“Did my cheese sandwich become a submarine?”

Your chair says far more about your health than you would imagine.

There are several clues to assess the chair. First of all, the most obvious: the consistency. The scale ranges from to liquid until to firmly. Unfortunately, most of us have experienced what a gastrointestinal virus feels like at one time or another. The result is then clear – the “pest control” should have an effect as quickly as possible and this is easiest in liquid form and ideally immediately. This shows a short-term change in stool. There are usually other reasons for persistently liquid stools. The other extreme is manifested by a stool that is too firm and therefore has constipating properties. As is often the case, the optimal consistency is found in the golden (probably brown) middle. And if this condition is not found, then the body shows through the changed stool that something is wrong.

Another factor is the “departure” of the stool in the toilet bowl. Does the chair sink completely or does it rather float on the surface? Do you need to use the toilet brush regularly or are there no visible residues? This says a lot about the way we were actually able to digest our food.

The smell also indicates knowledge about the intestinal absorption capacity. If the smell has a putrid, sulfurous component, the proteins are usually not absorbed well. If the smell has a sour note, then this is a sign that carbohydrate digestion is not optimal.

A healthy bowel movement should have the following characteristics:

• Do not cause pain

• No blood left behind

• Can be done without great (muscular) pressure. A soft consistency

• The shape of a cigar

• A dark brown color

• If possible, no visible leftover food

• A mild smell

• Sink completely into the toilet bowl (like a submarine :))

• If possible, leave no traces

In general, our external and internal living conditions, such as the social environment, our mental and psychological state or stress, have a major influence on many mechanisms in the body – including our digestion. In order to carry out serious research into the causes, a comprehensive picture of the existing symptoms and living conditions is required. Therefore, my aim is not to present you with an all-encompassing list of causes, but rather I would like to draw your attention to the important “switching points” in your body. They play a large part in the state of your digested food.

The digestive juices are not sufficient

The pancreas and gallbladder with their important digestive enzymes and juices are essential for digestion. If the two function physiologically, a sufficient amount of food-decomposing and -splitting products is added to the food pulp at the right time. This is once again perfectly coordinated. Only through the corresponding signals from the preceding organs in the digestive tract are the pancreas and gallbladder called into service. If signaling and signal reception are not optimal or the organs already have a progressive problem, there will ultimately be too few digestive juices. This can be reflected in the changed stool. Here, too, there are laboratory parameters that can check this precisely and are highly informative.

Our roommates are not the right ones

The microbiome, with all its diverse bacteria, viruses and parasites, can also cause a changed stool pattern if it is unfavorably distributed. To a large extent, we ourselves are responsible for which residents live in our intestines. After all, we feed and influence them with everything we eat. This means not only through food, but also through medications, toxins from smoke, environmental toxins, etc.

Fiber has an extremely positive influence on the flora and accordingly on the stool. However, if our main meals consist of high-calorie and very starchy foods, this can “grow” unfavorable intestinal flora. This can also be determined through laboratory diagnostics in order to initiate appropriate treatment and lifestyle changes.

The immune system is in constant operation

You may remember the surface area that your intestines have when fully rolled out. The area of ​​a football penalty area requires an optimal defensive line so that attacks can be limited and control is maintained. The immune system in an active state constantly requires resources and energy to remain active. If the gut-associated immune system has to constantly fight off a horde of foreign invaders that don’t mean us any good, the issue of proper digestion is of secondary importance.

Our penalty area-sized protective shield from the outside world has too many holes

Another, more well-known syndrome is leaky gut syndrome. Translated it means something like “permeable intestine”. Per se, it makes sense that our intestines can be permeable. Otherwise our important nutritional building blocks and micronutrients would never reach the cells. As already mentioned before, there is a lot going on with the intestinal barrier. When the digested food enters the small intestine, the immune police must first check everything before the individual substances can actually get behind the barrier and enter the blood system. As is so often the case, our body needs periods of rest after strenuous activities, otherwise there is a risk of overload in the long term. Here too, evolution shows us once again: the mechanism makes a lot of sense in the short term, but not in a permanently active state. This also applies to the intestinal barrier. If we constantly eat, consume certain foods or are exposed to many (psychoemotional) stressors, the intestinal barrier becomes partially permeable and permeable. Then it can happen that not only the nutrients from the cheese bread get inside, but also a lot of uncontrolled material, such as bacteria, fungi and other environmental toxins from the door handle of the bakery. The immune system is not happy about it.

As I described in the last article, the digestive system is a perfectly coordinated process. You can imagine it like an orchestra in which every single person contributes to a full and round sound. As soon as a person doesn’t hit the beat perfectly or doesn’t hit a note optimally, it’s not noticeable in the overall picture. However, if the errors accumulate and other musicians begin to make mistakes, it becomes increasingly noticeable.

Therefore, you shouldn’t worry about your bowel movements every time and do an in-depth analysis. The medium to long-term impression is much more important. If things manifest themselves that deviate significantly from the list above, it would make sense to take a look at your lifestyle or have a real stool analysis in the laboratory with appropriate evaluation by an expert consultant. If problems such as persistent severe pain, bleeding or other very unusual symptoms occur, this should definitely be clarified with a doctor.

The digestive tract with all its many stations is and remains a miracle of nature and has adapted to our food and our environment as best as possible over the millennia. While our previous relatives had a significantly longer intestine due to their extremely high-fiber diet, our intestines have become significantly shorter today. The reason for this is our food, which has been cooked, chopped up and made much easier to digest – of course only with a well-functioning digestive orchestra. And this is exactly what consists of the many digestive organs, which we now understand a little better through our journey with cheese bread.

Let’s rewind to the beginning: anus, large intestine, small intestine, stomach, … where did the journey start again? Oh yes – exactly, a lot of things are already prepared and digested in the mouth. It might be worth taking a closer look: Why health can start in the mouth…

Hollister EB, Gao C, Versalovic J. Compositional and functional features of the gastrointestinal microbiome and their effects on human health. Gastroenterology. 2014;146(6):1449-1458.

Vandeputte D, Falony G, Vieira-Silva S, et al Stool consistency is strongly associated with gut microbiota richness and composition, enterotypes and bacterial growth rates Gut 2016;65:57-62.

Lemay, DG, Baldiviez, LM, Chin, EL, Spearman, SS, Cervantes, E., Woodhouse, LR, … & Laugero, KD (2021). Technician-scored stool consistency spans the full range of the Bristol scale in a healthy US population and differs by diet and chronic stress load. The Journal of Nutrition, 151(6), 1443-1452.