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The Bowel Truth
Stools Can Reveal A Lot About Your Health
From your stool you may be able to
get clues about your diet, your gastrointestinal
health, and even whether your stress,
anger, or anxiety levels are too high.
HOW FOOD BECOMES STOOL
From the moment food
enters your mouth, your body embarks
on a campaign to
turn it into a soupy mush called chyme.
Chewing, saliva, peristalsis (the
involuntary contractions of gastrointestinal
muscles), bacteria,
hydrochloric acid, digestive enzymes,
bile, and other secretions all work
to
give each meal the consistency of split
pea soup. While your digestive cells
are absorbing sugars, starches, fats,
vitamins, minerals, and other
nutrients, waste products continue
traveling down the line. In the colon,
all the leftovers are combined, packed
together, and partially dehydrated.
What remains - our feces - consist of
water, indigestible fiber, undigested
food (such as corn and small seeds),
sloughed-off dead cells, living and
dead bacteria, intestinal secretions,
and bile. (The worn-out red blood
cells in bile give excrement its distinctive
brown color.)
If all goes as it should, you'll end
up with a healthy bowel movement.
Although digestive idiosyncrasies,
variations in intestinal bacteria, and
other variables can produce different
standards for a healthy stool, in
general it should be brown to light
brown;
formed but not hard; cylindrical,
not flattened; fairly bulky and full-bodied,
not compacted; somewhat
textured but not too messy; and very
easy to pass. And it shouldn't smell
-
much. You're passing methane and bacterial,
degraded foodstuffs, so there's
always going to be an odor, but it
shouldn't be a very strong, pungent odor.
Experts disagree on two other stool
characteristics:
The number of pieces and their buoyancy.
WHOLE OR PIECES?
a) Each bowel movement preferably should
be in one piece, about the shape and
size of a banana and tapered at the end.
b) Stools don't have to be well-formed
logs. They can disperse in the toilet
water; they can break down.
FLOATING versus SINKING?
Opinion a) Stools should float because
buoyancy is a sign that the body has
absorbed the minerals in the food and
that these
nutrients are not contained in the
waste.
Opinion b) Stools should sink because
of their bulk and fiber content.
Loftiness is not impressed with either
argument: most stools will sink. Whether
it floats or sinks really doesn't seem
to make any difference.
An occasional deviation from this total
picture is usually considered okay;
chronic deviations (or any featuring
blood) are
not, and should be checked with a doctor.
If Your Stool Looks BLACK, TARRY,
AND STICKY It Could Mean:
Bleeding in your upper digestive tract.
The black color comes from digested
blood cells.
If Your Stool Looks VERY DARK BROWN It Could Mean:
You drank red wine last night or have
too much salt or not enough vegetables
in your
diet.
If Your Stool Looks GLOWING RED
OR MAGENTA It Could Mean:
You've eaten a lot of reddish foods
such as beets.
If Your Stool Looks LIGHT GREEN It
Could Mean:
You're consuming too much sugar, or
too many fruits and vegetables with not
enough
grains or salt.
If Your Stool Looks PALE OR CLAY-COLORED It Could Mean:
Minimal amounts of bile are being excreted,
perhaps because of problems with the
gallbladder or liver.
If Your Stool Looks BLOODY OR MUCUS-COVERED It Could Mean:
Hemorrhoids, an overgrowth of certain
bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract,
colitis
(inflammation of the colon), Crohn's
disease (also known as inflammatory bowel
disease),
or colon cancer. Red blood usually
means the ailment is located near the
end of
your digestive tract, whereas black
blood signals partially digested blood
coming
from an ailment higher up the tract.
Seek medical advice promptly.
If Your Stool Looks PENCIL-THIN
AND RIBBONLIKE It Could Mean:
A polyp or growth in your colon that
narrows the passage for stool. Or spastic
colon.
It can also be from a prolapse at either
side of the transverse colon constricting
the colon and lack of fiber.
If Your Stool Looks LARGE AND FLOATING,
WITH GREASY FILM ON TOILET WATER It Could Mean:
Malabsorption -- your digestive system
isn't getting full nutritional use
of food.
If Your Stool Looks LOOSE AND WATERY,
SOMETIMES DIARRHEA WITH UNDIGESTED FOODSTUFFS It
Could Mean:
Possible causes are food poisoning,
lactose intolerance, antibiotics, antacids,
dietary
intolerance, dietary changes, travel,
anxiety, stress, inflammatory bowel disease,
or
irritable bowel syndrome.
If Your Stool Looks SMALL, HARD,
ROUND PELLETS It Could Mean:
Constipation-even if you're defecating
frequently. Possible causes are eating
too much dry food, including protein,
and not enough vegetables and raw foods;
laxative
abuse; worries; or irritable bowel
syndrome.
If Your Stool (Has) ALTERNATING
BOUTS OF DIARRHEA & CONSTIPATION It Could Mean:
Irritable bowel syndrome. This chronic
condition can be aggravated by red
meat, spices, sugar, alcohol, LACK of
fiber,
allergy-causing foods, irregular hours,
and chaotic relationships.
If Your Stool (Is) REALLY BAD SMELLING It Could Mean:
An imbalance of intestinal bacteria
or eating too much animal protein, which
can
putrefy in your digestive tract.
If your stool-watching isn't winning
any awards, you might want to try a cleanse
before joining the ISWA (International
Stool-Watchers Association :-)
This content is from the Natural
Health magazine along
with added information from Georgiana
Duncan
and
Enid M. Gilham.
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