How Long Poop Stays in Your Body May Impact Your Health, Study Finds (sciencealert.com)

77 points by mikhael 4 hours ago

flossly 3 hours ago

I did quite some experimenting with this.

Fruit moves fastest and green leaves. Meat, cheese, oil and fats slowest.

But we often eat combinations: and the slowest component of your food determines the speed of the whole.

Also: it's a one lane road and "over taking" is not possible.

So, eating a fast moving meal after a slow moving meal results in the fast mover getting stuck behind the slow mover.

Hence I start my day without and slow food (only fruit, herbs, green leaves, spices, ginger => usually a smoothy); and end the day with slow food (oily food, nuts, seeds, beans; usually combined with green leaves as we need a lot green leaves).

YMMV

mrroryflint 3 hours ago

There have been alternative (often mad) health proponents who have insisted upon only eating fruit in the morning for years - similar(ish) reasons. I think there is probably something to it.

konradb 3 hours ago

I remember this being a thing in some Tony Robbins book!

sublinear an hour ago

Whole fruit also has a lower glycemic index due to the fiber. This slow release of sugar helps reduce insulin resistance and balance out hormone response in general.

Hormonal imbalance is severely underrated as a root cause of common mental health issues like anxiety, depression, etc.

Having fruit in the morning is a little boost without the guilt. Adding in some light exercise, like walking, also helps prime the day. It even gets easier to wake up early for all this the more regularly it's done. It's one big reinforcement cycle for healthy habits.

oulipo2 3 hours ago

I mean the most obvious reason is fibers

gchamonlive an hour ago

Isn't slow food going through your body during sleep something that'll impact your sleep quality?

When you wake up you are basically fasting so your body is ready to take a hit. Slow food will go through your body faster when you eat it in the first half of your day.

boring-human 3 hours ago

I don't disagree with your findings, but here's the model I use:

- Fiber: ^

- Dairy: v

- Coffee: ^^

- NSAIDs: vv

- Ice cream splurges: vvv

arethuza 2 hours ago

My breakfast routine for ~40 years has been coffee, muesli, coffee, yoghurt, coffee, fresh fruit all served with plenty coffee.

x______________ 3 hours ago

Interesting.

A great opportunity to add "YMMV"

Ballas 2 hours ago

Your Movements May Vary?

anonu an hour ago

YBMMV

flossly 3 hours ago

Did it!

CTDOCodebases 2 hours ago

Eating bitter greens can cause the body to secrete more bile and that speeds up fat digestion.

andsoitis 3 hours ago

Have you found that coffee speed things up?

sublinear an hour ago

I have, but I think any stimulant would do similar. I no longer smoke, but that did it too.

lordgrenville 3 hours ago

n=1

But interesting nonetheless, thanks for sharing your findings.

flossly 3 hours ago

I have a small following of people how also saw improvements doing this.

Then, I did not come up with this myself, but found a lot of anecdotals in this direction.

And... I comment on a real science piece that seems to be making similar claims.

paul7986 2 hours ago

For me i drink close to a gallon of water a day and that truly cleans me out daily.

calf 2 hours ago

Just to be clear I thought the typical advice has been fiber -> protein -> carbs, for blood sugar reasons, you're saying to frontload fiber/carbs & backload proteins for easier digestion? That is interesting, I wonder what studies there are on this.

vogelke 2 hours ago

> It's a one lane road and "over taking" is not possible.

Best poop-related comment I've seen.

altmanaltman 3 hours ago

What do you mean, the human stomach is absolutely not a "one line road", your comments lacks the basic biological understanding. What you're describing is a good generic diet and maybe that's why it feels good but please learn a bit more about the stuff you are expetimenting on.

flossly 3 hours ago

I did not mention stomach. I meant the GI-tract as a whole.

I've used food coloring and indigestibles (like corn kernels) to do experiments on whether meals can "overtake" or "merge" or "join" with other meals into poops.

jahller 2 hours ago

altmanaltman 23 minutes ago

SideburnsOfDoom 2 hours ago

I will add an anecdote that from observation, two people on the same diet over long periods can have significantly different poop frequencies, and differing regularity.

YMMV. It's not just determined by the food intakes, there are individual factors.

At a guess, these individual factors start with 1) genetic component to reactions to substances such as lactose and to caffeine. 2) Gut microbiome.

In other words, saying "change diet and you can change the poop schedule" is true, but "with this diet you will definitely get this schedule" is not.

alpineman an hour ago

Or just don't eat meat and cheese at all

mcv 34 minutes ago

Better for the environment too.

flyinglizard 24 minutes ago

deepsun 6 minutes ago

"Linked" not "caused". So it may be that someone with Parkinson's just happen to have slower rates.

Qem 13 minutes ago

I wonder if this explains in part the purported health benefits from cofee. One thing people claim makes hard to quit cofee habit it's that they can't take a shit in the morning anymore.

dustractor 26 minutes ago

This is why I suspect that GLP-1 agonist medications have the potential to cause a cascade of negative consequences for the health of some people. One of the mechanisms is slowed gastric emptying which leads to decreased motility of the small intestine as a side effect. They do tell people to drink more water to counteract this. It just seems like trading one set of problems for another so hopefully doctor and patient will carefully weigh the benefits versus the risks. We shall see.

iszomer an hour ago

Consumption of dairy and products are a relatively fast and painful solution for personal system purges within 30m but entirely depends on how processed they are.

DaedalusII 37 minutes ago

you may evaluate the concept of a milk enema, dramatic and rapid defecation ensues in comparison to a saline enema

fibermaxxx 2 hours ago

More fiber, more plants. I know individuals that eat "only vegetable on the burger" Oats, grits, or smoothie for early day Mine:Fruit smoothie with oats Starches, leafy greens, for midday Mine:roasted sweet potato on a salad Legumes and tree nuts for dinna Mine:Chickpea sauce over roasted veggies with pasta, or cashews.

The goal is more than 13 plants a day and your movement will be very consistent

sph 3 hours ago

I guess with my IBS I should be the healthiest person around.

phyzix5761 36 minutes ago

I wonder how Ozempic affects this because it slows down gastric emptying.

cess11 3 hours ago

https://gut.bmj.com/content/72/1/180

The study. It basically says that this is something one perhaps should consider in clinical settings and that the speed of fecal matter might be a worthwhile direction for future inquiry.

"Altogether, a better understanding of the complex, bidirectional interactions between the gut microbiota and transit time is required to better understand gut microbiome variations in health and disease."

It does not say 'this is a sign of health and that is not'.

jonatron 3 hours ago

I'm surprised there's no mention of hot drinks in the morning.

devolving-dev 4 hours ago

I wonder what this means for GLP 1 drugs that slow digestion.

andreareina an hour ago

Actual outcome data shows that they're a net benefit, and it's not even close.

bregma 29 minutes ago

I find I can't keep it down for more than a few minutes. I guess I can eat all the poop I want and stay healthy then?

Grp1 33 minutes ago

this post needs an enema

hhh 3 hours ago

And if I flip flop between both?

nacozarina 20 minutes ago

stress-induced

nobody dumps during their first two days of boot camp

beardyw 3 hours ago

If the writer ingested a lot, very little came out.

pawelduda 2 hours ago

Sooo.... Another reason to drink coffee/yerba mate? Although the latter also supposedly stimulates release of GLP1, which slows down "the release"

feverzsj 3 hours ago

Eat lots of fibers and water, and you'll poop like a cow.

sans_souse 4 hours ago

No shit

delis-thumbs-7e 3 hours ago

In that case you really should go and see a doctor ASAP.