The characteristics of your bowel movements will tell you a good deal about how healthy your gut is. Read more to find out if you are having normal BMs.
How often should you have a bowel movement?
- Most people find that once to twice a day feels about right. Our bowel movements (“BMs”) should be well formed, easily passed, and with no strong lingering odor.
- Constipation is having strained, incomplete, or insufficient quantity. If you’re not having at least one fully-formed, easy-to-pass BM daily, you are constipated. Our stool is how we remove toxins, hormones, cholesterol, and waste out of our body. If this doesn’t happen daily, we reabsorb this and the body can become quite toxic.
- Diarrhea or too loose a stool occurs when our digested food passes through us too quickly. It is in our colon that we reabsorb water into our tissues for hydration. This can lead to varying degrees of malnutrition and dehydration.
- If you find food particles in your stool, this is a clear indication of mal-digestion. Simply put, you’re not breaking down your food well. This can be from poor eating hygiene or insufficient digestive ability.
What do your BMs look like?
Consult the Bristol Stool Chart below to check the quality of your BMs.
Rated: 1-3: Considered Constipated
Rated: 6-7: Considered Diarrhea
Rated: 4-5: Considered normal because it is well formed and looks smooth, soft, and snake like.
If your BMs are not normal, let’s chat. We would love to hear from you.
