Twenty-nine-year-old Roslyn Kent (@plantsfirstnutrition) knows a thing or two about number two. She's a registered holistic nutritionist based in Canada, and she's been going viral on TikTok for sharing some things you might not know about having a healthy and satisfying bowel-clearing poo.
In one video that's been viewed more than 2.8 million times, Roslyn shares three ways you can tell if you're "fully emptying" when you poop, and it had commenters realizing that they've never once enjoyed the kind of pooping experience that she describes.
In the video, Roslyn says, "The number one thing you should be paying attention to on a weekly basis is your transit time. This is quite simply how long it takes food to move through your system from ingestion to elimination. And the best way to test that is by adding 1 tablespoon of white sesame seeds to water stirred up and drink it back at dinnertime and see how long it takes for you to see that in the toilet."
Next, Roslyn says you'll want to be able to wipe clean on the first try: "When you wipe, it's a clean wipe. You shouldn't have to be wiping, wiping, wiping. Wipe or, ideally, you're using a bidet...and then you are wiping dry, which again should be clean."
And finally, she says that a fully emptying poo should simply feel good: "You should feel satisfied. Your gut should feel happy. Your gut should feel calm, and you shouldn't feel like you are incredibly bloated or distended. Trust me, there is nothing better than the satisfaction and the overall feeling after you have a great epic bowel movement."
And in the comments, Roslyn heard from people whose bowels move verrrry slowly and from folks who put the "go" in "get up and go."
And others wondered what they should do if they're always having to wipe and wipe and wipe again.
Basically, a lot of our poops seem to fall into the "needs improvement" bucket.
Roslyn told BuzzFeed that her own IBS diagnosis in high school led her to study nutrition. "Over the course of my teens and early 20s, I jumped through a number of different hoops trying to figure out what was wrong with my gut and how to feel better, but conventional medicine only left me more confused than confident in how to move forward," she said. "I was offered standardized 'solutions' such as 'follow the low FODMAP diet,' 'drink more water,' and 'take a fiber supplement,' but none of these really addressed the root cause of my dysbiosis and gut health imbalance."
And she shared a bit more about the concept of "transit time" that she introduced in her TikTok: "Your transit time is the time elapsed between the ingestion and elimination of the food you consume. The majority of our stool is bacteria and water, but nonetheless, fiber is still very much present, along with certain food particles that aren’t very well digested. Sesame seeds are hard to chew, and the tough, fibrous nature of their shell makes for a good indicator of transit time, since they end up being visible on the other end."
If your transit time is in the constipation range, this means you have waste building up in your bowels, which is not comfy. Roslyn recommends, "If you have a 36-hour (or more) transit time, that just means you likely have backed-up stool in your colon and need to start taking a motility agent. A motility agent is any supplement, traditional laxative (including medications), or herb that helps you have a bowel movement. I personally like to use magnesium citrate in my practice because it’s a gentle osmotic laxative, which draws water into the intestines, making for an easier BM."
She also suggests doing your business from a squatting rather than sitting position. "Use a Squatty Potty or stool to elevate your legs off the ground so they’re at a 45-degree angle. This helps to properly align your eliminatory organs so you’re in a squatting versus sitting position. As humans, we're meant to squat, not sit, when we have a bowel movement!"
And, of course, she says nutrition plays a big role here as well: "I also recommend slowly building up your fiber intake while simultaneously reducing your saturated fat intake. Saturated fat in the absence of fiber (think eggs, dairy, red meat, coconut oil, palm oil, butter) slows down motility substantially, in addition to creating negative changes in gut bacteria in the microbiome."
But don't overdo it on fiber all at once. Roslyn says you'll have better results and feel better if you step up your intake gradually: "In order to build up your fiber intake, you have to start low and go slow. Fiber will always be fermented in the gut by our beneficial gut microbes. Typically, this process is fantastic, as it creates something called short-chain fatty acids, which help directly to heal the gut lining, reduce food sensitivities, decrease inflammation, and so much more. But in a constipated, backed-up gut, it’s going to create a ton of discomfort in the form of bloating and gas, which ultimately feeds into the constipation cycle by creating more backup."
To bring up your fiber intake, Roslyn says breakfast is a great place to start: "I recommend adding in a plant-forward breakfast option such as oatmeal, a smoothie, or whole wheat toast with avocado and sprouts (or similar) to start. Then, from there, you can increase your consumption of veggies, fruits, whole grains, and beans and legumes. The latter two are our soluble fiber-rich superstars that help microbiome health immensely. The goal is to consume 30 or more unique plant foods in a week."
She also emphasizes the importance of getting enough exercise for a healthy gut. "If you’re not moving, your gut won’t, either. I’m a big advocate for brisk walking over HIIT [high-intensity interval training] workouts, but so long as your nervous system isn’t dysregulated due to chronic stress, any exercise will do. Invest in a standing desk, go for a walk midday, take the stairs, walk versus drive, etc. The more natural movement, the better. Sitting at a desk for eight hours a day has certainly changed the way our gut moves (or doesn’t)."
She also shared the eye-opening info that you can poop every day and still be constipated: "Most people assume that if they're pooping every day, then they’re not constipated — but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Most of the women I work with in my practice are pooping on a (mostly) daily basis when they start working with me. But the volume is small and the consistency is often hard or dry. You need to be fully eliminating most days to keep your bowels in a rhythm and avoid backup in the colon."
Finally, Roslyn says that making time for a healthy poop can really make a difference: "If I could give one tip to constipated folks, it would be to make time to poop! If your schedule is not conducive to having a healthy BM in the morning (that isn’t rushed), constipation will be inevitable in a lot of cases."
