Why you shouldnt worry about pooping once a day Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunter
Transcriber:
How often do you poop?
You might have heard you should have
a bowel movement once a day.
But the truth is that if you poop
anywhere from three times a day
to three times a week,
you’re completely and totally normal.
(Music)
[Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunter]
(Music)
Hey there, it’s Dr. Jen Gunter.
As an ob-gyn and pain-medicine doctor,
I end up talking to my patients about poop
more than you might think.
Overall, I hear a lot of anxiety about it.
Some people worry about not having
a bowel movement once a day,
even though its a phony metric.
Other people struggle with constipation.
Often, they don’t get
the treatment that they need,
and they can even turn
to dangerous solutions,
such as colon cleanses.
But for all the poop talk,
there’s one word I don’t hear enough –
fiber.
Let me take you through the journey
from food to poop.
Digestion actually starts in the mouth.
Chewing breaks the food down
into smaller particles.
As you eat, your food mixes with saliva,
which moistens the food,
and has enzymes that start
to break down those starches and fats.
Contractions in your esophagus
push the food to your stomach,
where acid and gastric juices and enzymes
further break the food down.
The food then travels
to the small intestine,
where fats, proteins,
carbohydrates and micronutrients
are further broken down, with help
from the pancreas, gallbladder, liver
and the microbiome,
so they can be absorbed
across the small intestine
and sent to the liver for processing.
What’s left moves
to the large intestine or the colon,
which has three main jobs:
absorbing water and electrolytes,
producing and absorbing vitamins
and forming and squeezing
the material, now called stool,
towards the rectum.
When the rectum is full,
it sends a signal to the brain,
and the brain takes into account whether
it’s a socially acceptable time to poop,
and if it is, it sends a signal
to the anal sphincter muscles to relax.
And boom, you know what happens next.
This process involves more than 10 organs
and typically takes
anywhere from 24 to 120 hours
in healthy people.
So it’s helpful to think of poop
as exactly what it is –
all the stuff that doesn’t get
digested in this process.
It is water, bacteria,
dead cells and mucus,
all glommed together with fiber.
Fiber is amazing.
It affects the digestive tract
from top to bottom.
It is very simply a carbohydrate
the body can’t absorb.
While other carbs
are broken down into sugars,
fiber passes by sort of moseying along,
doing all kinds of cool things.
High-fiber foods
physically take longer to eat,
so they help us pace our meals.
The bulk also slows down digestion,
especially in the stomach,
and makes you feel full longer.
Fiber also draws water
into the stool, keeping it soft.
Scratchy, hard stool is,
to put it mildly, unpleasant.
It also increases bacterial mass.
The water and bacteria
together increase the bulk of the stool,
which helps it move along.
Fiber also slows absorption of sugars
into the bloodstream
and reduces absorption
of fats and cholesterols.
And as fiber collects in your colon,
it feeds all your good gut bacteria,
helping you maintain a healthy microbiome.
Fiber is associated
with the reduced risk of diabetes,
heart disease, several
gastrointestinal conditions
and even certain cancers.
And yet, most of us
aren’t getting enough of it.
For example, in the US,
the vast majority of adults
aren’t eating the recommended
28 grams of fiber per day.
In fact, the average American
just gets 15 grams of fiber a day.
So how exactly do you get more fiber?
The generic answer
is to eat more whole grains,
fruits, vegetables and legumes.
But I want you to consider
some more specific fiber-rich foods
that I personally love:
pears, raspberries and blackberries,
avocados and artichokes,
high-fiber cereals, whole grains –
my favorite is farro –
lentils, kidney beans and chickpeas.
Almonds, pistachios
and sunflower seeds are other options.
When in doubt, reach for those.
And happy pooping.