Do You Understand Your Poo?
Our bodies are getting bombarded every day with harmful toxins like chemicals in food, pollution in the air, along with many other every-day contaminants like fragrances, beauty shop products, and household cleaning supplies. Even our body’s own natural processes are sources of free-radicals.
The good news is that our bodies are very well designed and have ways to filter out and get rid of these harmful by-products through what are known as “primary pathways of elimination.” And you guessed it—the digestive system is one of those pathways that help keep your body healthy.
A key concept to keep in mind when considering this is that the body is a flow system. Every single system has a specific function that works in conjunction with all of the other systems of the body for one overriding purpose: to keep YOU alive and well.
In the case of the digestive system, one of its main functions is to absorb nutrients and eliminate whatever it is that your body decides it doesn’t need, including all those toxins talked about above. And how does the digestive system do that? It does it in the form of bowel movements and, well, to put it simply…poop!
Like we mentioned before, the body is a flow system. If the body’s bowel functions aren’t working properly, it’s going to send the other systems of the body into overdrive in an attempt to compensate for the job the digestive system isn’t doing well. Not only is this bad because it puts extra stress on other organs like the liver and kidneys, it’s bad because those other organs aren’t designed to do exactly what your digestive system was designed to do. So those toxins that were supposed to get dumped out by your digestive system are being reabsorbed. The other organs of the body are inefficient at properly flushing out the toxins and are much less effective at doing their own specific job because they’re dealing with a heavier work load. As soon as there’s a back up in digestion, it’s pretty easy to end up in a slow (or sometimes fast), but sure downward spiral in health.
Your digestive system is one of the easiest ways to monitor what’s going on inside your body. It’s one of the first symptoms that can alert you to something going awry. Bowel movements can help us monitor everything from how hydrated we are to how well our vital organs of elimination are working. Keeping this pathway of elimination open will immensely help your other organs do their job well and will let your body focus on keeping you healthy.
That being said, how do you know if your body’s digestive system is working properly? It’s not uncommon to be unsure about what constitutes a healthy bowel movement. According to a study as reported by Dr. Jenson in his book, Dr. Jenson’s Guide to Better Bowel Care, from the National College of Chiropractic in Chicago, 285 of 300 people surveyed about their bowel habits claimed to have “normal” bowel patterns with no constipation. Ironically upon investigation, 285 of the 300 people had constipation issues. This can either mean that people aren’t properly educated on what it means to have a healthy bowel movement or that people don’t like talking about their bowel habits.
Either way, it’s time to get honest and educated about poop!
