What does your poo say about you

Poo (noun):

1. (a piece of) solid waste from the body

2. to pass solid waste from the body

I can guarantee that you will never meet a dietitian who doesn't love to talk about poo. Especially over lunch.

Albeit, toilet talk is not the usual round table conversation many people have as who really wants to divulge the details of how often, what colour or what consistency (eeek!) their bowel motions are? However as the old saying goes - "what goes in must come out" and analysing what your poo looks like is a start to recognising the health of your insides.

Bristol Stool Chart

This lovely chart helps you to understand and categorise the formation of your stool. A healthy, 'normal' stool sits around the Type 3-4; a poo that is formed like a sausage, but soft and easy to pass.

Bowel motions at either ends of this continuum indicates that there may be something wrong in your diet or in your digestive tract. 

Download the chart HERE

Regularity

Every talks about "Are you regular?" and again, it is important to know the context of this. 'Regular' equals what's regular for you - this could be once a day, four times a day or once every four days! The theory of evacuating daily isn't actually the gold standard as you may have a longer intestinal tract, or you may not eat as much as fibre as the person next to you in the office (oh that's right - we don't talk about it in the office!).

3 F's to Fantastic Bowel Health

1. FIBRE
The fibre in food is the undigestible component that not only help to make you feel full, but also help to sweep the inside lining of your gut tract. There are three types of fibre in our food that all play a role in helping to form healthy stools that can pass through the digestive system easily.

Insoluble Fibre: This is the roughage stuff that tends to come out looking in tact. These include seeds, whole grains, skins of fruit and vegetables as well as corn kernals. Insoluble fibre creates bulk to your stools to help form that sausage shape.

Soluble Fibre: This is the component that helps to soften your stools so they can easily pass in your digestive tract. Soluble fibre is found in the flesh of fruit and vegetables, nuts, oats, psyllium husks and chia seeds and helps to absorb water in the intestine so they become flexible enough to move through.

Resistant Starch: This is the only fibre that remains intact until it reaches the very end of our digestive tract and helps to feed the good bacteria living in our large intestine. Resistant starch can be found in cooked and cooled potatoes, rice and pasta, garlic, onions, legumes as well as in inulin which is used in high fibre white breads. Resistant starch is also referred to as prebiotics. 
 

2. FLUID
Constipation often is linked to not drinking enough water. If you are dehydrated, there is no opportunity for additional water to be absorbed in your gut to help with softening your stools and so, it can delay going to the toilet or cause hard and painful bowel motions. Make sure you aim to drink at least 1.5L water per day with any additional beverages on top of this.

3. FOOTWORK
Being sedentary in your day does not help a healthy gut. Your digestive system works involuntary (i.e it operates on its own accord) all day long however staying active activates your intestinal muscles which helps to move your food waste more efficiently. Make sure you avoid sitting for long periods of the day and aim to get in at least a 30 minute walk on most days of the week.

If you're having difficulties or noticed any changes in your bowel motions, feel free to get in contact with us or book your appointment now to review your eating habits.