What Are Your Bowels Telling You?
By: Laura Greaney, MSN, Nutritionist
Discussing your bowel movements with people seem to be a bit taboo. When I ask people if they are having any issues with their bowel movements their responses normally begin with “I don’t want to be gross.” Paying more attention to your stool can greatly help with determining what you need more and less of. Though bowel movements may not be the best topic of discussion, it is an important one. Remember, every person must eliminate their waste. While receiving my Holistic Life Coach certificate from the C.H.E.K Institute we spent a decent amount of time learning about the digestive system. Paul Chek, the founder of the C.H.E.K. Institute has created “The Poopie Policeman and Poopie Line-up” which is a great visual to help determine what your stool is telling you. Below you can see the lineup with the descriptions underneath from left to right.
Below are descriptions of The Poopie Policeman and the Poopie Line-Up taken from “How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy” By Paul Chek
#1- Mr. Sinker ‘n’ Stinker- This describes a stool that has a very ratchet odor and is hard to get rid of. Some causes of this type of stool are processed foods, medical drugs or having a procedure where general anesthesia is used.
#2 Olympic Swimmer- Light in color and very hard to flush. This stool tends to keep reappearing in your toilet bowl. This mostly is due to a high content in undigested fat coming either from your diet or a possible deficiency in bile.
#3 The Bodybuilder- Some bariatric patients may be aware of this stool as it sometimes comes from ingesting too many protein shakes. This stool is hard to pass and often larger.
#4 Pellet Man- These small little pellets often looking like deer poop could indicate peristalsis of the colon or more often related to dehydration.
#5 Diarrhella- Almost everyone has experienced this at least a few times over their lifetime. It normally is associated with cramping, discomfort, increased heart rate, sweating and/or an emergency feeling to run to the bathroom. This is your body’s desperate attempt to get rid of toxins in your digestive tract.
#6 The Flasher- “The flasher gives you a peek at the undigested food particles in the stool. It’s NOT normal to see food particles in your stool, as it’s a sign of food intolerance or an inflammatory disorder of the digestive system.”
#7 The Poopie Policeman- This is what your stool should strive to look/feel like. This bowel movement should be easy to pass, have a sense of emptying after passing, smell earthy, light brown in color and be in a log form.
So next time you have a bowel movement, before you flush take a look and see if you have achieved the Poopie Policeman!
References:
How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! Your personalized 4-step guide to looking and feeling great from the inside out, By Paul Chek, 2004. www.chekinstitute.com
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