Day 10

So tired this morning.  Was up late watching a movie with friends and initially hit snooze when my alarm went off but then I remembered a text I got last night from a friend asking if I'd spent more time in prayer like I've been saying I want to.  Well, I couldn't just go back to sleep after thinking about that, so I got up and spent 45 minutes with God.  Just praying that I'd focus on Him today, eliminate everything that isn't from Him and not let things of this world distract me.  Good start to the day.

Breakfast: Chicken, spinach and onion scramble with a few pear slices.  Still using up that spicy chicken from the other night.  It's really good diced up in a scramble, especially with the spinach (I prefer spinach over kale  but I understand the importance of varying your greens).  I'm not sure this was a big enough breakfast since I'm not snacking today...we'll see.

Workout: Insanity.  It's so weird because I'm not sore.  Like, at all.  But the simple act of walking up the stairs makes me realize I've really been using my muscles.  My legs are fatigued to the point of wishing I could grab the dog and let her pull me up the stairs with her.  I workout with the windows open and the heat off but I still get really sweaty...gross.

PWM: Protein, healthy fats and veggies.  That's what I'm supposed to be eating.  So, I cut up a baby cucumber and went to scramble an egg.  Turns out that I turned around and the egg has already set so I ended up with a flat yet delicious omelette-y type thing.

Lunch: I busted out the BLTEG (bacon, lettuce, tomato, egg, guac for those of you who weren't sure on that) with a large bed of mixed greens, several chopped cherry toms, a baby cucumber, 3 pieces of bacon, two eggs and a heap of homemade guac (1/2 an avo worth) I paired it with crispy asparagus and a cup of the chicken enchilada soup I made and froze a few weeks ago.  Honestly, I'm not a fan of the soup.  It was really thick (like tomato sauce) so I added some broth but then I don't think the veggies were cooked quiet long enough and there were too many veggies and not enough chicken.  I'll try it again before deciding if I want to toss it or not.  Did I eat enough lunch to make it without snacking till dinner?  We'll see.

Snacking: As I was packing the girls after-school snack I saw the fruit salad I put together last night.  I immediately wanted some.  But I'm not hungry.  Like, at all.  It really just is the sugar I'm after.  Dang it!  Ok...no fruit.  Got it.  I made some tea and started chewing gum like my life depended on it.

Dinner: Well, I had a sugar withdrawal headache all afternoon.  If I would have been following the whole "no snacking, use fruits minimally" thing from the get go, I would have experienced this last week.  Well...I didn't.  And I'm feeling it now.  Ugh.  I was planning on having homemade chicken soup with the girls for dinner but then I looked at the ingredients on the chicken broth from the work pantry and whaddaya know...there is sugar in the broth.  Really?!  Stupid!  So, last minute I threw together a meal with what I had on hand.  The rest of that fajita chicken from Monday, over a bed of garlic sautéed kale and spinach, a side of sweet potato "chips" and zucchini fries.  YUM!!  So delicious.  However, I'm not convinced I'm full and I still want that dang fruit salad!  Water and more tea...that'll be my snack tonight.  Better planning tomorrow for bigger meals.

Following the recipe on the link above, I seasoned the zucchini with
salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder and paprika.

Thoughts:
I'm trying to slow down my eating.  I eat really fast.  I've decided that I need to give myself a full 15 minutes, at least, to eat each meal.  Give my brain time to recognize that I'm actually eating, what it is I'm eating and give myself a fighting change to let my body tell me I'm full.  Putting down the fork between bites, chewing instead of inhaling.  We'll see how it goes.



Next, here's the poop...no, really, we're gonna talk about poop today so if that's not your thing, stop reading now--don't worry, it's not getting personal...I've just had a few questions from people about what healthy poop is, so I thought I'd get to the bottom of it...pun intended...

I've done a little research and I think it'd just be best to pull from this blog I found:

Digestion in a nutshell

To get to the “end” we have to start at the beginning.  Your BM starts its journey as food. Food starts off  in the mouth getting chewed and mixed with enzymes that starts digestion.  The food gets pushed down to the stomach where  it’s mixed with more enzymes that break down protein.  Then into the small intestine where everything your cells need to live is absorbed by the lining of the small intestine, goes into the blood, and gets distributed to all the cells of you body.

Anything left over that is not used by the body as fuel goes to the large intestine.

Your large intestine is about as long as you are tall and it is the place where water gets absorbed and re-absorbed.  The waste moves through and collects in the sigmoid colon. The sigmoid pushes the poop further on down the line and it collects in the rectum.  Truly healthy rectums are filled and emptied daily.

If all is well, a nicely formed, light brown, somewhat soft, bowel movement is pushed out of the anus (mostly by the internal contractions of the rectum) and voila! A turd is born!

Stool is 75% water, 8.3% dead bacteria, 8.3% live bacteria, and 8.4% indigestible fiber.

But in order for that turd to be “healthy” at the end, it needs fiber and water at the beginning.  Without these two important elements in the diet, there can be no healthy poo.

Does this look like your poo?

Everyone should be looking in the toilet to see what you’ve left behind from your behind.  It’s only when you know your poo, that you really know you!

Poo #1

You go about 1 time daily usually at the same time.  Your poo is soft but formed and it is described as a snake rather than a sausage.  It is light brown to medium brown in color.  There is no pain or effort.  There is no “plopping” sound.  When you wipe the toilet paper is pretty clean.

What this says: You have mastered the art of truly zen bowel movements.  You are healthy and get plenty of water (goal 64 oz/day) Raw fruits and veggies are a main staple of your diet.  You don’t eat a lot of dairy, white starch (white rice, white pasta, bread…) or processed food.  You exercise regularly.

Bravo! You are the kung-poo master!

Poo #2

You feel like you want to go, but it only happens 2 x week or less.  When it does happen there are grunting sounds followed by tearing eyes and a huge sigh of relief when it’s over.  Sometimes you feel a bit dizzy when your done.  Your poop, even though you’ve worked very hard at it, is only a tiny hard marble (or many marbles) and it makes a splash when it hits the water.  You might see a little bit of bright red blood in the toilet or on the tissue.  

What this says:  Your diet probably consists of fries and donuts washed down with coffee. You are a huge coffee drinker (large amounts of coffee, more than 2 cups/day, on a regular basis dehydrate your system).  You can’t remember the last time you ate anything raw…..and ketchup is your daily vegetable.  Water isn’t water unless it’s a Coke.  Your exercise is taking a shower.  You probably have a lot of bloating and cramping and are always complaining that you are tired.  

How to get a “zen BM”:  Start with your water intake.  This is a simple way to improve your bowels.  Since your poop contains mostly water and fiber, you can’t poop if you don’t put that in your mouth.  A daily 15 minute walk would also help.

The smaller your poop is, the more stressed you are.  The more relaxed the colon is, the longer (not bigger) the stool is.

Bright red blood, a little bit, means you might have hemorrhoids or tiny tears in your rectum (like paper cuts on your butt hole) that you get from too much straining.  (Anything persistent or  more than just a little bit should get checked by your doctor right away) When you strain, you are performing a “valsalva maneuver”.  This strain puts pressure on the heart reducing the amount of blood that is pumped out.  For most healthy people, this is not a problem, but if you have an underlying heart condition (that you may not be aware of) it can cause problems.

Think about it….do you want them to find you dead….like that?
Straining can also cause little tears in your retina causing you to see “floaters” (not in the toilet….in your vision).  This usually corrects on its own.  But, really, if you’re pushing so hard you are making your eyes bleed, don’t you think it’s time for a change?

Poo #3  

Your poop is formed, but you see “stuff” in it. Sometimes they sink and sometimes they float.  

What this says:  You’ve eaten something that your body can’t digest.  For example, the outer shell of corn kernels are made of cellulose–totally indigestible by your body.  If you were to pull those kernels out (I don’t recommend this) you would find the inside of the shell is gone.

Floaters are poops with gas in them.  If you drink a lot of carbonated drinks, you most likely  have floaters.  Sinkers don’t have as much gas.  Either is fine it just depends on your diet.

Poo #4  

You poop fine, but sometimes it’s strange colors like green and yellow

What this says:    You eat colorful stuff.  Dark green veggies like spinach, will turn your poop greenish.  Artificial blue dye like in Gatorade and blue ice pops will turn your poop a bright green (like glow in the dark).  Beets will turn your stools darker. (and will turn your pee a beautiful sunset color)

Light or clay colored stools could mean there is a problem with your liver and should be checked out.

Yellow stools can sometime mean there is blood disorder as it is the broken down “dead” red blood cells that are digested that give poop it’s brown color.

Black stools mean that you are breaking down and digesting living red blood cells, that is, you are bleeding somewhere in your digestive tract.   (those vampires must have some black stools, eh?)  Dark stools can also be the result of certain medications or iron supplements.

Persistant black or light colored stools should always be evaluated by a doctor.

Poo #5

I know poop stinks, but even I can’t take it!

What this says : You are probably a meat eater. Digested meat is stinkier than veggies. Also certain other foods like spicy beans produce gasses in your bowel that produce noxious gasses in your bathroom.

Doody also is loaded with bacteria.  (E.Coli is the main one).  This is normal and is necessary for normal poop production.  These bacteria produce gasses when they grow and reproduce.  It is these gasses that smell.

If the smell is bad and strange, and you see fatty snot in your poop, you may have fat collecting in your stool.  This is not normal as fat is normally digested by enzymes and processes in your stomach and small intestines.  If there’s fat, something in that process is not working and it should be checked out. 

Poo #6                                                                                                                                                                                  

I go 3x/day and it’s very soft or liquid.  I feel bloated and get cramps a lot. 

What this says:     This probably happens when you have a deadline at work coming up or have to take a test at school.  Acute stress can cause you body to become hyperactive and this also translated to your bowels.  If the stool is pushed through too quickly, there is no time for the water to become re-absorbed, so it comes out with too much water in it.    

Virusus can also cause inflammation of the bowel and spasms causing the stool to be moved along too fast. Intestinal viruses usually move through your system in a few days.

Prolonged loose stools can cause dehydration. Any prolonged diarrhea that lasts for more than 1 week or that are accompanied by fever or blood should always be evaluated by a professional.  Diarrhea in children is particularly dangerous as they can become dehydrated quickly.

Many occasional loose stool problems are diet related.  Dairy is the usual culprit. Artificial sweeteners like sorbitol is another.                                           

Some other fun stuff to know about #2

• you can have from 5 to 25 pounds of stool in your body depending on your size and type of diet.

• close the lid on the toilet before you flush.  The flushing agitates the water (and feces) so that tiny droplets of water are hurled up to 20 feet.  (I’m betting it’s less than that to your toothbrush, isn’t it?)

• using witch hazel, a natural product that has been used for thousands of years, can ease the pain of  hemorrhoids. Here is a great and trusted company that has wonderfully pure witch hazel extract. Soak some cotton cloths or cotton balls and place them on your anus (not the planet) for 10 minutes or so.  You can also use witch hazel in a sitz bath.  Hey, who says being anal is a bad thing?

• Bird  poop is white and pasty, because they can’t urinate, so they mix everything together and it all comes out at once–right on your freshly washed car!

• some say processed “chemically enhanced” foods never really leave your digestive tract.  That means you probably have some food from when you were a baby in your gut right now.

• In 1998 Friedrich Riesfeldt, a German zoo keeper was killed when the elephant he was treating for constipation crapped on him, covering him and killing him.

If you think there is something wrong with your bowels, please see you doctor.  None of this information should be used to diagnose or treat you. 

A few other things I picked up about poo on Whole30/Paleo blogs:

If you're not going, try drinking some Kombucha.  It's a natural probiotic and one bottle a day for a few days should loosen you up and start the flow.

I've also heard that eating at least half a sweet potato daily will help keep you regular and a just right consistency.

I caught a Dr. Oz segment years ago about poo and he said that you should be striving for a "C" or "S" shape when it's all said and done.  This means it's a Poo #1 (described above) and is taking the shape of the bowel--not too firm, not too soft.

As for pee: Lighter is better.  Dark yellow is bad news bears.  You're dehydrated.  Get some water, stat!  Asparagus and high quantities of other veggies can change the perfume of your tinkle so don't be alarmed as your body is adjusting to your new diet of veggies and healthy/lean fats and proteins.

Got more questions?  Google it...I'm not really excited about hearing all about everyone's potty breaks!