Hidy Ho, Readers! Here's how to get interactive with your poop!

When I was a kid, I was always fascinated by the whole corn-in-the-poop thing. Whenever we ate corn-on-the-cob, I’d anticipate the next day’s bowel movement. Was there going to be corn in my poop?

I know what you’re thinking. What kind sad childhood did I have? Actually, it was a pretty great childhood, but growing up in South Dakota has its challenges. Lots of time to fill. Luckily, Star Wars came out when I was seven and occupied the void I’d previously filled with figuring out how long it took me to empty my bowels.

In a way, it’s too bad. With all deference to George Lucas, figuring out your transit time - how long it takes for food to go in your mouth and out the other end - is enormously useful.

Why? Because a healthy transit time that’s between 12 and 72 hours – 16 to 40 hours optimally - is important to good health. If your food passes through quicker than that, it means you’re probably not absorbing all the nutrients you should. If it passes through slower, it mean your feces are hanging out in the colon too long. You might know this as constipation. It can irritate the mucosal lining and cause fecal wastes to be reabsorbed into your blood stream. (Gross.) It can also lead to an imbalance of bad bacteria in your bowel. This is called dysbiosis and it can cause scores of problems, ranging from gas and bloating to PMS.

So how are we going to test your transit time? I suggest one of three foods: beets, chlorophyll, or charcoal tablets. These will turn your poop red, green, or black, in that corresponding order. You can use corn or sesame seeds if you’re worried that your stools are too dark and therefore the other foods won’t show.

Personally, I prefer using beets. They’re yummy, but if you do this, keep in mind that they can turn your stool, not to mention your urine, a very dramatic red. I’ve done this test dozens of times. Without fail, I forget I’m doing it and my morning visit to the bathroom scares the crap out of me – or, technically, it craps the scare into me, but you get the point.

Anyway, here’s how to do it. Get yourself a “marker” - 2‐3 beets (cooked), 1 gram of charcoal tablets or 2 tablespoons of liquid chlorophyll. After your next regular movement (for me it’s 9am, like clockwork), consume your marker.

And then you wait...

Keep a log (so to speak) of your diet, activity, and stress level while you’re waiting. All three of these play important roles in your digestive process, so if you determine that your transit time isn’t satisfactory, you’re going to want to take a hard look at these factors.

The next time you have a BM that corresponds in color to your marker, note it. You now know that your transit time is this many hours or less.

Wait a day for any excess marker color to clear out, then do the same test, but consume your marker four hours later. For example, if you ate your beets at 9am the first time, eat them at 1 pm the second time.
Again, chart your diet, activities and stress levels.

(By the way, I realize that this is a lot of stuff to record. If it helps, here’s a little chart you can use. You'll need to blow it up a little and that'll pixilate it, but I think you'll survive.)

If your next BM isn’t colored, that means the marker hasn’t completely worked its way through your system. This means your transit time is pretty close to the previous longer test time. If you want to nail it down further, experiment with ingesting your marker a couple hours before/after that time.

However, if your stool is colored, do the test again, pushing marker consumption forward another 4 hours. (In the case of our example, 5 pm.) Again, once the marker doesn’t show up in your stool, you know that the previous test was your transit time. Keep watching for the marker, though. When it does show up, you’ll know the outer edge of that transit time.

Nice work! At this point, you probably won’t want to eat beets for a while. That’s perfectly okay. There are plenty of other sources of folate out there.

Also keep in mind that the three indicators you recorded (diet, activities, stress) may have influenced your transit time. If you’re not happy with your results, experiment with changing those three factors and then run the test again. A lack of activity or too much stress can both increase transit time, as can several dietary issues. If you want to work towards decreasing transit time, here are a few tips:

• Eat plenty of fiber and make sure to hydrate. Eating fruits and veggies is a great way to do both.
• Avoid dehydrating liquids like alcohol.
• Avoid clogging foods like over-cooked meat and refined foods.
• Exercise 3-4 times a week, for at least 30 minutes.
• Work on that stress! Take time to relax, enjoy your food, talk to your friends, meditate, whatever it takes.

While the braver and/or more scatological-minded Nerd Herders will take this test and post your results here, I imagine I might take a dip in readership for posting this. I hope not though. Body awareness - even the stinky parts - is hugely important. Understanding your digestive process is a big step in achieving that. So take the test and, if you need to, clean up your act. With a little patience and some clean livin’, you’ll have that transit time scooting along in no time.

Reference: Lipski, E. (2005). Digestive Wellness. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.