How to poop properly – and why you may have been doing it wrong all along
What do the Happy Pear brothers and author Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have in common? They are all fans of the Squatty Potty, which claims to help you to eliminate faster and more completely by putting your body into a natural squatting position
It may be a topic that few of us are comfortable discussing, but according to the HSE, constipation is a very common condition, affecting people of all ages. Defined as opening the bowels less than three times a week, needing to strain to open your bowels on more than a quarter of occasions or passing a hard or pellet-like stool on more than a quarter of occasions, for many it is a short-lived inconvenience.
For others, though, chronic constipation can cause significant pain and discomfort and lead to complications such as faecal impaction (where dry, hard stools collect in your rectum) or faecal incontinence (where you leak liquid stools). Constipation can occur in babies, children and adults, and affects twice as many women as men, with older people five times more likely than younger adults to have constipation. Approximately 40pc of pregnant women experience constipation during their pregnancy.
“Constipation is a huge issue in Ireland”, says Stephen Flynn of the Happy Pear, “because few people consume the recommended daily allowance of dietary fibre. You can only get fibre from plant-based food, and people just don’t eat enough of it.”
Those who grew up in homes where bowel function was discussed openly may be surprised to hear there is still a taboo in Ireland in relation to talking about toilet habits, but many suffer in silence because of embarrassment.
Dietitian and sports nutritionist Kathryn Stewart says that up to 80pc of the Irish population fail to meet recommendations of 25-35g of fibre a day. “Fibre has many benefits including helping us feel fuller for longer and helping keep us regular on the loo. Individuals with higher fibre intakes also tend to have lower risk of stroke, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers.
"You can increase the amount of fibre in your diet by eating more beans and lentils, switching to wholegrain breads and cereals, and including nuts as a snack or in meals. Certain types of seeds such as flaxseed, linseed and chia seeds have upwards of 7g per portion to get you well on your way to the daily recommended amounts.” Kathryn advises anyone increasing their fibre consumption to do so gradually and to ensure adequate fluid intake to allow the gut to adjust.
When Stephen and his twin brother, David, approached a local primary school in Greystones Co Wicklow to try and enlist their support for a project in their local community encouraging children to eat more fibre, he found the principal to be enthusiastic.
“She told us that every week two or three children go home in pain with constipation. It’s due to the proliferation of junk food. Even with my own kids we have to work hard to create a good food environment — there is so much junk food around. As a parent you are constantly having to defend their diet from attack by well-meaning people wanting to give them treats.
"We live in an obesogenic world in which processed food proliferates, and 55pc of calories in the typical diet come from ultra-processed food. We are huge believers that eating more fibre through the types of foods we eat is core to addressing many issues, including constipation.”
“Each day, parents bring in children who have been referred by GPs who fear that the child has appendicitis because their pain is so severe,” says a doctor at a paediatric A&E department in Dublin. “And it turns out that they are constipated, mainly because most of them eat such a terrible diet. Sometimes it is so severe we have to admit them."
While upping fibre is key to tackling constipation, another useful aid for both adults and children is a toilet stool on which you rest your feet, and which elevates the knees above the level of the hips and facilitates a comfortable semi-squatting position while you sit on the loo. There are a number of these on the market — they come in plastic and more aesthetically appealing wood and bamboo — including the best-selling Squatty Potty, but you can improvise by putting your feet on a block or step, an upturned waste paper bin or a pile of books, all of which raise your knees and encourage you to lean forward.
In his latest book, Eat Better Forever (Bloomsbury, £26 STG), food writer and campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall brings together the best of the current science-backed thinking on diet and offers simple strategies to transform eating and health. One of the topics he addresses is what he politely refers to as ‘‘the engineering of elimination. Or, more bluntly, how we position ourselves for a poo”.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s book Eat Better Forever
Whether you refer to it as a loo, a toilet, a lavatory or the jacks, the porcelain throne in your bathroom is a relatively recent phenomenon. Before we had loos, a squatting position was the norm, and still prevails in many parts of the world. And it turns out that while the loo as we know it may offer an ostensibly greater degree of comfort than the indignities of wobbling over a squatting toilet in a dingy bathroom (something with which all backpackers and anyone who ever stayed in a chambre de bonne in Paris will be familiar), it may also hinder efficient evacuation and lead to health problems.
“The way most of us sit on our shiny white loos leaves our bowel in a position that is actually not very conducive to letting go,” writes Hugh, “with a loop of muscle holding our lower internal sphincter closed and the route from gut to butt somewhat contorted. Squatting, on the other hand, in a position where the knees are higher than the hips encourages the sphincter to open and creates a more direct passageway from bowel to bum.”
While that loop of muscle serves an essential function in terms of keeping us continent as we go about our daily lives, evidence shows that a squatting posture makes pooing quicker and easier and also facilitates a more complete elimination of the bowels, releasing pressure in the rectum.
This in turn reduces the incidence of constipation, haemorrhoids and diverticulitis, all of which are less common in parts of the world where squatting is still the norm, and where, probably not coincidentally, they also tend to eat more whole foods and fibre.
You’ll be relieved to hear that Hugh doesn’t suggest we get rid of our perfectly good loos and replace them with old-style squatters, but he does recommend the use of the Squatty Potty. He has been using one for several years and says that it seems an obvious complement to a healthy diet.
David and Stephen Flynn of The Happy Pear both have Squatty Potties at home and use them daily. “We find them very beneficial and a great way to squat while using a modern day toilet,” says Stephen. “I first came across the idea of squatting back in my hippie days, when the composting toilets were around, and when I came back to civilization I was aware that a conventional water closet doesn’t offer the optimum position.
"Then one day I visited my friend Tony Riddle — The Natural Life-stylist — and he had one and I thought, “I must get one of those!” Ours sits in the bathroom at home, the kids use it to stand on to brush their teeth. You can get nice wooden ones — it just makes sitting on the toilet comfy and functional.”
When you think about it, in little children it is natural behaviour to sit and squat but most of the toilets children use are the wrong size for them, as they are designed for adults, so children are left with their legs dangling. No wonder so many suffer with constipation but how easy it is for parents to help them with a stool for their feet?
The Squatty Potty was invented 15 years ago in the US by Bobby Edwards, whose mother Judy suffered from constipation all her life. Her doctor advised her to squat and her son developed a simple toilet stool made from wood to help her. It’s made the family multi-millionaires, aided in part by a YouTube ad featuring a Prince Charming character and a unicorn that poops ice cream that’s had over 100 million hits. (You’d really need to watch it.)
“The Edwards’ mission was to improve bathroom health around the world in a natural way,” says Ronald Leppers, the distributor of Squatty Potty in Europe. “It is primarily for health, the natural pose makes for easier elimination. When you sit on a normal toilet there is a kink in the colon, and by squatting you release the kink and it is easier. Think of it like a garden hose — when you unfold it, everything flows freely.
"You don’t have to be sick or constipated to benefit from it. As well as easier elimination, the elimination is more complete. In Asia it is still traditional to squat. They have fewer issues with haemorrhoids, bloating and constipation.
"For some people it is still seen as a bit alternative — most of our customers tend to be people who are into a healthy lifestyle, organic food and microbiotics, but anyone can use such a step without damage or risk. It is very useful for children who have to sit on big toilets, which can make constipation much worse for them.”
