallbladder anymore, it would be bad for me to have yellow! Now, of course your poop color can be altered by the food you are eating, so don't get all nervous if you have one green BM; it doesn't mean you have Crohn's Disease! Just keep an eye on the color because there are many things it indicates. Mama Natural has a pretty informative video about this topic! Check it out! 

Texture

The video above touches on the textures and what those could mean. You want your BM to be in the middle range. That's the sweet, healthy spot. Here is the Bristol Chart for reference. Aim for those beautiful type 4s! 

Ok, so this chart is the most looked to chart to gauge your BMs, BUT Jen sent me a really awesome one that I would rather check out! It's way more fun, and less technical! 

Smell

Ok, this one is gross. Obviously no poop really smells great, but there is a difference between normal poo smell, and something being wrong. Consistent foul smelling BMs could indicate a variety of GI problems. CLICK HERE to read a great article that outlines in more detail what those smells could be stemming from!  

When Jen was telling me to check my poop for color, texture, and smell, I wasn't sure what I was really looking for. One of the things she told me to specifically look for was if my poop was floating or not. Floating poops aren't good. They indicate too much fat as well. For many reasons, including the fact that I don't have a gallbladder, I need to be sure I don't have too much bad fat in my diet. I need those good fats that come from things like avocados, but that bad fat needs to stay out of my system! 

My challenge to everyone is to keep a better eye on your toilet. What is going on internally speaks to you through your poop. When it talks, take the time to inspect, reflect, and listen! 

For good measure.....be sure you're also taking a poop the right way! No one ever talks about this either! Take notes!

As the last one says, elevate your heels! Check out Mama Natural's companion video on why this is so important!

Hopefully you've learned something about what your poo is trying to tell you! I hope what it's trying to tell you is that it is healthy and so is your GI health! Happy poopin'!

I mentioned avocados, and I will be talking more about those next week!