This is what your poop says about your health: complete guide

Let me ask me a question: Do you have a healthy intestine? If your answer is: “Well, I’m not sure?” – You are not the only one. It is difficult to know whether what is normal for us is normal for everyone, or whether there is actually a problem that needs attention.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that there is something that can give you a lot of information about your intestinal health (and overall well -being). And yes, it’s your poop!

It can come as a surprise, but your next trip to the bathroom can tell you a lot about how healthy your intestine actually is. Everything, of the shape, the consistency and frequency of your bowel movements, can offer useful tips on what is going on in your gastrointestinal tract and then.

As a functional medicine practitioner, I had to learn early that if I became a good practitioner, I had to be super comfortable to talk about #2S. So today, let’s not shy away from this subject. After all, everyone poops!

What your poop says about your health

There are different types of indications about your digestive health (and overall health) that you can collect only by paying attention to your intestinal habits. Here are some of the most important areas to focus on.

Frequency

Let’s talk about frequency first. How often you “go” depends on your diet (including not just what you eat, but how often and how much). Ideally, you should poop 2 or 3 times a day for an optimal elimination of hormones, toxins and chemicals that inevitably find their way to your food and water.

Consistency & the Bristol Stool card

When it comes to consistency, a healthy stool must be soft and long enough to form a rolled up “snake” -like shape in the toilet. Don’t worry if you are not exactly sure where yours falls. The Bristol disclosure scale has been developed for exactly this goal! It breaks your bowel movements down into seven species and makes Pool -health easier for everyone to understand.

• Type 1: Small hard nodules or rabbit -like pellets indicate a serious constipation and should never happen.
• Type 2: A super hard, lumpy log shape is another sign of constipation, but a more mild case.
• Type 3: A sausage -shaped log with just a few cracks that can be pushed out quickly and easily is considered a normal poop.
• Type 4: This is where the snake shape enters and the gold standard is for a healthy poop.
• Type 5: You start to follow in diarrhea terrorium if you easily pass separate, small, soft blobs of poop.
• Type 6: A type of diarrhea is when your poop looks super soft and mushy, but still intact, usually with ropless edges, almost as a pudding or yogurt in consistency.
• Type 7: This is a complete diarrhea if you do not have fixed pieces and it will be watery and extremely fast. Ever heard of the term “explosive diarrhea”? Yes, that refers to this type.

Colour

In the ideal case, you must be a standard brown color (light to dark brown is considered normal), which is due to a connection called bilirubin, formed during the breakdown of red blood cells in the body. Here are some other colors and what they probably mean:

• Black: Black Kak can happen if you use certain supplements or medicines, including iron supplements or bismut (pepto bismol), so don’t be alert if you start taking something new. But it is still important to contact your doctor, because Black Stool can be a sign of bleeding from the upper intestinal tract.
• Vegetable: Most of the time green poop occurs when you ate something that was in that color family.
• White/cream: This can mean a few different things, including the presence of too much fat in your diet, malabsorption of nutrients, or in more serious cases A bile duct blockade Or another problem with your gallbladder, pancreas or liver. (1)
• Red: If you ever experience bright red blood in your stool, you must immediately talk to your doctor, because this can be a sign of hemorrhoids or intestinal bleeding. It is also possible to have red stools if you have just eaten many beets, cherries or other red foods.

Other indications

If you have a healthy intestine, you should be able to go to the bathroom within a few minutes. It should not be a big event! Everything that has been longer than that, or a tension or long, is probably a sign of underlying intestinal disorders. If your poop is very wrong, this can also indicate problems with the absorption of nutrients, bacterial balance or other problems in the digestive tract.

In general you can also use your intuition around your body here. How does it feel when you go to the bathroom? In many cases you can see that something has been switched off, even if you don’t know exactly what it is.

Of course, the attention or other symptoms in combination with observing what is going on with your poop itself will also help, also help to identify underlying problems.

How you can have healthier bowel movements

If, after reading the information above, you decide that your digestion can use a small TLC, here are some tips:

1. Identify any hidden food sensitivities

If there is one thing that I am sure, it is that there is no diet suitable for everyone. And although there is some food that can be annoying for the majority of people, many other foods on person to person must be approached.

The good news is that an elimination diet can help you identify underlying food sensitivity that can help you have healthier bowel movements. This is what you need to know about elimination songs before you try one. I am also about customized elimination diet protocols in my book, The inflammatory spectrum.

2. Eat more fiber

More specifically, give priority to insoluble fibers, which does not dissolve in water. This type of fiber is especially important for a healthy excretion because it encourages the movement of material through your digestive system. It also sticks to a softer consistency, making it easier to pass, which helps with constipation.

Here is something that you could surprise: insoluble fiber is important, even if you struggle with diarrhea or loose stools, because the bulk and weight add to your droppings so that it is not so watery. Some of my favorite clean sources from fiber are artichokes, avocados, almonds and chia seeds.

3. Get an extensive stool test

If you really want to know what’s going on with your #2S, you can ask your doctor about an extensive stool test or intestinal microbioma tests. These types of tests help to reveal fungal, bacterial or parasitic overgrowth and useful bacterial levels, giving you a more complete view of the microbiome. I do one of these tests for almost every person who comes through my TeleHealth Functional Medicine Center.

Read more: Types of intestinal microbioma tests + how it works | Dr. Will Cole

4. Try magnesium

If you are struggling with constipation, it has been shown that a magnesium supplement staff. (2) Certain forms of magnesium, such as magnesium oxide and citrate, can help to pull water into the intestines, so that you can empty your intestines more often and with more convenience. Magnesium citrate is an important ingredient in Gi Move, my supplement mixture designed to help regularly.

5. Eat more resistant starch

Consider adding more resistant starch that offers the benefits of both soluble and insoluble fibers, to your diet. Resistant starch, also known as prebiotic fibers, resistant to digestion and ends in your intestines where the food offers for you useful intestinal bacteria. (3) Some food sources of resistant starch include green bananas and plantins, boiled and cooled potatoes and potato starch.

5. Investigate further

In addition to the comprehensive testing of stool, if you experience chronic digestive problems, it is important to get to the bottom of what is going on. There are some very simple, common causes of constipation and other digestive symptoms, including dehydration And lack of fiber in the diet. (4)

If you drink a lot of water and electrolytes, you are on top of your fiber intake and eat a whole food based on foods, there may be an underlying problem such as IBS (irritable intestinal syndrome), sibo or celiac disease. Your primary healthcare provider can refer you to a gastroenterologist to help investigate. You can also collaborate with a functional medical specialist to dig deeper into underlying causes of dysfunction.

Read more: How to reach the perfect poop: Gut Health Secrets for better digestion

Learning from the signals from your body

Talking about Kak is uncomfortable in the beginning, but believe me when I say you can learn a lot from it! Note color, shape and frequency and let it guide your healthy lifestyle choices. Your intestinal health will thank you!

As one of the first telehealth clinics for functional medicine in the world, we offer webcam Health consultation For people around the world.

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