movement | The Paleo Mom

Paleo Cinnamon Buns

When I was a teenager, my Uncle Bill taught me how to make real cinnamon buns. You know, the kind with yeast-based bread? It was a revelation and became one of my favorite treats to make. One batch would make a whole delicious pan, full of thousands of gluten-filled calories. And last about an hour.
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Grug’s Barbecued Stuffed Bananas—A Recipe Inspired by The Croods

Who is Grug? He is the overprotective yet loving dad (voiced by Nicolas Cage) in the new DreamWorks Animation film, The Croods. The Croods is about a family of cavemen forced to embrace change. This movie looks like a whole lot of fun and I can’t wait to take my girls to see it (you
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Puerto Rican Plantain Lasagna (Pastelon)

Plantain lasagna? Really? Yes! And what a delicious and comforting meal! Perfect for this time of year! This is another recipe modified from one that Gloria sent me (thank you Gloria!). I made this for my mother-in-law’s birthday while she was visiting and it was a hit! My mother-in-law was amazed—mostly at how you don’t
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Perfect Paleo Pancakes

These hotcake-style pancakes were a serendipitous accident. I was working on a crepe recipe (which I will be posting soon!) and my first attempt was not crepe-like at all, but a light fluffy and delicious, if maybe a little too thin, pancake. Once my crepe recipe was perfected, my next priority became to take a
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Product Review: The Squatty Potty (yes, that is what it sounds like)

February 23, 2013 in Beyond Paleo, Gut Health, Product Reviews

One of the amazing things about my blog growing so quickly is that I now get asked quite frequently to review products. I’ve learned the art of saying no and now only review products that I’m truly interested in. Yes, I was truly interested in trying out a squatty potty.

When the squatty potty PR department asked me if I was “pooping wrong” (literally, that was the subject of the e-mail), I was initially perplexed (isn’t that a bit of a personal question, and why the heck are you asking a mom paleo blogger to review a poop stool?) and then intrigued. I watched the video on their website (which had me smirking). I thought about it overnight, but by morning, my curiosity had the better of me. I responded with a “Yes, please”.

I’ve mentioned this before in other posts (like this one on constipation, which I recently updated) that prior to paleo, I had suffered Irritable Bowel Syndrome with chronic constipation for 12 years. For 12 years prior to paleo, I was on a rotating mixture of laxatives and stool softeners. Once, when I was in grad school, I spent an entire night in the emergency room where the very helpful resident diagnosed me as “full of sh*t” (yes, he literally said that like it was the funniest joke ever) and prescribed a very powerful enema (I was having severe abdominal pain because it had been 2 weeks since my last BM). I am fairly certain that I have permanent nerve damage as a result of more than a decade of chronic constipation. And I still battle the Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth that likely caused it in the first place. Even now, when I give into cravings and eat starchy vegetables, coconut or too much fruit, my symptoms are bloating and constipation. So, yes, the issue of pooping is near and dear to my heart.

So, what’s the deal with the squatty potty? Well, basically the squatty potty is a very cleverly designed stool. It allows you to raise your knees high enough that your body is in a squatting position even though you’re still sitting on the toilet (you can actually properly squat and hover if you prefer). I borrowed the graphic below from the squatty potty website to show how this change in position changes the internal alignment. It means that a) gravity is working for you, and b) everything is lined up so you aren’t trying to push around a corner.

Squatting is a natural position for, well, many things. It’s actually one of the things that Mark Sisson talks about in his (completely awesome) new book: The Primal Connection. Before chairs, people would squat to relax, to eat, to chat. Squatting is a natural position for giving birth. And of course, before the invention of the toilet, squatting was the only position available. After all the natural childbirth education I went through before having my daughters, you’d think I would have drawn the connection between squatting as a birth position to help push out a baby and squatting as a poop position. Well, better late than never. Suffice it to say, squatting is a natural position for pooping.

There’s also some really convincing scientific studies supporting squatting as a healthier way to poop (of course, scientific studies use more technical terms than “poop”). For example, this study compared the Iranian-style toilet (squatting style) to the European-style toilet (what you are probably used to) and concluded:

“Use of the Iranian-style toilet seems to be a more comfortable and efficient method of bowel evacuation than the European style. Further studies are needed to ascertain the optimal approximation of the measurements to standard height of toilets for ordinary use.”

And this study concluded:

“The results of the present study suggest that the greater the hip flexion achieved by squatting, the straighter the rectoanal canal will be, and accordingly, less strain will be required for defecation.”

And this is my favorite study, which concludes:

“The present study confirmed that sensation of satisfactory bowel emptying in sitting defecation posture necessitates excessive expulsive effort compared to the squatting posture.”

The squatty potty fixes your posture while going to the bathroom. And this simple change can dramatically improve constipation, hemorrhoids, colon disease, urinary difficulty/infections, and pelvic floor issues (just in case you thought this was limited to ease of pooping). Did I mention that Mark Sisson plugs the squatty potty in his book? (I only read The Primal Connection just over a week ago, so I was feeling all proud of myself that I was already using a squatty potty when I read that chapter.)

In the paleo community, we are passionate about natural movement. We climb trees and wear vibrams. So, think of the squatty potty as MoveNat for pooping. PoopNat, if you will.

So, what is my personal experience with the squatty potty? I’ve been using it for about 6 weeks (I wanted to give it a thorough trial run before writing this review). And, as my 6-year old would say, holly smolly guacamole. This thing is ridiculously awesome. It is not natural to love a stool as much as I do, but I can’t help it. It really is more comfortable and easier to go from a squatting position. It doesn’t feel like work (and, at least for me, it used to feel like work more often than not). And, I have overdone sugar in the last 6 weeks (wish I could say that was in order to thoroughly test out the squatty potty, but it’s really just giving into sugar cravings due to being overrun with writing the book) and had the usual response by my body. But, I didn’t have to suffer the severe discomfort of going to the bathroom after my sugar indulgence that I normally do thanks to the squatty potty. Yes, I am very impressed. Actually, I am in love.

The only downside? Less time to read.

Lest you think that any stool can do this job, let me tell you a couple of features of the squatty potty that make it worth the $10-$20 extra bucks over a regular stool. It’s wide so you can place your feet in a variety of positions depending on your hip width and what’s comfortable for you. It’s slightly angled so you can have your feet slightly angled up or down depending on the flexibility in your ankles and what’s comfortable for you. And probably best of all, it tucks right under the toilet bowl due to its shape so it is completely out of your way when you aren’t using it. I now only go to the bathroom in the one bathroom in the house than has a squatty potty… time to buy another one, I think. Actually, I think these will make great Christmas presents this year (head’s up family, you’re getting poop stools for Christmas! And a copy of The Paleo Approach. Woot!).

So, where can you get a squatty potty? You can buy them direct from www.squattypotty.com and you can buy them off amazon. The 9” squatty potty is better if you are tall, are fairly flexible, or have a higher toilet. The 7” squatty potty is better if you are shorter, less flexible or have a lower toilet. It even comes in bamboo if you think that utilitarian white won’t match your bathroom.

So, in the words of the squatty potty PR department, are you pooping wrong?

Tags: bowel, constipation, defacation, gut health, How To, IBD, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, movement, poo, poop, position, potty, squat, squatting, squatty, straining
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Treating Constipation without Destroying Your Gut

Perhaps you are wondering how on earth I am going to address this topic delicately. The answer is: I can’t. It’s an impossible task and I’m just plain old going to be frank, cross over into TMI territory, and talk about poop. Although, I will spare you the drawing of a constipated stick figure. Perhaps you are wondering exactly why this is even a worthy topic for my blog. Well, constipation is a relatively common complaint during the adjustment period when people first transition to a paleo diet (as is diarrhea, but that’s a topic for another day). And even the best of us can suffer constipation on occasion as a result of stress, eating foods we shouldn’t, and traveling. But perhaps more relevant, you may be interested in how to treat constipation if you have some type of gut pathology than lends itself to constipation or if you suffered nerve damage caused by years of chronic constipation like I have.

Before discovering paleo, I had chronic constipation for about as long as I can remember. I was officially diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome in my early twenties and prescribed daily doses of stool softeners and laxatives. As a result of 12 years of irregular bowel movements, constipation and laxative use, I have nerve damage that may never fully heal. Transitioning to a paleo diet allowed me to stop taking these medications; however, I do need to be constantly vigilant. And, because I have a (thankfully, fairly minor) case of Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth, the two chief symptoms that I get when I consume sugary or starchy foods is bloating and constipation. The first time after transitioning to a paleo diet that I was faced with the need to take something to help me poop, I did a little research into what was safe to take. I was shocked to find out that most of the commonly used laxatives and stool softeners available are gut irritants and can directly damage the lining of the gut (in fact, for many of them that is actually how they work!). Since my diet and lifestyle choices now prioritize gut health, I needed to know what is safe to take for constipation!

I will spare you the long exhaustive list of what not to take (except perhaps to make sure to tell you that I include natural, senna-based laxatives, including teas, in the gut irritant list as well as fiber supplements of any kind). Here are the ONLY treatments that I recommend:

Use a squatty potty every day. The better angle for pooping decreases straining, and makes pooping easier and more comfortable.
Milk of Magnesia (or another high dose magnesium supplement like Natural Calm), taken at bedtime in conjunction with LOTS of water.
Glycerin Suppositories
In extreme cases, you may wish to try a Saline Enema in addition to milk of magnesia.

But there are a few other tricks that are helpful as a preventative and also for minor constipation. This may seem obvious, but make sure that your diet includes plenty of plant matter and make sure that you are drinking sufficient water (this is the most common cause of constipation in individuals following a paleo diet who do not have a history of digestive problems). It’s also very important to make sure that you have a source of probiotics in your diet, whether it’s from fermented foods or a supplement. Taking 1-2 Tbsp of Lemon Juice or Raw Apple Cider Vinegar 10-15 minutes before each meal can help with the secretion of digestive enzymes and decrease transit time. Avoiding starches and sugary foods that feed bacteria and contribute to hunger hormone disregulation can be very helpful for some people (especially those who suspect they have Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth). Sauerkraut can be very helpful in regulating stomach acidity as well as providing probiotics. Ginger is a miracle. It helps regulate stomach acidity, stimulates peristalsis, and decreases transit time. I drink several cups of ginger tea daily (my favorite brand is Yogi), and when I need a little extra, I like to eat alot of homemade honey-candied ginger (especially because the honey doesn’t aggravate my SIBO due to its monosaccharide content). Exercise can be very helpful, especially something like going for a nice long walk. Doing alot of spinal twist yoga poses can help too. For a simple one, lie on your back with your legs bent and your arms out in a T position. Drop your legs to the left, leaving your shoulders on the floor, and look to the right. Hold for a good five minutes and then do the other side.

These paleo-friendly strategies work well if you are proactive and take some action after skipping just a couple of days of bowel movements (my rule of thumb is if I skip two days, but I have to be very careful, so depending on who you are, you may consider anywhere from 2 to 4 days as your metric). Here is the important caveat though: whether you are dealing with constipation as part of a greater pathology or the occasional reaction to traveling, food, or stress, you need to know when the gentle paleo-friendly strategies are not working. There comes a point where problems caused by severe constipation are far worse than the gut irritation caused by taking a laxative. Constipation can even be life threatening. Please, do not hesitate to see a doctor if your attempts to get your bowels moving again are not working. And don’t do what I did in grad school and wait two full weeks and then have to spend a night in the ER (where the very helpful resident diagnosed me as “full of shit”, his exact words). I am still paying for the nerve damage that caused now.