Podcast Episode #38: All About Poop
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Episode #38 – The Poop Podcast
News:
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What we’re up to in the Workshop “off-season…”
Memorial Day Weekend: Liz will be at CrossFit Games Northeast Regionals as an Ambassador to Steve’s Club, the non-profit supported in part by Paleo Kits! Stop by the booth!
Diane will be there cheering on BIG J (Jason Shroeder of Brazen Athletics) in a sea of orange and purple!
July 13-15: Diane and Liz will be at the CrossFit Games in Los Angeles, CA
July 20: Diane will speak about nutrition at the Juvenile Arthritis Foundation Conference.
August 7: Diane’s book, Practical Paleo, released!
August 9-11: Ancestral Health Symposium in Cambridge, MA
Liz is doing the 21-Day Sugar Detox! Read why here.
Topics:
#1 : From backed up to too loose. [4:09]
#2: Child with excessively loose stools daily. [16:12]
#3: Messy eliminations. [29:15]
#4: HCl supplements, mucus and hard stool. [38:18]
#5: Trouble going and a stressful life [44:06
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#1 : From backed up to too loose.
Gemma asks,
HI Diane & LIz-
This question is a bit of a doozie, and I apologize for the fact that I’m about to share way too much information about by bowel movements. Here goes: for as long as I can remember, I’ve had normal healthy BMs twice a day, like clockwork. Since beginning a Paleo diet about a year and half ago, this has changed. While eating a clean Paleo diet, I find that I only eliminate every few days, and even then it’s a struggle. (Feeling constipated, very small eliminations) When I have a cheat meal or day, I have a normal movement, but nothing uncomfortable. I know that this may not seem like it’s out of the ordinary, but there’s more. As part of a gym challenge, we recently started eating Paleo in Zone proportions. This has resulted in a large increase in the number of veggies and fruit I eat, even though I *thought* I was eating a lot. My movements have become incredibly loose, frequent and urgent. I still have the urge first thing in the AM, but now I usually have 2 or 3 eliminations in the first hour of waking up. I understand that this is to be expected with increased fruits/veggies, however nothing has seemed to improved despite eating this Paleo/Zone way for 4 weeks straight. The rest of the foods we eat has stayed the same. I was supplementing with a daily probiotic, but I’ve cut it down to every 3 or 4 days and still have the issue. Eating Paleo has eliminated my husband’s IBS, yet I am having more toilet trouble than ever. 
Please help! (I am a-ok if you don’t read this on the podcast, but I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for all you do!)
Very clean Paleo/Zone diet: eggs, lean organic sausage, chicken, steak, ground beef, some fish. TONS of veggies including asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, brussels sprouts, spinach, cucumbers. Fruits include blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, apples, grapes. Try to get at least half my carbs from veggies. Use olive oil, butter, avocado & nuts for fat. Virtually no dairy, although it’s never bothered my digestion. Supplement with 3g fish oil daily, Jarrow formulas probiotic capsule every 3-4 days. Sleep well, 8 hours plus every night. Drinking tons of water daily. Crossfit 3-4 days a week.
#2: Child with excessively loose stools daily.
Karen asks,
Hey Diane and Liz,
So here is a question for you that I just can’t figure out. Hopefully you guys can help! =) I made the transition to eating clean, real, paleo food about a year and a half ago. Went cold turkey! And because I do all the cooking, my husband and three kids are along for the nutritional ride. =) My kids, still being little (now 2 years, 3 years, and 6 months old), made the transition smoothly. No fuss over no more pancakes or sandwiches. And my husband hardly complains either. That being said, we are almost 100% paleo at home (except for the occasional gluten free waffles a special treat every now and then). And when we eat out, which is no more than once a week if even that often, my husbad will eat whatever he wants off the menu, but I usually order the kids something gluten free and let them splurge on some grains and dairy (usually something like cheese quesadillas on corn tortillas). So really the only gluten exposure my kids have is at church, where they gi ve out animal crackers, and at Granny’s house, where she gives out lovely 100-calorie packs of cookies (sigh), and cake whenever we go to birthday parties and such.
So…that is the background. Here is the problem/question. My 2 year old son has TERRIBLE BMs. And when I say terrible, I mean that every single time he poops he ends up in the bathtub to clean up. IT IS NASTY! It is really smelly, watery like diarrhea, and grainy. This has been going on for about 3 months now. I talked to his pediatrician about it and she ran some labs to check for a bunch of stuff like giardia and other bacteria. Everything came back normal. She recommended a children’s chewable probiotic. That didn’t help. We chatted about possibly checking for some food allergies, but she told me that since he doesn’t eat much gluten the tests wouldn’t be accurate anyway. She doesn’t know what to do next and basically told us to wait it out?! SO my husband and i decided to put him on a strict 30 day elimination diet. No gluten, dairy or legumes AT ALL. (We ARE bringing in a box of gluten free animal crackers to church so he doesn 39;t feel left out…but other than that on Sunday mornings, no grains either). There is still no change in his BMs. HELP! Should we just continue with the super strict elimination diet for longer? Maybe 30 days isn’t enough? Can eating too much fruit cause this? I do let me kids eat a lot of fruit. Hmmm. Here is a basic day of food for my son:
bfast- 3 eggs and spinach cooked in coconut oil, a banana.
snack – nuts, apple, turkey slices, grapes (probably not all of those on the same day)
lunch – usually protein leftovers from dinner, sweet potatoes, orange
snack – banana/coconut smoothie, raisins, 90% dark chocolate (again, not all of these at the same time!)
dinner – some sort of quality protein source and 1-2 veggies
snack – carrots
Do you have any ideas? Suggestions? We are willing to try anything at this point. Thanks!!!!
#3: Messy eliminations.
Carolyn says: Got a poop question for ya!
But first just want to say how fantastic it has been listening to your podcast! I just started from BB podcast numero uno and slowly catching up to real time. I LOVE it and you both inspired me to start my own blog and spread the good word about Paleo/primal and how it has improved the health of myself and my family. Lovin every minute of it…
Except…Why do I have to wipe so much? I mean I know how to poop and wipe, I’ve been doing it for 27 years. But I have noticed that since going Paleo my poops aren’t as regular (once every other day) than before (which I read on the Paleo hacks blog might be because I’m absorbing more of the nutrients into my body so there isn’t as much waste?). Anyway, when I do go and I feel done, I have to wipe a lot. The poo is light brown in “flavor” and tube shaped with tapered ends (not sure if that is relevant but figured I’d throw it out there). Leaky butt? I don’t know. I mean I’m not trying to drop an O-ring and I feel finished, so what gives? Or doesn’t? When I try to go again nothing comes out. I realize how ridiculous this question sounds and it is a little embarrassing asking about it, but it has been really bothering me, in more ways than one. This has been happening every since we switched to Paleo.I f it is relevant I am not overweight, 5’3″, 115 pounds, I have been the same size for 12 years. Overall I feel really healthy.
SLEEP
Bed at 10:00/10:30, Up at 5:30/5:45 AM, so like 7.5 hours or so. I sleep like a baby and always have. Really no problems whatsoever in this department.
PALEO FOOD
6:15 AM 3 eggs, leftover veggies, 1 serving of fruit – sometimes a fruit salad with bananas, apples, pineapple and coconut milk
Mug of caffeinated tea with a tsp of palm sugar on my way to work.
Noon: dark leafy greens or veggie leftover, protein leftover from dinner (salmon, grass fed beef, chicken, we mix it up), piece of fruit
6:00 PM: protein grass fed beef, chicken, turkey try to mix it up.
Occasional snacks are 1/2 c nuts (all kinds), 2-3 pieces home made beef jerky, 1c baby carrots, 2 stalks celery and TBS almond butter
Water as needed, Paleo indulgences include 70% dark chocolate 2-3x per week and red wine 2-3x per week (too much?)
BEFORE PALEO:
We ate a “healthy plate diet”. Made a lot of fresh vegetables, tomato sauce from scratch, whole wheat pastas and bread. Organic everything as much as possible. Cereal for breakfast. Variety of fruits. Cakes and cookies really only on special occasions like birthdays or holidays so in our big family that means 1x per month or so.
#4: HCl supplements, mucus and hard stool.
Michelle asks,
I love the podcast, thank you for everything you do..I have recently started with HCL supplementation (have a history of low stomach acid). After a couple of weeks started noticing much harder stools and also noticed that i have much more phlegm-mucus. I don’t get the feeling of warmth or other discomforts. Should I be concerned? Thanks a lot. Follow paleo, supplement with multis, magn, vitamin D, have hypothyroid (on armour and synthroid), sleep ok (but wake up 4-5 times), exercise 20-30 min daily (lifting,walking)
#5: Trouble going and a stressful life.
Hi there,
My question is about my poop. sorry so gross haha but i dont go regularly have been eating strict paleo since sept 2011, and feeling great !! just not having great success with bowel movements etc. Im thinking im a little too go go go as in work etc. Im always super busy and sometimes stressed if its a really busy week. Im a personal trainer and a waitress so trying to juggle both. eat meat veggies small amounts of fruit mostly berries, few nuts, lots of coconut products like milk oil and flakes. and always have protein at every meal. eat very clean and never cheat so to speak. last time i did, yes that made me go to the loo!
I was wondering if you think i should take a pro-biotic or any foods i could consume to help my bowel movements ?
Thanks soooo much in advance i really hope you can help me 
Kind regards, Emily
Cheers!
Diane & Liz
About the author
Charissa Talbot is the Communication Coordinator for Balanced Bites and Lead Moderator for The 21 Day Sugar Detox. She has been a Fitness Professional for over five years and is currently a student studying Holistic Health Care at the South West Institute of the Healing arts while under the mentorship of Diane Sanfilippo.
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