5 Minute Facts - Poop Power

This is episode 242 of the Empowered Team Podcast. Welcome to the Empowered Team Podcast where we explore how to optimize your performance in career, sport and life. And now your host, executive coach and life strategist, Kari Schneider. Welcome. Welcome to Performance Power. This is our monthly call where we dive into anything that is health, performance and nutrition and injury and rehabilitation. Anything that's going to help you get the performance that you want for your leadership, for your life, for your family, for performing your best. So we have a new topic and despite the fact that we typically are focusing on leadership and business and life in this one, we know that this helps you be your best in leadership. So our top topic today is all about the bathroom, the bowel movements, the poop. There, I said it. It's out. And we want it out. That's how we want it. So our topic today is poop power, harnessing the hidden potential of your gut. And I have fielded some questions from other people and I've had some questions myself in order to perform my best in health and in life and especially for the situation that I'm experiencing right now, and that is recovering from an autoimmune illness and healing an autoimmune illness naturally. So I'll tell you a little bit about that later, but first we're going to answer your questions on how often is normal? Should it float or sink? What color? Should it be? What shape or size is healthiest? And this is all that information that most of us don't talk about, especially at the dinner table, especially with peers and co workers, especially, and sometimes even with our family, we don't talk about it. So I'm going to get this out there for you so that you can feel your best and perform your best. So number one, here's our five minute facts. I may go over the five minute mark, but my aim is always to stay in the five minute facts. Number one, is it normal to poop more? I'm going to repeat this again here. Is it normal to poop more or less frequently? So that is the question is, is it normal to poop more or less frequently? Is it normal to poop more or less frequently? Who wants to know? So here's the thing about pooping, and this is the crazy part about it. It is very variable between other, between people. It's not necessarily going to be one time a day like some people hope. It's not necessarily going to be one time a week, which most people don't want. It is often more frequently than we would like, and often less frequently than we like. But the truth is, and this is what the research shows, is that it is as little as three times a week and as much as three times a day. That's considered normal. That's what's considered normal. When it comes to our movements, our bowel movements, most of us have an idea in our head what is normal, or we experience what we feel best. And if you know what you feel best with, then go with that. If that's once a day, if that's twice a day, if that's once every two days, whatever that is. But it's very, and it's very dependent on our activity levels, on our gender, how much water we eat, we drink, how much food we eat, how frequently we eat, and how much activity we have. All of those things impact whether or not we have a frequency that is desirable or more or less frequent. Number two, here's the next top question that I received and that I had for myself as well. Should my movement, my poop, should it float or should it sink? I used to think that floating was a good thing, but actually it's healthiest when it sinks. We want it to sink. This is considered normal and is actually an indication of a healthy digestive system. What's happening when you have floating movements, then there's usually a lot of gas involved and that a lot of that gas is caught up in your. In the food, in your excrement. And so you want it to sink. If it has a plop, if it sinks to the bottom of the bowl, that is the kind of poop that you're looking for. It's a density to it, and it's indicating a healthier digestive system. And it contains a higher proportion of solids versus gases. And that's what we want. So that's fact number two is that we want it to sink. Fact number three, and this is one that we often look for in our children, we look for for ourselves. What color should it be? It should be a medium to a light brown color. And this is indicating another number of things. This is indicating that your gallbladder is working properly, that you are digesting well, that the colors of the things that you ate will eventually come out in your poop. So if you're eating a lot of blueberries and spinaches and these dark things, then you're likely to have a darker color, a medium brown versus a lighter brown. However, if it's really, really dark, that's us indicating some sort of potential bleed. So you want to be Careful. So if it's really dark, then you may have something to check on with your physician. The lighter shade indicates that, or the medium shade indicates that there's that healthy amount of bile. And the bile is what's coming from your gallbladder. And that bile helps break down fats. If that bile isn't in there, you're going to have a very white or light color of poop. And so if it's light brown or medium brown, you know that that bile is going through your system and it's helping you digest those fats. If that bile isn't there, you're going to have a really hard time digesting the fats that you consume. So that's why the color matters. Next, one fact number four, what size and shape is healthiest? So this is where you will see. If you look online, you can see some poop chart charts and you're going to see nuggets and you're going to see tiny little balls and you're going to see sausages and you're going to see hot dogs. You see all these shapes for poops. And this is important because it does matter. It's an indication of the shape of your colon or your large intestine. It's an indication of how impacted or dry things are in that intestine. So there are some indicators of by looking at your poop size and your poop shape. So here we go. A well formed and smooth is good. Well formed and smooth is good. Thumbs up. This means that you've got healthy stool. It is typically maintaining that shape as it passes out of the body. So it's not turning into something that's got all kinds of particles to it or loose when it passes through. So it should have that smooth, soft texture that's easy to pass. If it's an S shape, this is still an. A healthy bowel movement. Some S curvature is just the curvature of your bowel. So it's still holding some of the curvature of your bowel and holding that shape. So it just means that it's the, the shape and size of your colon and it's followed the natural path of your intestines. And another one is that it's easy to pass and the size is consistent. So if you find that one day you're having little tiny pellets that are plopping in there, they're sinking, that's a good thing. But they're little pellets and they're really hard and they're hard to pass. That constipation is likely an indication of potentially not enough water. Maybe the bacteria in your gut is a little off. Maybe you haven't had enough fiber or vegetables. A number of things that way. So consider the size, the shape. You're looking at a smooth hot dog that's easy to pass. It might have curve to it based on your intestine. And it's not, it's not hard. Some of it will be a little more sausage shaped with lines in it. Some of it will be a little more hot dog shaped. And I feel really weird talking about this because we're analyzing the lines and shapes in our poop, which is kind of funny. But that's okay because this is for our healthiest body. So that's the shape and size. And we have a question coming in. Even if I'm eating a lot of leafy greens, should it be mid brown? You can still have lighter brown coloring if it's. If you're eating a lot of leafy greens. And because the question I'm gonna assume I'm gonna fill this in is that potentially you're wondering whether or not you're absorbing some of that coliform from some of the greens or the iron from some of the greens. It's. It's not, it's. Oops, losing my mic. It's going to be hard to say one way or another, but it's likely to be darker with your greens if those greens were cooked. If the greens aren't cooked, it's not as likely to be darker, but it doesn't necessarily mean. Yeah, and if you're having a darker green stool, then it might have just been a lot of things that you were eating. The other thing that will cause it to be darker and greenish as well is some iron supplements. So things like a ferrous gluconate will sometimes. So if you're taking an iron supplement, sometimes that will constipate you and sometimes it'll have your stool look darker when you're taking an iron supplement.

So.

So those are things to consider as well. It may not be the food. It may be if you were taking an iron supplement. But pay attention. Look in the toilet, see if you ate the cooked greens, the raw greens, the amount of greens, the frequency of greens, and see if that changes what's going on in your stool, because so much of it is what we're consuming, how we're digesting it, whether or not our bacteria are able to eat the food that we're giving it, which are those leafy stems and greens that are the prebiotics or the food for the bacteria. So those are just some things to consider, but it's hard to say. Mid, mid brown, dark brown, dark, greenish brown. Those are all within the normal. So that should be great. We're going to go with fact number five, and then we'll do a quick recap of these and then we'll bring in your questions. Fact number five is, is what? This is the question, what foods should I avoid in order to keep the gut healthiest? And the reason that I focused on this, although we could go what foods should I consume? The should I consume? Question is so complex. And the reason that I say that is because every individual has so many challenges with certain foods, perhaps, or some people can eat almost anything and not have a gut issue. Most humans, though, have certain foods that cause them issues. They might have a sensitivity, they might have an allergy, they might have the lack of digestive enzymes, so they're not allergic, but they just can't quite digest that thing. So what we'll do instead is go into what are foods that universally most people should avoid to cause any challenges for their guts, to prevent causing any challenges for the gut. So anything high processed, limit your intake of the starchy breads, the refined sugars, the refined flours. They lack fiber and they lack micronutrients, while also just typically containing some unhealthy fats, very refined sugars, and often there's additives or preservatives in highly processed foods. So. So anything highly processed, avoid any added sugars. And these are hidden sugars. We've talked about these on these topics before. But things that, you know, dextrose, glucose, corn syrup, all of those things. There's so many sugars, and we did a topic on this recently, so check that one out. That disrupts the balance of your gut bacteria, excess sugars, refined sugars, multiple forms of sugars. Too much of that not only contributes to inflammation, but it disrupts that bacterial balance that is so necessary for optimal gut and optimal health. Artificial sweeteners, they may be low in calories and a great replacement, or so we think that's what we might have in our mind, but it's negatively affecting that gut microbiota. And we don't want that. We want to really avoid those artificial sweeteners, trans fats. So these would be the fried foods, processed snacks, anything in the trans fats, Our body has a very difficult time recognizing it, and they promote inflammation and have a negative gut health, negative impact on the gut health, and then also excessive alcohol so alcohol consumption, especially heavy alcohol consumption can disrupt that gut barrier function. So the gut lining in the intestinal wall and also lead to imbalances in the gut bacteria. So those are the main things to avoid. Now I'm going to add that's the, that's our five minute fact. So number one is the frequency of pooping could be three times a day, could be three times a week. All that range is within the normal float or sink sinking is the healthiest. Color light to medium brown shape and size. Hot dog, sausage, s shape, smooth passage is all good. And then the avoiding certain foods that I just mentioned in order to keep the gut the healthiest. Now I'm going to add something in there and it's this is that I dove into this topic that I wouldn't ordinarily talk about, but I dove into this topic simply because in being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and doing a lot of research on it, one of the things that I discovered is that almost everyone who's diagnosed, and I'm going to say everyone, we're going to do a blanket statement, which I rarely do, who is diagnosed with an autoimmune disease or disorder typically has leaky gut. Now, I never in a million years would have thought that I had leaky gut because I thought my poops were normal, I thought my gut was great and I could typically digest anything. Sure I would have a little gas here and there, sure I might feel a little bloated here and there, but it was nothing that I thought was out of the ordinary until I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and upon making some major changes in what I ate, discovered how much different my gut felt, my energy was and my poop appeared and all that good stuff, all the things we talked about. So I invite people to explore what they might be living with. Anything that you are living with that feels normal because it's your normal. I invite you to explore what is normal. And that's why we're having this conversation. For your optimal health, your optimal energy, and also to perhaps avoid something that I've stepped into. So I would like to open it up to more questions, pop them in the chat or unmute yourself. Ask the questions that are involving bowel movements, stool, passage of poop, whatever you want to call it, ask the questions. Or if it's not that topic, it can be anything related to your nutrition, your physical health, your injuries, your training, your performance. Let me know what you have. So pop it in the chat or unmute yourself. What do you have out there. Questions? Questions? Go ahead.

I. So, Carrie, thank you. Sometimes I'm very normal regular. For me, it's once or twice a day. And then all of the sudden I don't go for a day or two. And that like, always makes me question, like, what's going on? Because I keep eating in the same way. What I had noticed is that for fibrous vegetables, I was eating snow peas and. And then I was eating instead of snap peas, asparagus. So maybe they just work different than me.

I don't know. They do. Okay, so this is great. And how about hydration? How about water? Anything different with water on those days?

No, I'm actually drinking minimum 2.5 liters.

So a day. Okay, so. So there's something that I noticed for myself and, and I'm, you know, I'm not a gastroenterologist. I'm not a poop doctor or anything like that. However, I've been doing a lot of research on this lately because of myself. And I can share some of the things that, that I've noticed. One thing that I've noticed is that on Mondays I might go more frequently on a Monday. And one of the things that happens for digestion is that when we're in a rest and digest, so our parasympathetic nervous system, then we're more likely to have our digestion happen. However, on a weekend, I might be more active not sitting at my desk as much. And then in that case, I'm active, active, active, often a little more in the sympathetic nervous system and not as much digestion is occurring when you're in that nervous system. So for me, and this, this is just what I've noticed is that I might just go once on a weekend on a weekend day. So I might go once on a Saturday, once on a Sunday, but I'm more active on those days. And then Monday comes along and I've also eaten. I've drinking normally, I've eaten fairly normally, or so I think. And then Monday comes along and I'm sitting more because I'm at my desk, I'm working more, I'm drinking lots of water, but I'm not as active. And then it's like the rest and digest kicks in and there I might have three movements on a Monday. So I want you to look at not just the. What you've consumed and not just the water, but also what's happening within your nervous system. Is your nervous system turned on a little bit more? Is it relaxed a little bit more? Then that might indicate why the shift happens. And then the other thing that happened that is researched is that the most common time is after you've had a meal. So after you've had a meal, that's usually when your body's just going to end up eliminating more because you've put more in, your body wants to digest. So those things are there to consider as well, is what were you more drive, go, go, go. And if that's in that go, go, go, you might not be eliminating at that time, but if you were really nervous and really, really stressed, like there was a loss in the family, then you might eliminate everything. But then if you're in your relaxed state, that's optimal for digestion, optimal for that rest and digest side of the nervous system of that parasympathetic. Does that, does that help a little bit or have you consider a few more things?

Yeah, no. So, I mean, there, in terms of stress, there hasn't been anything. So there hasn't been that many changes except for the things I eat because I'm following a specific program on, you know, like I said, a lot of leafy greens, like specific type of fibrous vegetables. And when I. I've noticed that when I eat certain things, like I don't go as much, but. So yeah, but thank you. Then I. It's good to consider.

I'm going to add one more thing there based on what you described with the peas versus the asparagus, and it's this, that some people, especially if they're experiencing leaky gut, especially if they have a lot of inflammation in their body, some people will find that anything that is a bean, a seed, a legume causes some level of inflammation. That means the peas are in that family. The asparagus is not in that family. The leafy greens, the asparagus, they are something that most of us can consume without causing any inflammation. Some of us consume something like a bean, a pea, any sort of legume, and that contributes to inflammation. So with my situation in particular, I have all peas, all beans, all legumes are not included with what I can eat right now. But I can consume asparagus, leafy greens, cauliflower, broccoli, beets, carrots. But peas are a no, beans are a no, lentils are a no. Because the likelihood of them providing some inflammation for my body is enough that they're out right now. So it could be a difference to your body. And it's worth paying attention to those specific differences just to see if seeds, nuts, dairy, gluten any of those things are big triggers for inflammation and having your immune system potentially attack that. If you have a lot of inflammation in your body already, if you don't and those foods are fine for you, no big deal. But it's worth paying attention to. If you notice a difference, then, then pay attention. So I think you're on the right track in, in noticing the differences between those foods and what happens with your body.

Thank you so much.

No problem. Any other questions? There's one posted in the chat. What can you do to increase the gut bacteria if it has been eliminated? And you do use a probiotic, PBS cyst. So that's a fantastic one. Okay, so I want you to think of it as this way. Is this in, in your gut there are billions and billions of bacteria. And when you've been on antibiotics, because I think that's what you're pointing to here, the antibiotics destroy a lot of gut bacteria because they're trying to get all the bacteria, not just the bad bacteria, but they end up getting some of the good back all a lot of the good bacteria too. So to repopulate, a lot of people will take a probiotic. Here's the thing about probiotics is that even if you're taking a high quality probiotic, which you are, you're taking one that's double encapsulated, meaning that the probiotic is encapsulated and then there's a second capsule so they can get past your stomach and actually get into your, into your gut, into your small intestine. And, and the issue is that even if you're giving your gut some really good ones, they will only be a tiny drop in the ocean. So there's an ocean in your gut and the probiotics are a tiny drop. So what we want to do is give that tiny drop so we can start to plant those little seeds and then give what are called the prebiotics, which are the fantastic foods. So these are the, the cabbages, the stems of the, of the, the spinach, the, the veggies. Those are called the prebiotics. And that is what the good bacteria need to live and feed on. So there's the foods that are the food for the bacteria as number one. And then the second thing is time. We need time because it just needs to be able to, they need to be able to grow, they need to be able to flourish and we want to keep supporting that. So in this situation, I would make sure you've got the time away from the antibiotics, which you do already. You've got the introduction of a probiotic. And then make sure you're eating lots of the greens and lots of the vegetables for the prebiotic food for the bacteria. And then also watch for any of that list of food to avoid. So, so really avoid those types of foods, which I think you already do for the most part, because those are going to be the foods that do not support the growth of that good bacteria. So that's where you want to be aware as well. And those things should really support it, I think. All right, we've got room for maybe one more question and then we will wrap up our poop talk for today. And what do we have? Do we have one more question about poop? Any. Any poo? You've been so brave. This is so great.

I have another question if no one has.

Go ahead.

So a few years ago I had heard about this procedure, like if you have like a leaky gut or, or inflammation in your body or something like that that you, that you could do, you know, for the lack of a better vocabulary, because I don't remember the term, it's like a poop transplant into your gut to make it healthy. Is that, is that actually true? I never really fact checked or anything.

Okay, so. So it's called. I, I think it's called seeding. There's a. Seating is a type of word and the I, the concept is putting bacteria. And there was actually a man who would do this and go to different countries and try and get different bacteria in different countries, and he would actually put it up as colon his bum. So however, however, as for a specific medical procedure, I am ignorant to the, the procedures, what's available. I have heard of that, but I have never done something like that and I don't know enough about it. However, what I do want to introduce, something I. That I am more familiar with, is when you think of an intestinal wall, we like to think of a sausage. Right? Like we think of that tube like a hose, but it's, it's less. Thank you for adding that. I'll get to that in a second, Paul. Thank you. It's less of a tube and, and it's more of. There are what's called tight junctions, and we want these tight junctions to be available. There's like a zigzag along the walls of your intestines, and all these little zigzags help you absorb nutrients. But when those tight junctions aren't present anymore, then we have a hard time with maintaining the integrity of that. That tube. These Little tight junctions and we have a hard time absorbing the nutrients. So my point is this, that, that there's an entire. It's such a complex thing and there's so many, there's so many bacteria that, that fecal transplantation, which Paul has been kind enough to look up for me, is, is one, one thing in a, in a universe that's, that's within our gut. So Paul's put a note in the chat. I'm going to read it out for the benefit of those who are listening to this versus with us live on video. And it's the fecal transplantation, also called fecal. Fecal microbiota transplantation, FMT stool transplant, plant bacterial therapy, or intestinal microbiota transplant. It's used to treat persistent infections with the colon. The procedure works by taking healthy microbiota from the feces of a carefully screened donor and transferring them to the colon of a recipient. Fecal transplant is typically performed through a colonoscopy. However, it can also be performed with upper endo endoscopy. Okay, so that's awesome. I just read that out loud. For those who are listening, however, I'm gonna, I'm going to default back to making sure people have gone through the food, gone through the, the figuring out what the, what the assailant on the gut is by elimination. And that's what I would suggest first, simply because that is the process that I would go through. However, there's lots of people who want to try something else because they're desperate and they've been struggling with something for a really long time. As for the efficacy in terms of what kind of percentage of what works and doesn't, I don't know. So that's not something that I'm familiar with. So it's, it's a, it's an interesting concept. And I don't know if it's flourishing in terms of popularity. I have not seen that, but it is, it is an option. Okay, everyone, we're going to wrap up here. So if you take something away from this, look at your poop when you go to the bathroom to check on your health, look at your poop to see how your gut is functioning. Because your gut is literally directly connected to your immune system. It's also got a direct line to your emotional system, to your brain. It is considered to be your other nervous system is this entire gut. So check your toilet bowl. Really pay attention to what's serving your body and what isn't. And I hope this information has served you poop well my friends. And yay, we got through that uncomfortable topic. Great work everyone. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. If you enjoy listening to the Empowered Team Podcast, you'll love being on the Empowered Team. The Empowered Team is our group coaching and accountability program where we provide the tools, skills and community for you to grow your self mastery as a leader and optimize your results alongside other leaders. The Empowered Team runs year round to learn more about our leadership consulting for business and our Empowered Team Group coaching. Head to www.theempowered.ca empowered learn more. That's www.theempowered.ca. empowered learn more. We can't wait for you to join us. Let's go.