Poop. Did you know that what lands in your toilet every day is the most honest report card your body will ever hand you?

In episode 429, I’ll answer all the poop, constipation, and gut health questions you’ve always wanted to ask, and we’re going to do it rapid-fire because you sent in so many.

Here’s what most people never realize: a large proportion of your poop is living and dead bacteria, not the food you ate. That means its size, shape, color, and smell are telling you how well you’re feeding your gut buddies. Give them what they want to eat, and you’ll see a giant coiled snake looking back up at you. Don’t, and you get little hard pellets, or worse.

I’ll explain how often you should really be going, when blood in your stool means it’s time to see a doctor, and why floating, greasy, or clay-colored stools deserve your attention.

We’ll also get into coffee, undigested food, fecal transplants, and whether there’s a right way to sit on the toilet. Because the road to health is paved with good intestines.

Some of the questions I’ll answer in this episode:

• (03:04) What is your poop actually made of? It’s not what you think, and it could explain why yours is getting smaller.
• (09:17) Is “just eat more fiber” the answer? This Stanford study will surprise you.
• (15:24) Why does your poop float and look greasy?
• (17:19) Why does your dog never need toilet paper? And what does it say if you do?
• (19:00) Why this mineral is the only laxative you need
• (21:08) Why a once-popular “cleanse” should be banned. (It was a misguided theory in the 1800s, but people are still paying for it.)
• (24:59) Do your bowels really slow down as you age?
• (25:21) What happens when you get a fecal transplant from a modern hunter-gatherer tribe?

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