The matter that is in your bowels is not unlike a barometer that hangs on the wall in your home. Well, that may render an obscene image in your mind’s eye so let me explain. What comes out of you is an indicator of what is going on inside of your body. I want to discuss in detail many of the questions that people ask and are too shy or reserved to discuss openly.
Feces, crap, stools, shit, poop, manure, BM, #2, dung, droppings, and bowel contents are all the same thing. So if you wonder what a bowel movement refers to it simply means that feces are leaving the body.
A stool that floats is either mostly fiber that is full of trapped air or it is full of undigested fats. An indicator that it is fat making the stool float is a slick, shiny coated appearance. This proves that the fats you ate were not completely digested. This could be due to eating too much at one time for your digestive power; eating fats with something that prevented their emulsification such as fruit or starch; having a congested liver that does not produce and adequate supply of bile; having bile that is full of fat so it is ineffective as a dissolving agent. More often than not, in today’s world, if your stool floats you are eating too much fat in your diet. If you eat a lot of fiber this too would cause it to float so you kind of need to know what you ate to determine why it is a floating bowel movement.
A soft bowel movement is a good thing because this means it has passed through your system in a healthy time frame. If your stool stays in your system too long it can cause you to strain to have a bowel movement. This straining action can cause you to form hemorrhoids which can become very painful. A well formed stool that is sort of like toothpaste is actually a healthy specimen from a healthy bowel movement.
A stool that is very compact or hard indicates that not enough water is being drunk. Also it can mean that the transit time is too long and you should consider altering your diet to make the feces pass through your system faster. A sure fire way to help out a bowel movement is to start drinking more water. When you are dehydrated it is more difficult to have a strain free bowel movement. A good healthy poop should be like toothpaste. If you strain or have really solid poops then you need to adjust your diet. What you should do is increase the amount of fiber in the daily diet by eating foods like:
• Whole grain breads and cereals
• Fresh raw fruits with skins and seeds
• Fresh raw vegetables
• Fruit juices
• Dates, apricots, raisins, prunes, prune juice, nuts
A thin bowel movement or a narrow bowel movement is not really a bad thing. What it may mean is that you have a very healthy transit time from mouth to toilet. The less time a bowel movement remains in your body the thinner the bowel movement will be, in the end.
A thick stool during a bowel movement can be very painful. When your poop becomes too thick it can cause you to strain and have to really force yourself to poop. What this could mean is that the transit time from mouth to toilet is taking a bit longer than it should. While every human body varies you should have a bowel movement everyday and it should not be so thick that it hurts upon exiting your body. Happening every now and then is not a bad thing but if it is a battle at the bowl too often you should think about adjusting your diet.
This answer is not the easiest one to state. In general terms if you are consuming 2,000 to 3,000 calories everyday you should have a bowel movement two times a day. As suggested, every human is different and you need to examine your habits in such a way that only you would be acquainted with knowing. It may be normal for you to have a bowel movement once daily. If it is any less than that you should really consider adjusting your diet to help make your bowel movements easier and actually more enjoyable. What is more important than how many bowel movements you have in a day is the transit time for the bowel movement to be accomplished.
What is important in a healthy body is how long does it take for a body to flush out the waste after the process of eating is completed. Basically this refers to how long it takes food to go from the mouth to the bowel.
One simple method to determine how long it takes for food transiting your body is as follows.
Use one ounce of liquid chlorophyll, the juice of one lemon and 8 oz. of distilled water. If you prefer you can use beet juice to help track your transit time. (6-8 oz. of beet juice) You can buy the juice or make your own if you have a juicer.
Another product to use is liquid chlorophyll that does not have peppermint added. Check to see how long it takes to see green or red in your stools. This is your transient time. Average transient time is around 21 hours. If your transient time exceeds 26 to 30 hours, then you have a mild case of constipation. If your transient time is 31 to 36 hours you are constipated. If your transient time is 37 to 48 hour you may have chronic constipation.
This question can bring an entire mental collage of thoughts that need no description here. So let’s go straight to the description of what is healthy... Well formed stools are soft and flexible. They have good texture, volume and weight and are passed easily (with out straining hard). They make a clean exit from the body and hold their shape. The length should be from four to seven inches.
Feces will most often be light or dark brown which is natural. Consult a doctor immediately if there is blood with stools, if blood has colored a stool red, if a stool appears black and tarry, or very light or pale in color, as these changes can indicate a serious condition. Feces are normally brown from the pigments formed by bacteria and bile from the liver. Bleeding high up in the digestive tract (esophagus, stomach ulcers, etc.) can cause the stool to become black and tarry in appearance. If there is bleeding lower down in the digestive tract (hemorrhoids or colon problem) the stools will be mixed with bright red blood. Anything that blocks the bile duct or problems with liver or gall bladder will affect the normal flow of bile to the intestine. This will result in pale or white stools.
Don't jump to conclusions about a sudden change in stool color. Eating a lot of black licorice or imbibing red wine will cause tarry, dark stools. Blueberries, beets and even paprika-laden dishes can darken stools, and so will iron pills and Pepto-Bismol. If you experience these symptoms in your stool regularly without anything in your diet to account for it, then it's time to run (don't walk) to your doctor for a thorough checkup.
The color of your feces can be a warning of bowel movement problems. The following colors depict much about your digestive and dietary habits.
Pale – Pale stool can be caused by some medications. If you do not have it as a result of medication, it indicates a lack of bile. A lack of bile can be caused by a blockage of the bile duct, resulting in bowel movement problems.
Green – Unless you are consuming a great deal of green leafy vegetables or some other highly colored green food, a green color can be an indication that stools are passing through your body too quickly. Green means that the bile is not given sufficient time to break down the waste. This is often the case with diarrhea.
Yellow – Having a yellow colored bowel movement can be an indication of excess of fat in the stool, a possible sign of an absorption problem.
Black –– Having a black colored bowel movement can be produced by some foods and supplements. It can also be a sign that there is bleeding in the upper digestive tract.
Bright Red – There are some highly colored food additives and coloring that can produce bright red stool. It can also be produced by lower intestinal bleeding.
If you have bright red blood in your stool, do not be overly alarmed. Bright red blood in your feces is more than likely a sign of hemorrhoids. Unfortunately it can be a sign of colitis, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome or colon cancer. If the problem is prolonged then you should consult a doctor for a professional opinion. Also it can be caused from impacted stools passing through the rectum telling us we need to drink more water. Blood should always coincide with a visit to the doctors until hemorrhoids are diagnosed.
The smell of your bowel movement is a direct result of the type of foods and drinks you consume. Generally speaking, feces will smell worse if you consume foods or liquids with many artificial flavors or chemicals. You can reduce the offensive odor by eating more natural foods that do not contain the artificial flavors or chemicals. The bacteria inside of the feces are what make the bowel movement smell so bad. The bacteria that colonize feces are the real culprits. They break down the undigested food residue to create some very malodorous gases. The smell of feces can differ somewhat based on what foods you have eaten. People who consume meat usually have poop that smells worse than vegetarians.
The answer to this one is simple. The human body does not really digest meat. It only processes the fat and the actual meat literally rots in your system before it is excreted through a bowel movement. To understand this process one just needs to understand the term “rabbit starvation”. This term is from the reality that rabbit meat has no fat and if all you had to eat was rabbit meat it would not help you. Since your body can not digest meat (it only digests the fat) you could eat rabbits all day long and still possibly starve to death. The smell you emit from the ass apples is really just a form of rotted meat.
The fastest way to have a good, healthy bowel movement (notice the good and healthy part) is to increase the amount of fiber in your diet and the amount of bran in your diet. At the same time you want to decrease constipating foods such as whole cow's milk, bananas, cheese, cooked carrots, and other foods that are high in fat. It can also help to increase the amount of fluids one is drinking, especially apple juice. Since the amount of fiber is listed on food labels, it is easy to select high fiber foods. Sources of good fiber have at least 2.5g of fiber per serving. These include many grain products, fruits, and vegetables.
Excellent sources of high fiber foods include:
- raw vegetables
- unpeeled fruits, like apples and pears
- vegetable soup
- popcorn
- whole grain cereals
- whole grain breads and pastas
- beans
- oranges
- prunes and raisins
- baked potato with the skin on
- bran cereals, muffins, cookies, and bran supplements that you could drink with water or juice
Yes, raisins do help you have a bowel movement as they are high in fiber
No, you do not have to have a bowel movement every day. With that being said you must realize that what is of even more important is transit time. What is important is how long does it take for the food to go from your mouth to the toilet. Even the experts of pooping cannot agree on how often an individual should be depositing ass apples in the toilet. Some people feel as if you should have as many bowel movements in one day as you have meals. More often than not, if you are not having a bowel movement daily it is because you have a diet that is composed of refined flour and sugar.
Before you run to a doctor you should run and buy some foods containing fiber and see if the dietary change helps you become more regular in your bowel movements. Regular bowl movements are not a bad thing and having a consistent pattern of bowel movements should be a goal in your life.
The smell of your bowel movement is a direct result of the type of foods and drinks you consume. Generally speaking, feces will smell worse if you consume foods or liquids with many artificial flavors or chemicals. You can reduce the offensive odor by eating more natural foods that do not contain the artificial flavors or chemicals. The bacteria inside of the feces are what make the bowel movement smell so bad. The bacteria that colonize feces are the real culprits. They break down the undigested food residue to create some very malodorous gases. The smell of feces can differ somewhat based on what foods you have eaten. People who consume meat usually have poop that smells worse than vegetarians.
Straining to poop is an indicator of one issue or another. Having a tough time to complete a bowel movement can simply mean you are not eating enough fiber or are dehydrated, or both. You should never have to struggle to complete a BM (bowel movement). You should be able to sit down and have a bowel movement that just falls out of your body. If it is anything less than that you may need to address your diet to be able to achieve the end result of a healthy bowel movement.
You will not have too many bowel movements in a day unless you have diarrhea. Diarrhea in adults is usually mild and goes away quickly without complications. In infants and children (especially under age 3), diarrhea can cause dehydration fairly quickly. The most common cause of diarrhea is viral gastroenteritis, a mild viral infection that goes away on its own within a few days. This condition is often called the stomach flu. Viral gastroenteritis often occurs in mini-epidemics in schools, neighborhoods, or families. Food poisoning and traveler's diarrhea are two other common causes of diarrhea. They occur as a result of eating food or drinking water contaminated with bacteria or parasites. Medications, especially antibiotics, laxatives containing magnesium, and chemotherapy for cancer treatment, can also cause diarrhea.
Other reasons for diarrhea may be malabsorption syndrome such as lactose intolerance. Also it may signal inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. It may also be a sign of IBS or irritable bowel syndrome and celiac disease.
How do you have a good bowel movement?
The best way to ensure healthy bowel movements is to eat a proper diet. Make sure you get enough fiber in your diet and try to avoid large quantities of fat. Also try to drink the amount of water your body needs every day. Notice the word water, it means water and not tea or soda as those liquids can hamper the transit time and affect your bowel movement. Vegetables offer much of what you need and the green leafy kind really helps out the process.
 You can monitor how well your diet is by the deposits you put in the toilet. By knowing what to look for in your feces can be a real benefit to weight loss goals. The actual bowel movement itself is not a benefit or a detriment to weight loss. The feces that a person excretes are just an outward sign of what is happening inside your body. In a way a poop is sort of like a probe that has returned with information you requested before you sent the food on its journey. By knowing what to look for in your excrement you can have a very good idea as to what is happening inside.
Most patients start to pass gas (fart) 2 to 3 days after surgery. Bowel movements generally start a day or two later. Often the early movements may be loose or have some diarrhea. Sometimes there is some old (dark or black) blood in the early movements left over from surgery.
If loose movements persist, using Immodium or Kaopectate is OK for two or three days, but after that you should notify your doctor. Continued diarrhea might be due to a medication or possibly due to abnormal bacteria that can build up after taking antibiotics.
Sometimes the opposite is true: patients pass gas but no bowel movement because of narcotic medications they have been taking. If you need help an enema may do the job. Definitely do not take oral laxatives such as milk of magnesia. As time goes on you may be relatively constipated because you are not eating enough roughage. Adding more vegetables to the diet is the best approach. A bulk laxative like Citrucell may be helpful.
If you have had a gastric bypass, you really should be hearing this information from your doctor as you just received major surgery. Consult your doctor before consuming anything not discussed in your pre operation discussions.
The change of levels of progesterone and estrogen has an effect of gastrointestinal tract.
Estrogen is a gastrointestinal stimulant. The fluctuation of amount of this hormone can cause a swing from loose stools to dry ones. These hormones also influence the motility of the intestines. When the levels of these hormones start to fluctuate, a woman may experience changes in bowel patterns.
Hemorrhoids — varicose veins in the rectum — frequently occur during pregnancy. Because your blood volume has increased and your uterus puts pressure on your pelvis, the veins in your rectum may enlarge. Hemorrhoids are extremely painful and they may bleed, itch, or sting. This can be a tremendous problem when you have a bowel movement. The soon to be mother may also experience bouts of constipation with can make even the most tolerant woman miserable. Constipation is common throughout pregnancy because pregnancy hormones slow the rate of food passing through the gastrointestinal tract. During the final stages of pregnancy, the uterus tends to push against the large intestine which makes it difficult for a bowel movement. Constipation can contribute to hemorrhoids because straining may enlarge the veins of the rectum.
The best way to combat constipation and hemorrhoids is to prevent them. Eating a fiber-rich diet, drinking plenty of fluids daily and exercising regularly can help keep bowel movements regular. Stool softeners (not laxatives) may also help. If you experience hemorrhoids you should consult your doctor for a treatment that can shrink them.
Find out What's Your Poo Telling You?
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