The Scoop on Poop

We spend so much time thinking about what we put in our mouth but rarely think and almost never talk about what is happening at the other end. The truth is your poop is a fantastic barometer of your health. I hope you enjoy today’s blog post to gain some insight on the importance and wisdom of poop.

Poop Fact: Everyone poops about 400 lbs. a year!

In my work as a Nutrition Coach, I know being healthy is not just about what you eat it is about what your body does with what you eat. I frequently see people who eat a good diet and still have issues with their weight and health.

As I prepare to teach the Nourishing Foods Fall Clean-Up Cleanse, I am exceedingly aware of the roll elimination plays in our health which leads me to take note of what I leave behind in the toilet each day.

Now you are saying OMG is she really going to talk about poop. I am indeed. We must be getting old, we are talking about poop or maybe it is a sign of growing wisdom. The truth is you can learn a lot about the health of your body by taking a quick peek at your poop before you flush.

In fact, I will share with you how to evaluate your poop later in this post.

Almost every traditional system of medicine and even western medicine has a method of evaluating health based on an inspection of one’s bowel movements. According to Ayurveda, the color, shape, size, frequency, odor, and consistency has much to tell about what’s working or not working upstream in the digestive and detoxification systems.

Dr. Amy Foxx-Orenstein, president of the American College of Gastroenterology says “The GI tract is a processing unit that metabolizes all of the nutrients you take in and eliminates all of the body’s waste. What comes through it is reflective of how well or how ill the body is.”

This topic is so important to our health that Dr. Oz did a poop evaluation on his show. Click to see.

This is how your digestive system works:

The digestive process starts in your mind with the thought of food before it’s even consumed. Digestive juices start flowing when you think about eating.
You put food into your mouth chewing it into small particles and allowing the salivary enzymes to begin their work
From there it travels down the esophagus into your stomach where proteins are broken downwith gastric acids and enzymes.
Next it moves into the small intestines where 85% of digestion and assimilation takes place. If you have good digestion your gut breaks down the food into its individual components, separates out the good from the bad and shuttles the nutrients across the gut lining so they can get into your bloodstream and nourish your body.
From there what remains goes into your colon which is the last place for your body to absorb water as well as important minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron and more.

It is really critical for your health that these final stages of digestion work efficiently otherwise you can become toxic or even malnourished even if you are eating the best diet.

Your colon needs to be clean and well-populated with friendly bacteria to allow the important nutrients to pass into your bloodstream while ushering the toxins and other unneeded waste out of your body as poop.

While we tend to focus more on what we put into our body rather than what comes out of it, the elimination of undigested particles and other elements that we take in through our food, water, and environment is just as important as the digestion and assimilation of our meals.

If you have undigested food left in your belly or if you fail to evacuate toxic wastes you will have some obvious health challenges as well as some that you might not realize are connected to the health of your colon.

What comes out is a diagnostic tool to help find out what is going on upstream in your digestive and detoxification systems. We will be going into this topic in more depth in the Nourishing Foods Fall Clean Up Cleanse

Whether you clean up your colon with me in the Nourishing Foods Fall Clean-Up Cleanse, or you bring some attention to the health of your colon on your own, please check-in with your poop!

How complete is it?
Are you seeing any undigested food in your stool?
What color is it?
Is it too dry or too loose?
Are you experiencing gas or bloating after eating?

I know it’s not the most exciting topic to discuss among the beautiful bounty of the fall season, but as the trees are releasing their leaves and the days are moving to darkness, it makes sense to sink into your bowels, so to speak and think about your own internal cleanup. In Chinese medicine, the colon is one of the key organs associated with this season.

If you are experiencing, constipation or diarrhea, hemorrhoids or even seemingly less obvious symptoms of digestive imbalances indicated by symptoms like eczema, dry skin, hair loss, chronic coughs, nasal congestion or even joint pain, it may be time to pay attention to the health of your colon.

The Benefits you will experience in the Fall “Clean Up” Cleanse :

relief from digestive ailments, such as gas, bloating and acid reflux
boost your immunity, so you GET FEWER COLDS
LOSE SOME WEIGHT so you feel LEAN and LIGHT
remove toxins so you HAVE LESS ACHES AND PAINS
reveal healthier, younger looking skin
restore your pH BALANCE

Now that I have got you thinking about your poop let me tell you how to evaluate it.

What A Healthy Bowel Movement looks like:

Stools should be relatively soft and easy to pass.
Bowel movements should occur from one to three times a day.
Gas, bloating and skin eruptions are indicators that the colon needs some support.
Poop should be brown or golden brown (and sometimes green or red if you’ve eaten certain foods).
Eliminations should be sausage-shaped, with a smooth nut butter-like consistency – there should not be visible food particles mixed in especially if you’ve chewed your food well.