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The Gastrocolic Reflex: What it is & How to Use it to have the Best Poop of Your Life!  

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Hi everyone!  It's me, Dr. Kelly, your favorite internet Pelvic PT, here to talk about the Gastrocolic Reflex, which is probably my favorite poop-related reflex (and yes, obviously I have one :) ). 

The gastrocolic reflex is my favorite reflex because EVERYONE CAN benefit from understanding it better.  People who have irritable bowels need to understand it so they don't poop their pants, and people who tend to be more consitpated need to undsratnd it, so they can have a chance to have great poops!  

So let's get to it, and learn all about the Gastrocolic Reflex!!

What is The Gastrocolic Reflex

The Gastrocolic Reflex is a digestion-related reflex that happens when our stomach, especially an empty stomach, is rapidly stretched by food OR liquid.  This rapid stretch tells the small and large intestines to "get ready" for things to come in, and thus, the large colon gets the message to "clear things out" of the tube.  

Hence, eating a large meal, or drinking a bolus or water, on an empty stomach, will trigger a bowel evacuation (fancy word for "great poop") in 20-30 minutes, in the absence of other "complicating" factors, that could make the "great poop" a POOP-MERGENCY or non-existent.  

For me, personally, I LOVE THE GASTROCOLIC REFLEX!!  It is one of the cardinal ways we can establish a normal bowel program, and keep a normal bowel program, even when traveling across time zones.  

But if we don't understand the Gastrocolic Reflex, we could end up self-sabatoging ourselves--like the time I pooped my pants on a road trip by eating a large, greasy meal on an empty stomach....then immediately going on a long drive where there were no available bathrooms...yep.  That happened, and it totally sucked, and I 100% knew better.

I don't want you to poop your pants, so let me share this information with you.  

I have Irritable Bowels.  How Will Understanding The Gastrocolic Reflex Help Me Not Poop My Pants?

Bestie, I am SO glad you asked, because understanding the gastrocolic reflex has EVERYTHING to do with controlling poop urgency and helping you not poop your pants!!  

As I introduced above, the Gastrocolic Reflex is a reflex to "clear out" the large intestine to "make room" for a large amount of incoming food, that happens in response to an empty stomach suddenly receiving a stretch from a relatively large amount of food or fluid.  

So if you tend to have irritable bowels, this reflex is really important to know about, because you don't want to poke the bear, or the proverbial hornet's nest.  

Furthermore, drinking 20-30oz of water on an empty stomach is one thing...eating a large plate of oily take-out food or eating 1/2 of a greasy pizza on an empty pizza is another...with the latter eliciting a "much more violent" reaction from the intestines.  If you've never before heard of the term "Thai-rrhea" (like diarrhea, but from Thai-food)...it's actually a thing, but more from the rapid ingestion of food on an empty stomach, than from the Thai food, specifically.

So if you have irritable bowels, and were my sister, here are my top 2 tips to not poop yourself:

1. Respect the Gastrocolic Reflex, Don't eat HUGE meals or drink large amounts of water on empty stomachs.  Start with 12oz of fluid per 30 minutes, and work your way up from there.  

2. Respect the Gastrocolic Reflex in terms of fatty, greasy foods.  Remember they will trigger the reflex more than fluids.  If going to a meal on a empty stomach...DON'T.  Eat a small meal, with a drink, first, to avoid catastrophe.  

How Does Understanding The Gastrocolic Reflex Help You Have The Best Poops of Your Life!

Bestie, I am equally glad you asked this!!  

Understanding the Gastrocolic Reflex can actually help you have the BEST POOPS OF YOUR LIFE!!  This is because many of us don't ever stretch the stomach out enough in one sitting, to fully utilize this reflex, to have our colon push the poop out to its full capacity.  

Here's what you do:  

Step 1: Drink 20-30oz of warm water each morning, on an empty stomach.

Step 2: 20-30 minutes later, you "feel the urge", sit down, relax your pelvic floor, your colon pushes your poop out in <15-seconds, and you enjoy the best poop of your life, and think of me fondly while it's happening!  WOOT!

But if this "bolus" of water DOESN'T bring on the best poop of your life, there are a few things to consider, and honestly, it's a great warning sign for you that your pelvic floor and/or dietary habits could use a tune up, because this reflex SHOULD work for ALL OF US!!

What is required for the gastrocolic reflex to help you have the best poop of your life

1. YOU NEED TO BE WELL HYDRATED OVERALL, for this to work.  If your body doesn't have enough water to make great poop, you won't have great poops.  End of story.  Your target fluid intake (in fluid ounces) is your body weight in pounds divided by 2.  75% of that should be non-caffeinated, non-alcoholic.  If you're woefully inadequate there, your poop will suck, even if you try to use this response.  Sorry, but it's true.  Join my mailing list, or buy Poop Lab, or Subscribe to the Treasure Chest, which Includes access to Poop Lab, to learn how to do better.  

2. YOU NEED TO PUT ENOUGH FOOD IN THE SYSTEM, for this to work.  If you're not eating enough, you won't make poop.  Yes, some of poop is body waste (like blood cells, etc), but if you didn't know, your poop is largely food waste, that your body didn't need.  So if you're not eating actual food...you might not have enough "stuff" to make poop . Shoot for 20 grams of protein and 10 grams of fiber from REAL FOOD each meal, 3 meals a day.  That, coupled with your target fluid intake will almost always fix your poop issues.  

3. DO NOT ADD "EXTRA FIBER" IF YOU'RE NOT GETTING ENOUGH WATER.  This will only clog the tubes more.  Seriously.  Just drink the damn water, Katrina.  

4.  YOUR PELVIC FLOOR MATTERS.  Yep.  Your pelvic floor has a master control switch effect on the speed with which your poop moves through the tubes.  Your pelvic floor is meant to function like an elevator that rests on the ground floor of a 4-story building.  During the day, life activities "call it into action" and it automatically comes up to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors, then automatically returns to rest on the ground floor when you rest again...or at least, it's supposed to...

When we are stressed, physically or emotionally, the brain sends a "danger" signal to the pelvic floor, and the pelvic floor automatically rises to the 2nd floor, to "protect us".  This signal, activates another reflex (the rectoanal inhibitory reflex, another favorite reflex of mine), that 1. SLOWS digestion to divert energy to allow us to save that energy for running away from the tiger that is sure to attack us at any moment and 2. ACTUALLY, PHYSICALLY MOVES THE POOP BACKWARDS UP THE TUBE!!!!  

So the moral of this story, is that even if you are drinking enough water, and eating enough food, you could still be constipated, and have the gastrocolic reflex NOT WORK FOR YOU, if your pelvic floor is resting SUPER TIGHT ALL THE TIME!!!!

Of all of these, in clients, it's a mixture of the overactive pelvic floor, and the underutilization of water that I see being the prime driver of constipation (and bowel irritability) day after day.  

Once we get clients to connect to their pelvic floors with simple, specific exercises, and improve their hydration habits, poop function (and other pelvic functions) improve drastically and rapidly.  

That is Your Introduction to the Gastrocolic Reflex!!

I hope you learned a lot about it.  As I mentioned, it really is my favorite reflex, and SO USEFUL to understand, both to bring on a poop when we need one, and to avoid pooping our pants.  Everyone should know about this, so please share it with your friends.  Please drop any questions you have below, and as always, thanks for being here, and being a part of the Pelvic Floored Family!!

Until next time,

XOXO

Dr. Kelly 💋

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