Warning: This topic may be a little too much information for some people, yet it’s a question I’m asked regularly. I figure if people have the guts to ask, there may be many more who don’t yet are curious. Don’t read further if you’re squeamish.

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Paleo Poop. Pooping on Paleo. Pooping with Paleo. Paleo and Poop and You. I thought of many different titles, but settled on The Scoop on Poop. Like I said in my warning above, this is a topic I’m asked about regularly, and I see it discussed from time to time on Paleo related forums. So, without much further ado, here’s my take on it.

You don’t poop as often on Paleo. Some say this is due to your gut biome not getting the right nutrients or some other spin on that. I’ve taken probiotics and other products in an attempt to make myself more regular, and none of them worked. Why? Because my body is operating very efficiently and it rids itself of biowaste when it is ready. There are many reasons for this.

Decreased volume of food intake. I eat about 1/4 of the amount of food I used to eat, and that’s being generous. I used to eat so much food that I cringe thinking about trying to eat one meal’s worth of food throughout an entire day now. I don’t think I could do it! With the reduced volume is a reduced rate of waste.

Increased quality of food. The food I eat now is cleaner, more natural, and whole. It takes the body longer to digest, and it takes more energy for my body to digest. This makes it stick around a little longer than the bad foods did. This, coupled with the decreased volume, make for very dense biowaste. Also, the higher quality of the food, the more of it is digested which reduces what is released as waste. Meat is a good example. People who eat a lot of meat don’t tend to create as much waste as those who eat grains. Vegetables create a little more waste, but not a lot more.

Fiber helps things. Truly, it does. I eat more veggies or add fruit to my diet if things are alarmingly slow. Fish oil has helped me, too. When all else fails, I go out for some Greek food, and something about it gets me going within an hour.

Slower frequency of bowel movements is a normal thing when you’re on Paleo. It’s not something to worry about. There’s nothing that says you need to poop once or more a day. As long as your poop is healthy looking (I will leave it to you to Google that), you are most likely fine.