What Our Poop Reveals About Digestive & Gut Health

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Is Your Poop Normal- What Poop Says About Overall Health
Wellness Mama » Blog » Health » What Our Poop Reveals About Digestive & Gut Health

All living things eat, so Everyone Poops. – Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi

Who hasn’t read that literary masterpiece to their kids at some point along the way? As parents, we spend the first 3-5 years of our children’s lives handling poop. Every. Single. Day. Poop.

Between diaper changes and snack time, it’s easy to forget about our own poop. And if your house is anything like mine, most bathroom breaks usually involve an unexpected toddler wandering in for the party. But if we actually stop and take a look in the toilet bowl … our poop can be a very real indication of our overall health.

Healthy Poop: Does It Matter?

We all poop. It’s one of the few reminders we get about our health on a (hopefully) daily basis and yet, we don’t pay much attention to it. Not only that, but we also don’t like to talk about it. In our culture, sometimes it’s easier to talk to people about sex than poop.

But the truth is: if you’re not pooping right … something could be terribly wrong inside your body.

Is Your Poop Normal- What Your bowel movements can tell you about your health

For example, research in 2010 suggested that your brain and the good bacteria in your gut communicate directly, influencing your mood, your immune system, and your inflammation.

A 2015 study by researchers in Belgium concluded that “stool consistency is strongly associated” with the healthy of the gut microbiome (meaning the good and bad bacteria living in the intestines).

Next, there’s good short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in your colon, which have anti-inflammatory effects and increase insulin sensitivity.

Poop Problems = Poor Digestion

Think of your poop like the annoying chirping sound your smoke detector makes when the battery is low. It’s relentlessly letting you know there’s a problem, and if you don’t do something about it, your house could burn down.

Most of us spend the time and energy to consume healthy, non-GMO, organic food. But are we digesting it well? Are we breaking down and absorbing those nutrients well? The quality of your poop is a direct indication of how well you’re digesting your food.

If you’re poop isn’t healthy, your digestive tract is either moving too slow or too fast, which can lead to an increased risk of developing chronic health conditions like neurological disease, autoimmune disease, and chronic inflammatory conditions. The rate your bowel movements move through the digestive tract also determines how many nutrients and water you absorb from your food.

However if you’re pooping well, it could be an indication your body is relatively healthy and a good sign you’re winning when it comes to health.

Digestive Health Quiz: How Does Your Poop Stack Up?

There’s four critical elements to a perfect poop. If you’ve ever had one, you know how amazing they are. But if you’re not sure, take this quiz and see where you stack up.

1. How Often Do You Poop?

The research suggests you should poop every day. In fact, the range of “normal” is typically 1-3 times a day. Poop is waste and you need to get rid of it every single day to make sure that you’re properly removing toxins and other waste material that’s gotta go.

The bottom line: If you find yourself pooping only a couple pf times a week, or on the other hand, going 5+ times a day, you could be at risk of health problems.

2. Are You Pushing Too Hard?

How easy is it for you to poop? It’s normal in our culture to take our cell phone to the bathroom or read a magazine for a half hour, battling to win the poop fight. But the reality is that a “normal” poop shouldn’t take but a few minutes. This isn’t childbirth … it should be easy! Pushing typically leads to hemorrhoids which are all too common today but not normal.

The bottom line: Normal poops strike a balance between not having to push or strain, but also not having so much urgency you barely can hold it. If you’re spending 10+ minutes on the toilet or running to make it just in time, you’re not having normal bowel movements.

3. Do Your Stools Look Like a Snake?

Did you know there are different classifications or types of poop? Yep, we’re going there.

The most important part of a “normal” poop is the quality, so part of this quiz requires you to look down and see what’s really going on. Thankfully, the folks at the University of Bristol published a study in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, gifting us with the Bristol Stool Chart.

Here it is in all its glory:

Bristol Stool Chart

Start sizing up your recent bowel movements with the knowledge that anything between a 1-3 is considered constipated, while 6s and 7s are considered diarrhea.

The bottom line: A “normal” poop is like #4 on the Bristol Stool Chart: “like a sausage or a snake, smooth and soft.” If your poops aren’t looking like this, they aren’t normal and there’s work to be done.

4. Are You Getting It All Out?

For some people this is a non-issue, but part of a “normal” poop is having what’s so eloquently referred to as a “full evacuation.” Are you getting all your poop out in one swift motion? Do you have to keep coming back to finish the job? Or do you feel like there’s always something left behind lingering and making you feel uncomfortable?

The bottom line: A “normal” poop is a complete poop. If you never quite feel the relief I’m talking about … you’re not having ideal bowel movements.

How to Improve Your Poop

If your poop isn’t normal based on the quiz above, we know your digestive health isn’t what it should be. So here’s a few tips to improve your digestive health and get closer to perfect poops.

1. Eat Real Food

The biggest mistake we see is people that claim to eat healthy, but in reality their diet is full of sugar and low on veggies. Stick to eating real food. It’s one of the most important changes anyone with digestive problems can make.

If you’re someone who’s struggling with constipation or diarrhea, a diet like the Specific Carbohydrate Diet can help heal your gut and get control of your symptoms. The most important thing you can do is listen to what your poop is telling you and continue to make changes to improve the food you’re eating.

2. Consume Probiotics

Our gut has a TON of bacteria, and a healthy gut flora is critical for healthy poop. Consume good “bugs” every single day. Start with fermented foods like sauerkraut, kombucha or water kefir and see how well you tolerate them. A high quality probiotic is one supplement that can also boost the immune system in the gut and improve digestive health.

3. Eat More Fat

Fat has a direct impact on peristalsis, the waves our bodies make to get rid of poop, and can be extremely helpful for people who are constipated. Increase your healthy fats from sources like especially from quality meats, coconut oil, sardines, and foods like olive oil, avocados, and grass-fed butter. Or get healthy fats into your coffee or tea.

4. Drink Enough Water

Drink enough water! This is the most simple and most often missed step to good elimination. Actual amount will vary by person but drink enough water that your urine is lightly colored and doesn’t have a strong smell. Also take into account how much tea or coffee you drink in a day as this could be working against your water count.

5. Use a Squatty Potty

A Squatty Potty is a device you put under your feet to elevate them and change your overall posture when you poop. Simply put, it’s more like squatting (which is how our body was designed to eliminate before modern toilets came along). This post explains the benefits more in-depth, but if you or someone in the family regularly has bathroom issues, I highly suggest putting one in every bathroom. Lower-end models aren’t terribly expensive and the increased comfort level when pooping = priceless.

6. Take a Digestive Tincture

If you (or one of the kids, more likely) is closer to the #1 end of the Bristol Stool Chart (constipated), try making this herbal digestive tincture made with ginger root, fennel, and peppermint. It soothes constipation-related tummy troubles and often gets things moving (very gently).

7. Get Better Sleep

I know, for moms this one seems almost laughable. Still, it’s interesting to know several studies show there’s a possible connection between poor sleep and poop problems, specifically constipation. Even if you’re in the stage of mom life where sleep is scarce, optimize your sleep environment and stay off electronics a few hours before bedtime.

8. Test Your Poop

Yes, I did this. I took a sample of my own poop and mailed it to a lab. It wasn’t the most glorious life moment, but the insight I got into what was really going on in my gut was priceless. If you’re tired of guessing what is going on with your gut or want to know exactly the best steps to enrich your gut microbiome, I can’t recommend this step enough. Thanks to companies like Viome you can do this in the privacy of your home without a doctor (although a doctor certainly might be needed for serious gut issues). See my personalized gut health report and how to set up this test for yourself here.

Are you willing to take a peek at your poop? Is it healthy or need some work? TMI? Share below!

Sources
  1. Vandeputte D, Falony G, Vieira-Silva S, et al. Stool consistency is strongly associated with gut microbiota richness and composition, enterotypes and bacterial growth rates
    Gut Published Online First: 11 June 2015.
  2. Forsythe P, Bienenstock J. Immunomodulation by commensal and probiotic bacteria. Immunol Invest. 2010;39(4-5):429-48.
  3. Galdeano CM, de Moreno de LeBlanc A, Vinderola G, Bonet MEB, Perdigón G. Proposed Model: Mechanisms of Immunomodulation Induced by Probiotic Bacteria . Clinical and Vaccine Immunology. 2007;14(5):485-492. doi:10.1128/CVI.00406-06.
  4. Wong JM, De Souza R, Kendall CW, Emam A, Jenkins DJ. Colonic health: fermentation and short chain fatty acids. J Clin Gastroenterol. 2006;40(3):235-43.
  5. Lewis SJ, Heaton KW. Stool form scale as a useful guide to intestinal transit time. Scand J Gastroenterol. 1997;32(9):920-4.

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Katie Wells Avatar

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

100 responses to “What Our Poop Reveals About Digestive & Gut Health”

  1. Chad Avatar

    I had hiatal hernia surgery 3 months ago and have not had a regular bm since. It is always very liquid. Srveral times a week i cannot control it from escaping as i urinate while standing up. I am 47 years old and “poop” my pants 1-2 times a week.

  2. Dana Dillon Avatar
    Dana Dillon

    I have real poop problems. I keep having LARGE amounts of diarrhea and then nothing for a couple days. Then repeat. . .

  3. Ellie Jones Avatar
    Ellie Jones

    Hello, I don’t really like to talk about this particular topic but after reading this article I am quite concerned because I only usually poop about 4 times a week maximum and it is always a type 4. Also it can be quite difficult to go to the toilet as I find myself straining and it never feels like a ‘complete poop’. Any suggestions? Thanks

  4. Rebecca Avatar
    Rebecca

    What if I’m like #4 some of the time but it’s very small and lots of it. And the rest of the time is watery or mucousy? I do this 3-5 times every morning, with or without beer. ( I feel I need to add that I understand that to much beer makes nasty poop) but even after 2 weeks of no beer,(I like beer) I still have runny stool.. I consider my diet to be………mediocre healthy.. irritable bowel?? Perhaps? So my question mainly is how long and wide should snake like #4 be? 1 inch or less and lots of it, okay?? Also……..this is weird to talk about….don’t tell my friends I’m asking about this okay? Lol

  5. marilyn Avatar

    hi,i have a question.why does my body temperature gets high before im going to make a poo?i feel like my body is very hot eventhough ive done it successfully?pls help me..thank u

  6. Mason Avatar

    Ok mine is like the snake but it is a lot of small snakes and I have to push hard to get each one out. What should I do?

    1. Janet Avatar

      Mason, we have the same problem. Lately my poop looks like snakes and on my 2nd to 3rd elimination in a day it already looks like a small snake. I worried so much because my poop doesn’t look like that before. I went to the doctor and he suggested me to check inside through colonoscopy.

  7. Tracy Valdez Avatar
    Tracy Valdez

    Thank you so much for the info, my problem is that I have snake like poo but mine are extremely huge! I would say there almost a foot long and a good 2 inches around! I have to break them up just to flush! And I’m not imagining or making the fish bigger than it is! I’m dead serious! Is this normal?

  8. kimberly Avatar
    kimberly

    I just had a bowel movement i don’t eat really healthy I’m type 3

  9. lakshmikanth Avatar
    lakshmikanth

    I have a problem of going to toilet 4 to 5 Times a day with a slight stomach pain …this is so irritating and i don’t have enough time to consult a doctor

  10. Martin Avatar

    I though I would interject here. The information above is largely incorrect and goes against what any expects in the field have aknowledged. If you do an internet search for questions regarding poop ie how often should you go, what should the consistency be ect you will that there is a huge variety of what is considered healthy for poop and that in no respect do you have to go every day in order to be healthy. The statement that toxins will accumulate in your body if you don’t have a healthy bowel movement every day is completely false and has generated an enormous amount of anxiety about toilet habits, as can be seen by the number of neurotic questions above. Please educate yourself properly by reading a website written by actual gastroenterologists (one of the association websites would be good such as American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) site) and you will see that these concerns are mostly unjustified. Hope this helps!

  11. Yami Avatar

    Hey my question is this my baby girl is 3 and for the last 3 days she has been pooping like 5 times or maybe more is this a problem I should worry about?

  12. Amanda D Avatar

    Hi!
    I found this post extremely helpful but I am having trouble identifying what my issue is. For the past month or so, I have been incredibly bloated and ranging from constipation to soft stool. I only had diarrhea from taking laxatives (because I hadn’t gone in five days) and now I go to the bathroom and it’s incredibly soft and in pieces. It’s a bit painful to go and I just feel extremely uncomfortable. My boyfriend is a GI and he thinks I have IBS but I am considering getting a colonic or a colonoscopy because I’m worried. Any suggestions or thoughts?

    Thank you!!

  13. Radha Avatar

    I poop once a day .I wake up feeling the pressure from poop but it takes me 40 min to feel I m done,sometimes even after that much time I m not done.My poop feels like the 6th one.I have taking sompraz 40 in the morning,I had some acidity or gastric problem,.

  14. kimberly Avatar

    I haven’t been going regular igo big like ng ones the stop for like two week how can I get my bowel movement to stay regular

  15. dave Avatar

    for the last 4 months I have had 5 to 8 BMs per day and they are all either a 6 or 7 in the chart.
    I take Metamucil regularly, and have for years. before the last 4 months, I was consistently a 2 or 3. my diet has not changed nor has any life habits. I am starting to think I have some major lifr threatening disease.
    any one else have this issue?

  16. ashlyn Avatar

    HI I am type 4 but sometimes 5 it didn’t used to be that way but I never feel a relief and sometimes my stomach hurts after, and a lot of gas what does that mean or what should I do HELP!!!

  17. vin Avatar

    just started a few days ago, my bowel movement is looser than normal but not diarrhea and doesn’t come out all one piece like it normally does.
    I started back working out again after a few months off, eat healthy most of the time.
    Able to pass gas no problem.
    Just worried that it might be something more serious.

  18. Cody Little Avatar
    Cody Little

    I can’t poop every day I strain to poop most of the time and after my bowel movement it arms like I still have to go and the pain is sometimes unbearable and it’s all hard to explain but I always strain and it’s never log shaped..

  19. teresa Avatar

    The eBooks where excellent read…I woke up this morning thinking its all about the gut so i found my self here i have a chronic disease and it has plagued me for a few years now..the only person that can help me is me and how i view my life style,food intake exercise and stress which was a big factor in my life.
    I have been working hard in changing all this.I took a hard look at my stress levels and started to decode myself of all the clutter and toxic people and my environment I have completed all that..happiness is a big part in it all and had lost all feelings to life, very numb in deed. Thanks to my grandchildren and my dog I’m recovering,they showed me how to laugh again.I’m now looking at my diet and have noticed some big changes in me and my attitude at how I was eating food that made me sick.So thanks again for the e-books they keep me in check.I still have some way to go yet but every day their is improvement and I’m feeling a little better . LOL who would have thought it came down to poo.

  20. Kati Avatar

    I have been dealing with irregulars bowel issues for several months now. I’ll go several days with no movement, then for two to three days I’m making hourly trips to three restroom. After which my lower back aches. My stools would be right on track with#6 , all the time. And large amounts. For the most part, my diet consists of salads and fruit. Protein would be either chicken or salmon. I’ve tried to introduce more fiber, but this does not seem to change the outcome. Does this sound similar to anything I should be concerned with?

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