What Your Bowel Movements Say About Your GI Health: The Ultimate Stool Guide
Posted By Author on January 14, 2025
The last thing anyone wants to spend time talking about is what goes on behind the bathroom door, but our bowel movements can give us important insights into our GI health.
Bowel movements are comprised of three key factors: consistency, color, and frequency. The size, shape, color, and odor depend on how much time the waste matter spent in the colon and can let you know when something is amiss within your digestive system.
What is considered “normal” when it comes to your bowel movements, and what does it mean for your GI health if your poop is an odd shade of green?
Keep reading as our gastroenterology specialists weigh in on your bowel movements and its connection to your digestive health!
What Does Healthy Stool Look Like?
The look and smell of your bowel movements can be indicative of more than just the happenings of your digestive system – it can also be caused by things that go into your body.
Your diet, medications, and the amount of water you drink can play a role in the appearance and consistency of your stool.
So, what does a healthy stool even look and feel like?
Color
Normal stool color can come in varying shades of brown, from tan to espresso, or even a nice mocha (sorry, coffee enthusiasts). The color itself comes from the combination of stomach bile and bilirubin, a byproduct of the breakdown of red blood cells.
When bile, a fluid stored in the gallbladder, mixes with bilirubin and the foods you’ve consumed during the digestive process, you’ll end up with a brown stool.
Size and Shape
In an ideal world, your stool should be a couple of inches in length and a long, cylindrical shape – think something resembling a tree log. If your poop begins to resemble the waste of a bunny or deer, it may be time to visit a gastroenterologist near you as there could be an issue happening inside your digestive tract.
Consistency
Just like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, you don’t want a bed – or, in this case, your stool – to be too firm or too soft. If your poop is too firm, you may experience painful bowel movements that are hard and lumpy.
If your poop is too soft, it may present as mushy or an almost liquid consistency. When this occurs, the stools have spent little time in the large intestine and colon and may present as diarrhea.
Frequency
How many bowel movements a day is normal? Well, this question might be more difficult to answer than you may believe. A healthy bowel movement may range from three bathroom visits per day to three times a week – the frequency depends on you.
The frequency of your bowel movements is only cause for concern if there is a change in consistency or color, or if there’s pain or straining. If you see a change in bowel habits, consult our gastroenterologists near you to determine if a GI condition is to blame.
Poop Color Chart: Understanding the Pigment of Your Poop
Did you know that eating a lot of greens can change the color of your poop?
While it may not be the most pleasant of images, your diet and digestive system can influence the color of your stools. But how do you know when the pigment of your poop is cause for worry and worth a visit to your doctor?
We’ll help you break it down!
Brown
If your stool is a varying shade of brown, you’re in luck – this means your body is properly digesting food and undergoing what is normal for the gut.
Green
Remember how we said that eating greens can change the color of your poop? It’s true! Adding more leafy greens to your diet, such as spinach, or even upping your iron intake can result in a fully green stool. However, if your diet has remained relatively unchanged, the green color can indicate that food is moving too quickly through your gut.
The cause? A possible bacterial infection or GI disorder.
Yellow
Yellow may be the color of sunshine and daisies, but it can mean something quite unpleasant for your gut. Yellow stool that is greasy and comes with a smelly odor is typically a sign of too much fat in the diet or poor digestion.
Yellow stool is often associated with celiac disease, a condition where your body is not absorbing enough nutrients.
Red
For tomato juice fanatics or fans of beets and cranberries, this one’s for you. Eating red foods or drinks may result in a red coloring of your poop. However, red pigmentation is not to be taken lightly.
Bright red stool can mean bleeding, which may be a result of hemorrhoids or internal bleeding in the lower intestines.
If you are seeing red in your stool or experiencing bleeding after a bowel movement, contact Charleston GI immediately to rule out serious underlying conditions.
Black
Iron supplements or medications rich in bismuth (hello, Pepto-Bismol) may be behind your black stool. However, if your stool is jet-black, you may be unknowingly experiencing bleeding in the stomach or small intestine.
But if I was bleeding internally, wouldn’t my stool be red? Yes and no. If you are bleeding in the upper GI tract, it takes time to travel down to result in stool, making it older and darker in the process, resulting in a black pigment.
Pale or White
If your poop resembles a pale, chalky white, you may have a blocked duct responsible for producing bile. Bile is a digestive fluid produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder that mixes with bilirubin to make stool.
When you’re lacking bile, your stool may end up being white or pale as a result. While this could be a side effect of anti-diarrhea medication, talk to your doctor if it continues.
What Your Stool May Be Trying to Tell You: A Look at Common GI Conditions
Changes to your bowel movements, color, and consistency of your stools are common symptoms among many GI conditions. Some of the most common conditions associated with bowel movements and changes include:
Constipation: Increased difficulty or pain when passing stools
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS): A functional condition where the muscles in the intestines contract abnormally, resulting in constipation, abdominal pain, and changes in bowel habits.
Hemorrhoids: Dilated veins in your anal canal that can cause increased pressure from straining during a bowel movement, consistent diarrhea, and bleeding.
Diverticular disease: The presence of diverticula, or small pouches, in the wall of the large intestine that can cause bleeding or obstruction when not treated properly.
Colon Cancer: Colorectal cancer is the second most common form of cancer in the U.S., with symptoms often going unnoticed until later stages. Symptoms may include bloody stools, changes in bowel habits, fatigue, and abdominal pain.
Changes in your bowel movements or stools are often one of the first recognizable symptoms of gastrointestinal diseases. If you experience unexplained changes to your bathroom breaks, talk to our GI doctors near you to rule out conditions within your digestive tract.
Pay Attention to Your Poop with Help from Charleston GI!
We understand discussing your bowel habits is not exactly appropriate “water cooler” talk, but it’s important to pay attention to your poop and listen to what it’s trying to tell you!
Your bowel habits are often the first sign of an underlying problem, so next time you visit the john, take note of what’s going on. Eyes may be the window to the soul, but the toilet bowl is a window into your GI tract.
At Charleston GI, we are here to help you make sense of your stool and learn to trust your gut!
We have four convenient Charleston area locations to choose from, in West Ashley, Mount Pleasant, Summerville, and Carnes Crossroads. Our Charleston GI doctors are ready 5 days a week to offer you relief.
