While it’s not exactly fodder for brunch conversation, understanding just how often it’s “normal” to poop per day is important. After all, regularly pooping allows you to clear out waste, bacteria, and indigestible plant material from your system, keeping your digestion humming along nicely. In fact, the frequency of your poop can be one of the best indicators of your overall health and whether you have an underlying issue, like a food sensitivity or infection, that needs to be addressed. Functional medicine doctor (and healthy poop enthusiast) Wendie Trubow, M.D., agrees: “In an ideal world, eating will stimulate the need to use the bathroom,” she says. “At a minimum, one is expected to have a bowel movement once a day, but it could easily be three times in a day if the gut is functioning well.” This suggestion differs a bit from what you’ll hear elsewhere. Many articles state that pooping as infrequently as three times a week is still in a “normal” range, but our experts say that this certainly isn’t optimal. While someone may not have a serious health issue at this frequency, they would likely be pretty uncomfortable, says Pedre. The ideal range for you will be at whatever point within this range (one to three times per day) you feel your best—meaning, you’re not straining nor are you bolting to the bathroom. Others causes of weird bowel movements may be an indicator that you need to make some dietary and lifestyle changes. But if you notice abnormal changes in your bowel habits, it is important to let your doctor know. You may need to have your colon examined to screen for underlying issues that might be contributing to this change. The problem with not pooping enough? For one, when your poop remains in your intestines, it’s not doing its job to naturally remove waste from your body, says Pedre. Not to mention, it could cause painful hemorrhoids from straining. Oftentimes, simple changes such as taking a probiotic with Bifidobacterium (or a spore-based probiotic), increasing fluid intake, eating more high-fiber foods like leafy greens, and engaging in regular physical activity can help manage constipation and get you back into balance.* The problem with pooping too much? Overly rapid transit through the gut may decrease the absorption2 of essential nutrients since the gut does not have time for proper uptake, says Trubow. Dehydration, fatigue, and anal irritation are also a concern, says Pedre. If you’re pooping too frequently (and you don’t think it’s caused by something like a stomach bug), there are several things you can try at home. Adding in a multi-strain probiotic is always a good idea to help digestion run smoothly, says Pedre.* Also, incorporating starches like rice and boosting your intake of soluble fiber (e.g., gluten-free oatmeal) can help bulk up your stool as well. As far as your daily diet, Trubow suggests experimenting with decreasing or eliminating gluten and dairy for a period of time, as these tend to be the most irritating. If that does nothing, you can try a more comprehensive elimination diet, or a low-FODMAP diet to help identify a different food trigger. “Poop can range in shapes from what I’ll call ‘bunny poops,’ which indicate constipation, to a thick pipe (ideal), to watery, which indicates either an infectious source, too little fiber, or some kind of irritable process like a food sensitivity or reaction,” says Trubow. “Poop can be a number of colors as well depending on what you are eating, which you know if you’ve ever eaten beets, but tends toward shades of brown, from light to dark.” Additionally, having a bowel movement, which is triggered by the relaxation of the sphincter muscles, should never be painful or make you strain, says Trubow. (Not sure if your poop looks normal? You should be type 3 or type 4 on the Bristol Stool Chart3.)
