How Many Times a Day Should You Have a Bowel Movement?

Remember that old Tootsie Roll Pop Commercial? .
“Mr. Owl, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?”
“A - Three” replies the owl.
According to many health and fitness experts, the answer to the question:
“How many bowel movements should a person have a day?” is the same – “Three”

Many people consider it “normal” to have a bowel movement once per day and some people consider it “normal” and think they’re doing good with one every other day. Still others I’ve seen in my practice “normally” are having only one bowel movement per week. This is one of those situations where I consider “normal” to be pathological. If you are having only one bowel movement per day, I would consider you to be constipated. One should not strive for “normal” when it comes to health. Especially considering that most people are suffering from some sort of chronic degenerative disease and taking medication. One should strive for optimal. Shockingly, I once heard a patient tell me that her gastroenterologist considered a bowel movement every five days within "normal".

Let’s consider this:
∗ How many decent sized meals does a person generally eat in a day
∗ The usual answer is “3”
Now think what must happen to all of that food. It doesn’t just disappear- presto change-o -gone- nothing up my sleeve.

No, the food does not disappear - it takes that amazing journey through the tube, from our stomach, getting churned to a paste, and mixed with acid, then to the small intestine where it meets with enzymes from the pancreas and liver who get to work breaking the food into primary nutrients. In the small intestines is where the absorption of nutrients takes place. According to Bruce H. Robinson in Biomedicine, there are 21 feet of absorptive tubing to the small intestine, with an amazing 2 Million cubic centimeters of absorptive surface area. Of course not all of that material will be absorbed and transformed into your human. Much of what is absorbed into the bloodstream is brought to the Liver for processing and packaging. That which isn’t absorbed will be passed down to the colon for elimination.

And here’s where trouble can get serious. What if that food is not being eliminated?

Here’s a simple word problem they never gave you in third grade:

Jane eats 3 plates of food per day. Everyday she gets rid of one plate’s worth, how many plates of food are left in Jane’s tube after one day? After one week? After one year?*

Judy eats 3 plates of food per day. Every other day she gets rid of one plate’s worth, how many plates of food are left in Judy’s tube after one day? After one week? After one year?**

Many people would consider Jane’s case “normal”. With 728 plates worth of food in the body, guess what Jane? You’re probably fat. And indeed we are seeing an epidemic in obesity in America. If that food is not leaving the body, it stays in the body. The colon is full of bacteria that go to work breaking down that garbage, creating toxins and sewage-like gases in the process. The body does it’s best to salvage what it can. It will transform whatever it can to fat. It will send the toxins to the lymph and then the Liver for re-processing. Toxins will accumulate in the lymph glands, the liver and the lymph will want somewhere to store these toxins and if they are fat-soluble toxins they will be stored in the fat. If they are water-soluble toxins the body will retain more fluid.

This is a simple case of filth accumulating inside the human. It becomes a breeding ground for disease. It puts an enormous demand on the cleansing systems of the liver and kidneys and lymphatic and immune systems. This requires a huge amount of energy just to survive in such a state. And it gets worse…

What happens when the Liver is overloaded?

The blood becomes more acidic and toxic. The acidity in the blood causes the red blood cells to clump together making the blood more viscous. Viscous blood does not flow as fast to the brain and the muscles, creating muscle tension and fatigue and leads poor decision-making. The toxic blood generates more free radicals causing damage to the vessels, putting strain on the heart and necessitating an increase in cholesterol levels to patch the holes in the vessels.


What happens when the Energy generators are overtaxed?

The energy investment in operating an inefficient metabolism creates energy deficits. Less energy available for tissue repair, less energy available for defenses. Less energy available for movement and creative thought. This also creates a hunger craving for sweet foods. Sweet foods are known to give a quick pick me up. The body knows this. This then creates a situation of more acidity as that sugar oxidizes (burns). Over time this leads to an overload to the insulin system. The cells become so over-bloated because there is less space to put the cellular waste products due to the overloaded sewage system (the lymph) that they don’t want to accept any more sugar, so you get insulin resistant cells.

So, you can see that one real key to a healthy system is making sure the garbage goes out. So that means, “Three bowel movements per day”. If you are not having that magic number, you will need to do something different. What to do? - I will be discussing in my next article.




* after one day? There are 2 plates worth.
After one week? There are 14 plates worth
After one year? There are 728 plates worth of food

**After one day? There are 3 plates worth
After one week? There are 18 plates worth
After one year? There are 936 plates worth of food.

Bruce H. Robinson, Biomedicine: A Textbook for Practitioners of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, p309.

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