Everyone always gets the giggles when I start talking about poo. Stool, as it is more formally known, is rarely talked about and usually disregarded, but is an important aspect when considering our health. Why? Because it is the solid waste that comes out of us.
We are so focused on what we put into our bodies, we forget to consider what comes out, or rather, what stays in - which is most important. It’s crucial that our wastes are properly eliminated, because what we don’t eliminate hangs around in our bowels and putrefies, creating poisonous gasses, parasites, and destroying our delicate intestinal tissues. Not only is our colon affected, but the permeable bowel is a site of absorption (a healthy colon produces some vitamins!), which means an unhealthy colon also leeches out poisons into our blood. This poisonous blood is a tax on our immune system as well as our liver, and when the poisons are collected and sent for excretion, they end up back in our colon, where we can potentially reabsorb them. It’s like holding in a fart - the gas actually goes into our body, making us a little sick, and then gets recollected and brought back down to the colon. This continuous loop of poison hangs around in people for years and years, aging them dramatically and just making them sicker and sicker. Now you see why it’s important to have good bowel movements, we have to get stuff out so we don’t poison ourselves!! (Which is called autointoxication).
How do we know if we are fully evacuating our bowels every time we go number two? Whenever we have a bowel movement that requires excessive wiping, in other words, if your stool is sticky and requires a lot of clean up, then assume that your colon got lined with that same sticky residue as it passed through your bowels. Multiply that by the number of times you go to the bathroom, and suddenly you start to build up a thick coating of hardened residual feces in your colon that is very difficult to move. As this rubbery coated tube of impacted feces accumulates, your body tries harder and harder to get rid of it, resulting in an irritable bowel, diarrhea or cramping. So what might seem like chronic diarrhea, is actually a very deep form of constipation, as the real problem is the impacted feces that cannot be eliminated! Like I said before, this hardened, caked-on feces is a primary site for infection, parasites, gasses, but can lead to cancer, diverticulitis, polyps, and leaky gut syndrome. The only real, and likely solution to these problems then is to get rid of the hardened feces.
The result of colon cleansing, and the graphic images resulting from it are so dramatic, people cannot believe their eyes. Literally, yards of rope-like, fecal mass come out of the body, weighing in pounds - that’s right, even up to 15 pounds of feces could be impacted without our knowing, and contributing to that extra weight around your midsection. Where this level of colon cleansing needs to be done with a professional, you can start today with very gentle cleansing by improving your diet that can be done over time, or at least will start preventing the accumulation of these residues and slowly break them down.
Meat is probably the number one problem for sticky stools, in all my vegetarian days, and especially vegan - I have never experienced a “sticky” or mucky stool. Animal flesh simply has no fiber and is very gummy. However, that’s not to say that meat should be avoided - it’s just best avoided if the aforementioned problems are a concern, usually if the eater isn’t eating enough plant based foods which contain a lot of fiber. Fiber, and water, are the keys to healthy bowels. Fiber is the part of the plant that cannot be broken down, and so is passed through the colon, acting like a gentle brush that sweeps the intestinal lining and preventing the build up of residues. Fiber is found in ALL unrefined plant based foods - and I say unrefined because when grains are refined, it is always the straw-like fiber that is first milled away, making refined grains the second biggest problem in sluggish bowels. Just like white flour can easily make paper-mache, so can it gum up our bowels, making them sticky, gluey and leaving slimy residues all the way along your insides. As there are two kinds of fiber, we’ll call them hard and soft, all sorts of plant based foods should be eaten, not just bran, which is a very “hard” fiber that can actually scratch and hurt an inflamed colon if not eaten with enough “soft” fiber, predominately found in vegetables, such as a potato. So some high fiber foods to make perfect stools include:
beans and legumes
nuts and seeds
grains (always whole)
all fruits and vegetables (although fruit can sometimes provoke infections if present)
Interestingly, this list contains all of the plant-based foods, like I said, they all have them, just eating enough of them is the trick. I suppose seaweeds should be included in the list as well, but their fiber is negligible, but is very moistening for the bowels and assists in the physiological functions. A standard North American diet is at least half animal based, and I’m willing to bet the other half entirely refined with very little vegetables in the diet. This leaves very little fiber to take out the trash. A minimum 25-35 g of daily, dietary fiber is recommended, but most north americans consume only 50% to as little as 20% of these numbers. What does a whole food nutritionist eat? About 50 g of fiber in a day, simply because all of my food is rich in fiber. Fiber has countless benefits besides just healthy stools, making a plant-based, fiber rich diet exceptionally healthy.
How much stool should we be producing? Here’s a brief guide to help you:
2 fingers width
forearm length
banana like consistency, but easily broken apart upon agitation
natural curve to it (not straight and rigid)
2 to 3 times a day (or after each meal)
not painful to pass, nor urgent, nor straining - it should be passed easily
Considering the majority of people have one bowel movement per day, and a huge percentage have one less than every 3 days, I’d say we have a constipation problem in our country! And we do, laxatives are a $350 million dollar business and sales are going up!! Especially with the increase of a carb-less diet, and the increase of meats and cheeses in the diet, making the bowels even worse. Source here.
Another cause of constipation is stress, which tenses up our muscles and keeps things in. Relaxation is key to eliminating, which is why eating when relaxed, and digesting in a relaxed manner helps the bowels along wonderfully. Interestingly, in times of economic down turn, laxative sales go up from the stress (and poor diet?), and when the economy is booming, deodorant sales go up, I suppose from all the partying! Source here.
One last aspect to healthy bowels is movement. The body forms good consistent stools when the body is in motion. Whether you’re on your feet at work, or going for a stroll at night, activity greatly helps the bowels along, and I can attest to that as I’ve attended a 10 day retreat where I remained seated for the entire duration, making my bowel movements very irregular and scarce despite the high fiber diet I was eating. Lemons are what saved the day for me, the sour flavour has a contracting nature that aided the bowels when I needed it. For some, licking a little salt helps the impetus, or bitter, as in a coffee or bitter herb tonic. Japanese finish off their meals with a salty, sour ferment, and in some European countries, a bitter bite or beverage finishes off a meal nicely. But above all, as always, do NOT overeat, as this greatly stagnates the system and the bowels. Good luck and happy pooping!
