Poop may not be the best topic for the dinner table. Yet, it is essential that we talk about it. Poop is common to us all as it is a bodily function. But, how many persons track their poop?
When was the last time you noticed a change in bowel movement?
Can you tell?
When you eat, the body absorbs the nutrients from the food. The remnant of the food (now poop) makes its way through the digestive tract into the bowel. As it moves, your body interacts with it, and this can mean a lot of things.
A few persons notice the irregularities in their poop. Sometimes, it’s nothing serious. However, a change of diet may cause it.
When the doctor advises us on meals and diet practices, they are doing us a favour. What, when and how you eat will have an impact on your digestive system. And in turn, affect how you poop.
However, your diet or a change in diet is not the only thing that alters your bowel movement. There’s a list of reasons why your poop is irregular.
Although we have our unique ways of pooping, a change can also be a hint to your health status.
Your poop may undergo a few changes. Here are some health issues you can deduce from it.
Changes In Poop Colour:
A Light brown, clay coloured or yellow poop could mean
• Alcohol Hepatitis – This is an inflammation in the liver due to alcohol.
• Infection – The gall bladder or pancreas can become swollen due to infection
• Bile ducts congestion – Gall stones or narrow ducts may cause this congestion.
Red poop can be caused by blood in your poop. This can mean you are constipated.
However, this is not the only reason you find blood in your poop—especially women on their menstrual cycle. Red poop may mean a bleeding rectum or swelling in the stomach walls. Or possibly cancer.
Black poop can signify bleeding in the digestive tract.
Foods like blueberries can make your poop look black. Also, if you eat meals with lots of colouring, you may notice a change in poop colour. But this is nothing to worry about.
Physician Nitin Ahuja, MD, MS, explained that eating and pooping its colour isn’t something to worry about. For example, eating vegetables and pooping green is not bad; likewise eating cakes with lots of colouring.
But what is healthy poop?
Although poop varies from person to person, there are a few common features that represent optimum health.
Some of these features are;
Colour
The poop has a compound pigment called Bilirubin. This pigment is what gives the poop its brown colour. Red blood cells are broken down to form the Bilirubin.
Shape
The poop is formed in the intestine and should have a sausage-like shape. But this is not what we see these days. There are different shapes of poop, and this may not be entirely healthy.
Size
Your poops should be a little lengthy and comfortable to pass. If it is coming out in pellets, then there may be something else going on.
Consistency
It may be an indication of a digestive condition if your poop isn’t soft and firm. Your poop should be easy to push out. Anything less is a warning.
Duration of poop
A healthy poop doesn’t take long to push out. A few minutes to push is all you need.
Frequency
Do you poop about 3 times a day? Or at least once daily?
If you’re not, then you’re possibly constipated. However, this is easy to correct. Drink more water to make it better.
That being said, here are 5 reasons why you should track your poop.
1. You may be suffering from a digestive condition: Many people suffer digestive conditions and don’t know it. Tracking your poop is an effective way of discovering these issues. In addition, when you track your bowel movements, you are indirectly tracking your health. This will help you discover your health issues and how to treat them.
2. With a poop tracker, you can seek help quickly: Irregularities in your poop can mean many things. Tracking it helps you deduce changes quickly. It will also help you visit a physician when necessary.
3. Daily monitoring of your poop will help you identify irregularities. You can discover your poop pattern too. With this, you can take note of habits that affects your bowel movement. When you have gotten this fact, it’ll be easy to correct or eliminate these habits. For example, you can correct lifestyle choices like drinking little water by drinking water every morning.
4. Monitor your treatment: If you already have a medical condition, tracking your poop will help you monitor your symptoms and treatments. As a result, you can deduce how successful your treatments are.
5. As a parent, your child(ren) will benefit from poop tracking: Children sometimes suffer from liver diseases. This condition can be so serious that it makes the child’s poop pale or clay coloured. You should also monitor your children’s poop, even if their condition is not severe. This would do you more good than you can imagine. It keeps you in the know always.
Now that you know why you should track your poop, how do you track it?
How to track your poop
To get the best result of your poop, you must be diligent. Sometimes it may feel unnecessary but don’t be confused. Do what needs to be done.
You can manually track your poop or with a stool tracker app.
Manual poop tracking is done by taking note of when and how you poop. You can use a calendar to do this. However, this is a little tedious, and you may lose interest quickly.
Automatic tracking of poop is done by using stool tracking apps. These apps will record bowel movements. The report will be detailed enough to help you discover if you suffer from some medical conditions.
There are lots of poop tracking apps to use once you’re set to kick the ball rolling.
Conclusion
When you first notice changes or symptoms, be slow to worry but be more observant. Pay attention to what you eat and when these changes start.
Change in poop colour or texture happens to a lot of us. It becomes a major problem when it lasts more than a few days.
Your poop can be the link to the health information you need. So when next you visit the toilet, don’t be in haste.
Find out what’s happened down there.