This is from the Oprah show on Monday...

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
This is from the Oprah show on Monday...
4
Fri, 09-02-2005 - 10:38am

Thought I would share this with you.  I thought it was interesting.  What do you think??


When it comes to figuring out if you're digesting things properly and eating healthy, Dr. Mehmet Oz says that you should rely on your senses in the bathroom. For starters, have you ever thought about the importance of what your bowel movement sounds like when it hits the water? Listen up!

"You want to hear what the stool, the poop, sounds like when it hits the water. If it sounds like a bombardier, you know, 'plop, plop, plop,' that's not right because it means you're constipated. It means the food is too hard by the time it comes out. It should hit the water like a diver from Acapulco hits the water ."

The next thing Dr. Oz recommends is looking at your stool—c'mon, you've done it before! You should look twice—look at the shape and then, the color.

"It should be an S shape and you want to make sure the color's normal because the color of the poop tells you a lot about how you made it," Dr. Oz says. "You don't want . Food is a medicine for you. It helps you. by the time you finished digesting your food, you don't have enough of it left to poop out in the right way and probably it's hurt the colon that has to process it. At the end of the day you can analyze your body really effectively by looking at what comes out of your body."

Here's a pop quiz. What part of your body is most similar to your brain? The surprising answer is your small bowel, where most digestion occurs.

"That's the saying, you know, you've got blank for blank," Dr. Oz jokes. "But the thing about the small bowel is it has primitive messenger chemicals that tell the bowel how to work. If your bowel's not happy, those same chemicals influence your brain."

In this bowel the green stuff is bile, material in the process of being digested. Dr. Oz says it's important to listen to what your bowel tells you.

"A lot of times you don't pick up on the subtle clues," he says. "It will tell you that you feel washed out or tired or a little bit of cramping. Or, you know, if you wake up in the morning and just don't feel like yourself, you probably had something allergic that you didn't clue into."


Susan (left), a busy, working mother of three children, says that she struggles with constipation—sometimes only going to the bathroom once every five days. She admits to not getting enough water, instead opting for eight cans of diet soda a day. She also says she likes to eat a lot of cookies and chips, but doesn't get enough fruits and vegetables.

Maureen (right), a mother of four children, says that her health is the last thing on her mind. She suffers from diarrhea, hemorrhoids and constipation. "My hemorrhoids feel so bad that it's like grapes hanging out of my rear," she says. "Sometimes they hurt so bad, I can't get out of bed for two days." Maureen admits to eating too much fast food, and not getting enough fiber and water in her diet.


"I mean, their bodies are screaming to them," Dr. Oz says of Susan and Maureen's health. "'Help me. Help me.' Their big colon is saying, 'I need something from you.' And they're not processing it. … We are the best health educated society in the history of mankind but we don't take information and use it to motivate us to change our behavior."

On top of suggesting to Susan and Maureen to change their diets, Dr. Oz says that Susan and Maureen need to pass gas more often and not be ashamed—we all need to! Dr. Oz says that the average person passes gas 14 times a day—and less than one percent of it actually smells. He says it's so important that we start creating a "no embarrassment zone"—we need to pass this much gas!
Learn more about Dr. Oz and Dr. Michael Roizen's book, YOU: The Owner's Manual.


Interesting...Will you do this?? 

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-13-2004
Fri, 09-02-2005 - 10:56am

I read his book a few months ago (after the original air date of the Oprah show) I think he is wonderful! The book was great and when I saw that Oprah was going to play again, I tivo'd it and I am saving it for a long time, especially with my newly diagnoised colitis! :)

--Lauen

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Fri, 09-02-2005 - 11:19am

Hey Lauren,


I am definatly going to order this book.

 
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 09-02-2005 - 11:26am

Interesting article - I didn't tape that episode.

Very intersting about the gas. If you don't pass it (ie. hold it in) I wonder what happens - does it cause problems some where down the line? I think that is't just a natural reflex to 'hold it in' if we are not all alone. I guess there is always a risk that if it passes when there are others around that it will be that embarassing 1% that time.

I know that since I've changed my eating habits and elminated a number of foods my digestion really will act up when I do have something that I know causes problems. ie. Last week dh was in charge of dinner - he took out 2 bags of pork chops from the freezer (4 chops). He seemed to have forgotten that I haven't had a chop since 2003. I ended up eating one - and man oh man was it good - but that evening I was so bloated and my stomach was gurggling and rumbling all night. . . and awful gas the next day. Sooooo maybe I'll have another in 2007.

thanks for posting,
Jo

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-13-2004
Fri, 09-02-2005 - 11:37am

Hey Lynn,

I love books like that also. I have a ton of health books.. I am really interested in health and fitness.

I am doing good, I haven't had a flare up since the last one. I am not on any meds yet, but I am eating really healthy (not that I had to make much of a change, I always ate right). But I eliminated dairy, and no flare ups!

Going to DFs parents house for a good time, this weekend. I can't drink much with the colitis, but a little here and there should be fine..lol!

Thanks for asking!
--Lauren

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