When's the Last Time You Pooped?

     When you tell your mom that you don't feel good, that's the first thing she asks. Why? When I go to the doctor, they ask, "Where's the pain?" "What type of pain?" They listen and say try this and hand me a bottle or a prescription. When I take my dog or cat to the vet, they ask,"What are you feeding him?" My immediate reaction is, "Oh my goodness. Here I am a nutritionist, and I'm feeding my dog poison." I really never thought too much about his food. I asked my father-in-law what food to buy, and that's what I buy. The vet then asks about my dog's/cat's poop. How often? Consistency? Etc.... He recommends that I try a new food, and if he doesn't get better bring in a stool sample.

     Wow!

     Does your doctor talk to you about what you are eating? How about your poop? How often have you taken your doctor a stool sample?  Why is poop the first thing your mom asks you about? Why does the vet need a stool sample? Why don't we talk about our poop?

     If you eat, you poop. If you don't poop enough, you feel like poop. If you poop too often, you feel like poop. There must be more to this poop!

     My favorite show used to be You Are What You Eat on BBC with Gillian McKeith. She always took a stool sample. She talked about the importance of regularity and consistency. This was the first I heard of poop being discussed mainstream. Her show was fantastic, and I wish we could get here.

     Have you read The New York Times article  by Michael Pollan, Some of My Best Friends are Germs published on my birthday, May 15, 2013? It's all about microbiota. It makes me think of poop. My daughters' doctor back in Savannah, Dr. Ramon Ramos, always talked about gut flora and keeping it strong and healthy. (We miss Dr. Ramos! He taught us well how to live well. ) Anyway, he had us do things and consume things to improve our daughters' gut flora long before they talked about probiotics in TV ads. 

     Your poop is the first thing that will signal when your gut flora is not healthy. We are all different, and we all have different needs to improve our gut flora.(Read Pollan's article).  We need to pay more attention to our poop.

     The rise in popularity of probiotics has me all confused. It used to be all yogurt had probiotics, but now I have to read the labels. The ingredients must say "active cultures;" otherwise, the probiotics are dead. Other ways to consume active cultures are in Kombucha tea (which is very hard to find here, so I'm learning how to make my own), Kefir, unpasteurized fermented foods (think sauerkraut, pickles,...), and probiotic pills and liquids. Just read the labels and make sure the cultures are active and the product has not been heat treated or pasteurized .

     If you take supplements like probiotic capsules (which I don't recommend, but that's another subject), read the label. I cannot stress this enough. You only want to take something healthy. If the pill/liquid contains silicon or coloring, do you want to add that to your gut?

     Just do what you can to poop right. Get your gut in check, and you'll feel good.

     Eat Healthy!