Everybody poops!

A few months ago, a PR rep from All-Bran contacted me about a new product called All-Bran Strawberry Medley. Could he send some samples? he asked. Of course, I told him. Then I hung up and watched E!'s 20 Greatest Hollywood Meltdowns simply returned to my daily life of writing and blogging.

Ohhh, how naive I was. Within days, I had developed a crack-like addiction to the stuff - those sweet, tiny little sqaures, those chunks of berry granola, the dehydrated slices of berry that jump to life when cold skim milk is splashed across their bellies. I've actually gone out, late at night, like a junkie looking to score...except I'm heading to the grocery store desperate for a box of All-Bran. Sick. And. Wrong.

In light of Monday's shunning by Dr. Colon Cleanse, I have decided to invite a real doctor to Weighting Game. His name is Dr. John Johanson, he's a gastroenterologist, and he is up for answering all of our burning GI questions. He is also cool with us calling him Dr. J, which makes him The Shit in my book.

What issues are up your butt? Do you have any clue how much fiber you should be getting? Will you only eat prunes if they're labelled "Dried Plums"? Are you ashamed to be seen buying Metamucil and thus, living a life of pinch-faced constipation? Don't know your IBS from your PMS? Ask Dr. J! He's the MVP of GI!

I know, I know, delicate subject, blah blah blah. But if I can write a semi-serious story for the Chicago Tribune about "pebble poo," and if Oprah can ask Dr. Oz why poop is brown with a straight face, I think we'll be OK. Plus, there may be an amazingly regulating package o' treats in store for one of you. Butchya gotta enter a question for even the teeniest, weaniest chance.

Yes, I do own this tee-shirt.

Comments

I am extremely fortunate to be "regular", (not psychologically, obviously, just physically) so constipation is not an issue I ever seem to deal with. But as I'm getting older I'm hearing a LOT of my friends struggling with this, so will be very interested in the Doctor's advice. Then I can pass it off as mine and sound smart!

One of my daughter's favorite books is Everybody Poops!

Ok Dr.J - how safe is Miralax? It used to be available only w/ a prescription,but is now sold over the counter - why? Can your bowels become dependent on it to go poop? (not for me people, my poops are just fine, MONSTROUS actually)

Im regular as ANYTHING but really only commenting to say DANG YOU LESLIE :) YOUR TITLE? IT IS DEMANDED I READ THAT BOOK HUNDREDS OF TIMES A DAY RIGHT NOW (by the Tornado)----and I came to WG to escape :)

M.

If you want to learn more about "pebble poo" and all other types of poo, with a laugh included, check out "What's Your Poo Telling You?" by Josh Richman & Anish Sheth M.D. It is a riot!

Oooh! My birthday came early!! I've been dying to talk to someone about fiber & poop. (PS> Leslie, I have that exact same addiction to that All Bran cereal - it is SO good.)

So here's my q - can a girl get too much fiber? I eat a ton of fruits, veggies and whole grains so on my own I get loads of fiber. But I also suffer from a more-is-better mentality and also ingest a lot of fiber fortified products like All Bran & Fiber One cereals, drinks and bars. On top of that, I pour benefiber on everything. It occurred to me the other day that this might be like abusing laxatives? Can I harm myself from too much dietary fiber?

I love that you mention IBS and PMS in the same sentence - I have both, chronically! :-)

Which leads to my question: I would LOVE to know Dr. J's opinions about flax seed in relation to IBS. I've had problems with it in the past (it irritated the IBS terribly) but I can't remember if it was whole or milled. So I'd love to know if he can tell me if I should be using it whole or ground, as well as any other diet suggestions he might have for managing IBS!

V.

Are there different types of fiber? Metamucil works great for me, but I tried Benefiber and it was horrible--bloating, gas, awfulness. Is there a difference between getting fiber from food and taking a supplement?

Oh this is hilarious, my bf and I were just talking about something like this a few nights ago.

I eat a pretty healthy diet, not the best but its pretty good..probably a B+, but I only poo once or twice a week. There's no pain anywhere in the process, and I go when I have to go and all that, but the only thing weird about it is that my bf eats pretty much the same thing (only probably a little bit worse.. he's about a C+ grade..) but he assured me that he goes at least once a day.
My mom told me that she only goes once or twice a week also, but I know of women who go every day, too.

Why does it very so much from person to person?

While I'm a little embarassed to admit that I'm just not that regular though the doctors can't seem to figure out why. One just chalk it up to a slow colon even though I eat plenty of fiber (lentils and ground flax seeds are my two favs). So my question is why is it I can only "make" myself regular is if I take a laxative (hate hate doing that) or if I have enough liquor to make me tipsy the night before? I'm not a huge drinker but I've done it before just to help things move along the next morning. Is there anything else I can do to help my slow colon?

Ok I'm officially embarassed now but I hope the question was clear enough for Dr. J!

Dr. J rocks!

OK, my question: Usually I'm as regular as a Swiss watch, but then I get PMS, and the constipation kicks in. Not bad, just enough to make me uncomfortable and (even more) bloated. Why does this happen, and what should I do about it?

Dr. J--What does it mean to be regular? For my body, regular is when I poop once a day, but my husband considers himself regular if he poops after every meal (3 times a day). I read somewhere that 2-3 times a day is normal. How do I reach that goal?

Hi! My question is kind of a follow up to Alyssa's... so when I have PMS I don't really get constipated, but when I have my period, I have diarrhea, and ALOT of it. Also I just have to poop way more than when I don't have my period. Its like my body wants to get everything out! Blood, poop, etc. (sorry that sounded gross) Why is this? Is this normal? One of my other friends said she has the same thing happen to her when she has her period, but this just doesn't make any sense? Why is this happening?

This is sure making for some interesting and revealing comments! My real concerns are more upper GI-heartburn related problems that I need to go back to my doctor about.

My lower GI is regular as far as pooping goes. The only problem I have is that I get bloated really often, even though I eat a balanced healthy diet and get what I think is plenty of fiber (and not overly much sodium). What can I do to get rid of the bloat? More water/more fiber? Learn to deal with it?

(BTW, I'm totally 7 years old. I just keep laughing while I type this!)

I'm a vegetarian/almost vegan, eat about 10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, and heaps of beans and legumes and soy products. This leaves me, of course, with a bit of a bloat/gas problem. Is there anything I can do to prevent/reduce this? Do products like Beano work? (I tried Beano once and it did not seem to help. I wonder if I just need to take more of it.)

I'm so embarrassed, but I have to ask! How come my poop is big-ish and floaty when my main exercise is walking, but it's hard, small and sinks when I'm running a lot? Does running really compact it all together? I drink tons and tons of water to combat constipation...but I much prefer my once-a-day walking poops to my twice-a-week running poops - but I definitely prefer to run. LMAO! I don't think I've ever typed the word poop that much.

You are hilarious. If I think of any related questions I will be sure to come back!

these are some great questions.

cant wait to read the answers!

2 times a week.

To Heatherbomb...I used to be just like you, 1 or 2 times per week. But then I committed to drinking 64 oz of water most days of the week and trying to have a bowl of Fiber One at least 3 times per week for breakfast. I am the happiest 1x per day pooper in the world. I never knew it could be like this! No wonder some people are so darn cheerful all the time!

Alyssa - GIRL, you and I are on the same page there. I HATE that about PMS. Okay, I hate everything about PMS. But esp. the constipation. I second Alyssa's question! Please help us, Dr. J!

Suz - how long have you been vegan? I've been veg for years now and at first I had a lot of the issues you mentioned but I found 2 things that really helped me and bean-o wasn't one of them: a) time - it took about 6 mos. to adjust and b) NO SOY. I know, it's weird but you really can get all your protein/nutrients without eating soy. It really did a number on my digestive system.

it seems like i need to eat a ton if i want to poop. in order to have some sort of regularity i'll eat a huge amount of oatmeal and/or cereal at night before bed and then in the morning i'll usually be able to poop... but if i eat just 3 meals a day, without this nighttime "supplementing" i won't poop for a few days... which is NOT okay. i drink a ton of water and am very active (runner). i also get a good amount of fiber in my regular diet b/c i eat a ton of fruits and veggies, oatmeal, fortified products, etc. although i do eat a lot of soy (veggie burgers almost every day) and i hadn't before heard of soy causing GI probs. so maybe i should cut back?

Remember one thing...everybody poops :)

My question is: Is added fiber in food/juice just as good as effective as natural fiber?

I reviewed these for Nutritious Junk and i loved the cereal but what more, i was more addicted specifically to those little chex like squares that are in the mix. I want to call the all bran folk and ask them for a cereal of JUST those squares! I am not a fan of fiber supplements, infact i eat so much fiber through food (veggies, fruit, grains, beans!) that i've actually been trying to cut back a little (i used to eat fiber one as my go to cereal, but i was getting like 40+ grams of fiber a day which is not good for calcium absorbtion, so now i am on cheerios.....).

What should our poop look like?

Heh, you get paid to write about poop ^_^ That's awesome.

As far as questions for the Good Doctor go, I have a couple:

a) what constitutes regular?
b) what exactly constitutes Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and what are the treatments?
c) How much fiber is too much, and how much is not enough?

Thanks!
Meg

OK, so I tried the cereal this morning and, um, YUMMY!!!!!!
It's SOOOOOO good! I should have bought more boxes! I only got one. MUST...HAVE...MORE!!!!!!

Charlotte--

No soy? No tofu? No tempeh? I don't know if life would still be worth living! I don't eat it because I need to, really. I just can't imagine a life without tempeh bacon sandwiches and tofu scramble. In fact, I'd rather not!

I'm been vegetarian for almost four years now, and vegan for the first year, and working on being vegan again (I have trouble letting go of dairy, too). So as much as I'd love to wait and see if my body just learns to deal with it, I'm skeptical!

Oh, no, Suz - 4 years is totally long enough to see if it will go away on its own! It only took about 6 months for the beans to stop bothering me:) And I guess everyone is different with their tolerance to soy. I love eating it (esp. edamame and tempeh) but the results are SO BAD that I only do it if I know I don't have to go anywhere the rest of the evening;) If it doesn't bother you like that, then def. leave it in. Something else to try - The Bag Lady made a comment on a different post that after soaking your beans overnight and then rinsing several times, try adding a 1/4 tsp of baking soda to them. it's supposed to help with the, ahem, side effects.

Good luck going back to Vegan girl! Dairy isn't my problem - I miss eggs too much.

I'm with Melissa on the menstrual diarrhea. What's up with that?? It has always been that way for me. It's kind of icky. And I'm tired of investing all my money in Charmin. Please help.

Charlotte, may i ask, why do you eat benefiber if you eat a lot of fiber in your daily diet? i am not trying to put you down but i know my grandma does this too but she says it helps her, you know, go. I never take fiber supplements but my doctor told me not to eat bran rich food with my calcium supplements. is there any truth to this Dr. J?

Q: How much poo is too much? If you go more than 3 times in one day is that bad? Because I've definitely gone more at times. I'd love to only go once a day and have it done with :o)

Great expert to have as we all secrently want to known what's normal and what's not - it's not really dinner conversation!

A question: for those of us with IBS - do you have any tips for how to get rid of bloating and/or gas caused by IBS naturally - ie not medication? I've tried a few over the counter tablets but nothing is really effective!

Dear Dr., Isn't it true that if a person poops regularly,like at least once every two days, then he or she does not need a colon cleanse product. Personally, I poop about one time per day. I believe this "colon cleanse crap" is for the birds and somebody is getting richer. Thanks, Dana