Do Americans really only shit once a week?
1mon 2d ago by literature.cafe/u/Karl in asklemmy
My elementary school teacher told us once that Americans only poop once a week. The climate is colder in North America, so their intestines pack the poop together very densely such that they only need to poop once a week. She said you'd be sent to the doctor if you poop daily in America.
Is this true?
That’s silly. North America is huge. In the US South, it’s very common for people to poop every day. In fact, you usually wouldn’t even talk to a doctor about it. But as you get to the northern states and into Canada, it’s so cold that people don’t poop at all!
So the 1 day thing is probably just someone averaging out the numbers.
Pooping Georg, who lives in a cave and poops 10,000 times a day, is an outlier adn should not be counted
Georg washes out the canyons and floods the plains with nutrients. He single handedly sustains a nation. How dare you.
They say when Pooping Georg eats borscht, the rivers run red. Some have taken this to mean that Pooping Georg is dying (and thus our fertile soil) however, it's just beets.
Thoughts and prayers for Georg
He’s fine, it’s a lifestyle thing for Georg
And the president who shits every time he draws breath.
Indeed, I have never pooped in my life because i'm above the 45th parrallel
That has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I'm veggie, if I don't poop every day there's a fucking problem.
I just accepted it as a simple fact didnt think about it anymore lol
I wonder why she told us that.
One of the delights of being a schoolteacher I guess. Just make stuff up and watch em go.
That's a horrible abuse of power...
Once during a high school history lesson on a quite debate-inducing topic my teacher just shut me down with "I'm a PhD in history".
For ~15 years I thought my history teacher was PhD until quite recently discovering it was a lie. 🗿
Maybe she was saying we're near-constantly full of shit. And that's a big collective touché, honestly
I eat enough fiber if I don't go multiple times a day I could literally explode
Your teacher is a fuckin moron.
Chill lol
Its not that serious. She was a great teacher. Although a little weird.
I am chill.
Agreed. This one incident is not that serious but I do wonder what other stupid things she believes as fact and then passes along to her students.
She was a good person.
Maybe she just got this from somewhere and believed it. You cant call people morons for being ignorant. She wasnt a moron.
A teacher should verify such facts before passing them to students.
Kinda sounds like she was though.
I've often thought how silly, ignorant and undereducated one would need to be to believe that people from other countries are somehow completely physically different from you? Like WWI style propaganda. I understand uneducated farmers at the turn of the 19th century believing in things like that, because they don't have any way to verify or look at anything from other countries.
You and your teacher both had the internet. And are actively on it.
You should know better.
Wow, so people are morons for being ignorant just because they have access to the internet.
Internet access makes no one smarter. She probably got it from somewhere and didnt bother to enquire more.
Not "just because", that's a strawman.
There are several things.
They're a teacher. Who has access to the internet. What's their excuse for not just being ignorant in a time and place where they don't need to (laziness, lack of intellectual curiosity or being bad at their job?), but also confidently teaching that to others, and not only others, but specifically children in a school, a place where they'd expect to hear actually learned information and not some random ignorance?
Internet access makes no one smarter.
Yeah that's about as true as "it's so cold in America they only poop weekly"
Internet, when given to someone who's curiosity has been fostered, does indeed make them smarter. And you can see the difference in educational performance from kids who lack internet access, and it's consistently lower than kids from households with the internet.
She probably got it from somewhere and didnt bother to enquire more.
Yeah, exactly, a moron, that's what we said...?
K
You're defending her because you also believed it. It's okay to be a moron
Im defending her because she was a person i knew for many years and i loved her. Maybe youre not the type of person who has feelings like that towards other people. If im right, seek a therapist.
I love plenty of morons. I don't have a choice, since I'm American. You can love someone and also recognize that they're a moron, and shouldn't be telling students absurd unverified facts. You can do both
Moron means a stupid person. But she was not overall stupid. People are ignorant on some matters and smart on others. So calling her a moron is not right. She was very fluent in english. She was very good at it.
This is sorta funny cuz her favorite word to call her students was also morons.
Your teacher is either fucking with you or shouldn't be allowed to teach.
Por que no los dos? 🤣
(We've all had crappy teachers).
Bowel movements vary by person. From 3 times a day down to once every 3 days. Less than once every 3 days is considered concerning medically, but not necessarily a problem.
Your teacher was the one full of shit.
Thank you. I feel like addressing the pure science of this is important. Not only do Americans poop, every cultures on the planet poops the same way (more or less). We are the same! Break down borders! Anarchy! Shit everywhere! No. Literally, visit an American truck stop. SHIT EVERYWHERE!
Thought this was c/shittyasklemmy. It's not, so here's an earnest response. I'm from the US, but have spent a bunch of time living outside of the country. Every guy I know usually poops daily, but a lot of women only poop every couple of days. It doesn't have anything to do with the cold.
Fun somewhat related story time. I once had a colleague travel to the US from South East Asia. He went to our boss a few days into the trip and said he needed to go to the hospital. My boss eventually convinced him to explain the problem. His poop was a solid mass instead of liquid. Dude had never had solid shit before. It's possible an anecdote like this is what gave your teacher that idea.
It's possible an anecdote like this is what gave your teacher that idea.
Maybe.
But I also remember that she was a little xenophobic. Maybe she just made that up on the spot lol
Every guy I know usually poops daily, but a lot of women only poop every couple of days.
How did you acquire this data?
Simple. He asks women if they've pooped today and they reply "Of course not!"
It's foolproof.
c/shittyasklemmy
Thanks
Poppycock! My wife lays out a massive deuce every morning like clockwork.
wait, women poop? I HAVE BEEN LIED TO!
Apparently not very much lmao
the SAD is very lacking in fiber, not at all surprised
Americans are trained from childhood to shit only once a week so it takes away less of their work time.
This starts in school where you need a signed permit to go shit, and continues in the work place where shitting during work hours can get you in trouble.
Shitting frequency is monitored through comically wide gaps in the bathroom stalls.
Once you see the pattern, it becomes obvious, doesn't it?
I can't say I agree with you, but I can absolutely see how the data can be interpreted that way, and I'm not sure you're wrong, either.
Only families that can't afford a poop knife.
Tf is that
Old reddit reference.
American here, I've shit three times today alone
That’s sad. I always try to shit with someone. Sometimes you just need to be held.
I'm here for you
Username checks out
Thank you for your service!
Are you still in elementary school? If not, you can't possibly still believe this
If not, you can't possibly still believe this
I did until now lol.
I'm busy with other things. I cant give much thought to how many times people in a foreign country poop.
Yet you posted this and didn't stop to think about it?
No? Why would I? And what conclusion can I come to by thinking? Ive never been to NA anyways. Sometimes its ok to be ignorant of stuff
Ah ok you're a troll. Got it.
literature.cafe
Checks out lol
Wdym? Isnt this a nice instance?
Is this ragebait?
You are rage baiting 😂
67% come on someone rate this to change the number
done
...it's still displaying 67%
refresh
O now it's 71
Thanks bro you're a bro
What is?
upvote ratio
Ah, is this about that six seven shit?
Yea
The climate is colder in North America
Compared to where, exactly? Mogadishu? Hammerfest? Because North America can be hotter and colder than both of those. Also not sure how it affects pooping.
Bro, the one time I went to Mogadishu I was pooping left and right, several times a day.
Someone gave me a funny look and there I went again, pooping like I was getting paid for it!!
Poop tourism.
Yeah that bit alone shows that teacher lacks basic reasoning skills. Are we talking about Arizona or Alaska? C'mon.
Mogadishu came so out of left field that I read this in hbomberman's voice lol
The average is 7.1 times a week. Clinically average can range from 3x a day to once every 3 days. What's important is how well they're formed. Such as the Bristol stool scale - you want something in the middle.
I've always found scatology interesting. If you have anymore questions, feel free to let uhm rip.
feel free to let uhm rip.
Don't mind if i do. FART
What the fuck am I reading
Lol
I've heard some fascinating propaganda about Americans, but this is new. What about the colder parts of Europe or Asia? Why only North America? Does this only occur above a certain latitude? If you move from a warmer climate to a cooler climate, does your body naturally adapt and how long does it take? With global warming, will everyone suddenly start shitting more and think they're dying? The sewage systems will explode because they won't be able to adapt to millions of people suddenly shitting daily instead of weekly.
Finn here. Never pooped a day in my life. I thought it was a myth, like the tooth fairy, or Summer.
If you only shit once a week, you need to go to the doctor and change your diet.
Yes, especially among those active on the fediverse. That’s why we celebrate no shit november
Hahahaha
That's a shitpost if I've ever heard one. That being said, assuming you're not joking; We probably shit more frequently than y'all because of the terrible food we eat.
You're mixing up Americans with sloths, but I guess we’re not that different
Was this on April 1?
Your teacher was either an idiot or fucking with you lol
Actually, the high-fat low-protein diet of the average american makes it so everyone only has constant diarrhea. There's always complaints about going into the bathroom during working hours because of the smell and the constant need to evacuate all the fat
The average American diet is excessive in protein, very slightly above recommendations regarding total fat(most aren't getting enough DHA and EPA, though), refined carbs are also excessive, and fiber is typically lacking along with complex carbs.
Most people should be fine adjusting to a high fat diet if they allow enough time for their body to get used to producing the bile necessary for digestion (this takes many months, typically.) But most people don't enjoy such a diet and a good third will do very poorly from lack of bile/indigestion (some people just have genetically poor fat digestion. Sometimes linked to low bile that doesn't respond to diet.)
If people had chronic diarrhea like you suggest they would likely suffer from severe dehydration and that could eventually become life-threatening.
I have no clue what I am talking about, this is just shitposting
Literally lmao
I question the excessive claim. Examine does a great breakdown of recommendations based on multiple studies and regulatory bodies. Sedentary adults should be taking in 1.2g/kg (https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/#k6Hq-how-much-protein-do-you-need-per-day).
Whereas this 2021 US study finds males are consuming ~96g and females ~69g per day (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK589212/).
This would place the average weight of individuals at 80kg for males and 57.5kg for females under optimal protein intakes (176lbs and 151lbs respectively).
But I'm not convinced the average american weighs so little. This seems to be backed by the CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/body-measurements.htm).
So this would actually indicate they're taking in less protein than required, not an excess.
The WHO(and basically the global consensus) minimum suggestion is 0.8 g/kg(so 96g for a 120kg male, while the statistically average 90kg male eats 96g/day instead of only 72g). They further suggest 1.2-1.6 g/kg is the optimal range for recreationally active people. This is beyond biological "requirements." Also, 0.8 g/kg is still a conservative value that's probably greater than most under 40s actually need, however tracer studies have suggested 0.9-1.0 g/kg on average(which considers factors beyond MPS) and even more for elderly.
That actually explains a lot. I've paradoxically noticed that the more fat I incorporate into my diet (when coupled with protein), the more my metabolism speeds up. Like I can see a noticeable difference on my waistline the following week and be like "I don't get it... I gorged myself on butter and hummus last week lol"
Must have a lotta bile 🧪
is there a way to test what "type" of stomach/digestion you have, and how to fix whatever way yours is fucked up?
have heard a number of antetodes about as gut flora essentially controls every aspect of your overall health/energy day to day
Elimination diet starting with low fodmap foods. Keep a food journal as well. Very effective when paired with an exercise routine as you'll get a good idea of what foods are bogging you down vs finding 'clean' foods.
Developing stamina and endurance with routine cardio is probably the best thing for day to day energy levels. I suggest trying for a solid hour of sustained cardio, whether that's walking, cycling, running, rowing, or gym equipment like a cross trainer... And remember all it takes is a week off to start losing stamina, so it really needs commitment and consistency.
Just in general digestive-wise, you may benefit from a postprandial walk. Sometimes called a fart walk. XD
its quite obviously a troll post, but an entertaing one for sure
I sweaarrrr it isnt. She actually said that. I think it was in class 8 (idk if that's called elementary in US, its called high school here.) when i changed schools. She was an english teacher. We had a lesson in our textbook about a girl who went from my country to America for education (before ww2 maybe ?) and the struggles she faced there. One of them was a faulty fireplace in her room which emitted a lot of smoke. Here, She started describing how cold it could get in the US, and in the process ended up saying ts.
We have a very large country extending from the tropics to the arctic. The California coast famously has a Mediterranean climate, the pacific northwest is more like the british isles, Hawaii is tropical and Florida is subtropical. The southwest is hot and dry, the southeast is warm and wet. However yes, the Midwest has a climate similar to Central and Eastern Europe, but with more tornadoes. Oh and the northeast has noreasters which are kinda like hurricanes, but they can be frozen and snow instead of rain. The Midwest, Mountain West, and Northeast used to get really cold in the winter, but climate change. Oh and Alaska is really fucking cold in the winter and really nice temperature in the summer.
Still doesn't impact how often we poop. Which we do in climate controlled environments for about the past hundred years give or take.
Your teacher needs to get more fiber
What tf even is that?!!
What are you trying to say?
It's talking about absurd things people will say about other countries. The statement the teacher made was absurd, with zero grounds for evidence.
When I grew up in North Korea I ate rats to survive, but eating is illegal so the police came. But the police also tries to survive so they take the rats. I thought this was normal until I read your posts. Now I know that true freedom is the class inequality of pooping once a week.
I suppose your teacher read a statistic that Americans are more likely to be constipated due to more cheese and less veggies and fruits in their diets, and constipated people on average poop less, and just simplified this trivia in their long-term memory and lost the details.
No way lol, cheese makes up somewhere like 80% of my diet and I still shit at least once a day lmfao
Maybe in a couple decades it will catch up with you. I've been constantly adapting to my aging body's needs these last few years.
Lucy? Is that you? Where's your dj friend?
Your elementary school teacher should have been fired.
I have a friend that's a "fruitarian" (he's been convinced that humans are frugivores by the influencers.) He says he loves pooping, which he says he does about 6 movements a day.
I've tried to explain that we're omnivores and high fruit diets are clinically proven to not be healthy long-term... Dude is skin and bones (he's literally wasting) and won't listen. He'll eat some veggies, but only raw. He avoids anything cooked in anyway because 'cooking stuff creates toxins and causes disease/cancer and other animals don't cook their food.'
Nutritional science suggests 9-12 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, but the limit for fruit is 4-5 servings (while there's no drawback to additional vegetables, but it's also not significantly (statistically) healthier). Fructose does funny things to metabolism for reasons we don't fully understand (many claim it acts like a hormone), but the fiber seems to help, though. Juices should be highly limited and basically treated as refined sugar. Science also strongly suggests properly cooking foods....
Eating lots of(or exclusively) raw fruit will most likely result in poorly/partially digested diarrhea, roughly apple sauce consistency and generally still looks more like food than poo(which describes my fruitarian friend's BMs, which he doesn't find problematic, apparently he considers it a feature and not a bug -- short intestinal transit time is point of pride for him, for some reasons, basically... he thinks if his poop stays in him too long it becomes toxic, so he thinks a normal healthy stool is toxic).
Long term risks include severe nutrient deficiencies that may carry with them permanent physiological damage. Yet he still isn't convinced by the numerous clinical studies on this ... Then again, he also thinks WiFi is unhealthy for some asinine/dubious reasons so he turns off his router at night so it doesn't disturb his sleep (his roommates plug it right back in, lol.)
He used to eat normally and supported Bernie Sanders. Now he's technically a raw vegan(he calls himself/humans in general frugivores) and believes so much dumb shit(anti vac, no longer respects trans pronouns, etc), and obviously he started supporting MAGA/Trump, so we don't talk much anymore.
The problem with realizing that you have cognitive impairments is that you have cognitive impairments. It's a vicious cycle I've sadly seen in multiple raw vegans. The longer they do it, the crazier(delusional, disordered) they get. Like my fruitarian friend doing weeks long water fasts as well.... He looks like someone with severe anorexia/bulimia. But oh boy does he pack it in! And within hours it's squirting out the other end. He's one of those people that don't fully close the bathroom door. So everyone can hear the squirts and splashes! Still less annoying than being lectured to about eating healthy by someone as clueless as they are confident.... Plus his 'shit' doesn't really stink, as it's not digested. Another point of pride for him.
We've evolved to eat cooked food. Please cook your vegetables, people. Salads are fine but most of our veggies will be very much more digestible and nutritious after being cooked! Some ruffage/raw plants are beneficial, though. Other animals need to chew chud basically all day to meet basic nutritional needs from vegetation. We have cooking, and it's awesome.
That was a wild read, I'm sorry you're dealing with that
We used to be room mates years ago. He(his dad) owned the house, but he was basically the property manager (we paid rent to him and his dad let him keep the money.) We (other room mates) didn't really care for the guy(he didn't really work, besides the occasional side hustle, like doordash). His brother also lived there and didn't work or pay rent. His brother was fairly normal, albeit a gamer addict(slept during day, gamed all night, likely to maximally avoid the fruitarian). We both liked to cook, so we bonded over that. It was weird because he'd project his mental illness onto his brother and suggest his bro needs professional help. And of course this wasn't unique to his brother. Then I would suggest something like, "you act like your brother sometimes have you ever considered professional help," he would go full denial mode.
If he managed to have a poop that would stink then he would then water fast. He'd fast for so long eventually black tarry stool happens. Influencers teach dumdums this is proof your body is detoxing ... In reality it's basically just your stomach digesting itself, and it smells extremely foul. And it's medically concerning.... But to dumdums that's success I guess?
I used to work in a health food store and remember I could always tell who the raw foods guys were (it was always guys) because they had crazy eyes. They were crazy.
I'm sure most of us could stand to eat more raw foods, but dude. That fruitarian thing makes zero sense. It's people who think bodies are dirty, they want to transcend this filthy mortal plane and be clean and pure. That whole mindset is so twisted.
I mean, there's a lot of ways bodies are dirty, but that just means you have to recognize the reasonable limits to cleanliness and learn to deal with what remains. ("shit happens", after all)
As someone who struggled a lot with black-and-white thinking when I was younger, I can definitely see how someone could develop some warped views in the absence of decent education / role models.
Sure, but being physically embodied is not some unclean state, and those ideas have some pretty dark roots. Purity as a concept is such bullshit. There were also the colonics people, who got these crazy enemas and tried to get their insides clean. I'm sure they are dead now, that's just not how bodies work. We need all that gross stuff inside us to be healthy!
Frutarian should not only be eating culinary high sugar fruits. Gourds, tomatoes, etc are all fair game. Anything where you technically do not need to kill the plant to get the food should be on it so nuts to. I would argue milk and eggs should be on it but most people keep it to just plants. Kinda funny because with milk and eggs it would not be hard to keep it relatively healthy.
He seemed to like fruit the riper it got. His favorite bananas would be brown and mush (he called it 'like candy, so good.'). I tried it. Tasted funky and fermented, like ethanol(and other fuesal alcohols). I think he might have been getting lowkey drunk/buzzed off overly ripe fermented fruit, which would definitely provoke some mad squirts.
But then again this guy didn't believe in germ theory. I showed him microscopic media of bacteria and viruses and fungi, even white blood cells doing what they do best (seek and destroy invaders!) He claimed it was all fake news/CGI/AI... We even made kombucha (I taught him how.) Which he enjoyed.... Which I guess it's just magic to him and not basic fermentation....
yeah he does not even understand the moral basis of the diet that I think kinda came from jains.
Tell your friend that animals do get cancer.
Some are just immune to it.
Apparently elephants have some sort of preventative gene to it. I think there’s also a whale and mole rat that do not develop cancer.
these animals have a variety of diets which have nothing to do with it. their immunity is due to genes or an ability to shut down tumours. (They can still get cancer but it just doesn’t do anything to them as it can’t metastasize)
Humans do not have the same properties.
So sick of the health food nuts that think food = hormone replacement or whatever suits their opinion at the moment and do fuck all research into how DNA works.
I have a friend that’s a “fruitarian”
I could have sworn that's exactly how Steve Jobs ended up dying lol (But I'm not a doctor)
You should really try to inform your friend the dangers of such a severe gap in a biologically-driven omnivore's diet and the future health consequences. Even a single potato would go a really long way.
Edit: Nvm, I scrolled past the tl;dr and didn't see that you've attempted to numerous times already
My big thing was cook your vegetables and limit fruit intake, especially because he prizes over ripe and high fructose fruit.
He'd basically would leave fruit out to rot, covered in fruit flies, and then he would still eat that shit. I got him to put that shit in a bowl and cover it with a towel.
He would complain though. The flies need to eat, too.
So he would throw compostable material around his yard.... Which arrested pests, naturally. Then there was the rats in the walls and ceilings.... But the rent was cheap!
wow, your friend is a heavyweight, figuratively speaking. Not to give water to his mill, but I have a family friend who is actually disturbed by wifi. She is able to tell when it's on, we blind tested her. She would always turn it off at night when sleeping over.
I’d be interested in more scientific tests on this as I think some people do have a sensitivity to it.(not me personally) but I think It should be researched more about the effects of the signals on the human body if they can feel it. I wouldn’t dismiss it as silly as way back when Bluetooth had levels developed after it could produce tumours and they had to reduce the signal a lot for current day use.
Used to be able to have Bluetooth that could work past two blocks. Turns out that was NOT good for the body.
Used to be able to have Bluetooth that could work past two blocks. Turns out thaf was NOT good for the body.
Class 1 Bluetooth devices can reach around 100 meters under ideal unobstructed line-of-sight.
There's no scientific study to suggest Bluetooth radio frequencies are harmful. They're very low power and it's non-ionizing radiation.
Smoking(Polonium and lead, and thousands of carcinogens), UV exposure(sun), radon exposure(usually in homes), and air pollution are all significantly more dangerous than radio frequencies.
Radio frequencies can absolutely microwave (heat) you under specific circumstances. Like at AM/FM and DTV antenna power levels, sure, but only if you're climbing one of the towers, then sure they can cook you inside-out(with many megawatts of RF energy)... But by the time it gets to even 1 km the power is so low it's harmless(about a million times weaker than just one meter away, so 1 km away a 1 megawatt antenna would have only 1 watt of energy). Bluetooth class 1 devices top out at 100 milliwatts and consumer-grade WiFi tops out at 1 watt. It would kind of like being afraid of a full moon giving you a sunburn.... It's just not going to happen.
Which scientific white papers did you read on this? Can you please source them?
I'm not sure what you're asking for... Bluetooth is extremely low power. An order of magnitude from consumer WiFi. Which itself is far less than cellular signals, which are far weaker than broadcast (radio and TV.)
Wrong url?
It's a search engine for scientific literature.
Yes, someone asked for your references and you didn't link them. Hence I thought you copied the wrong url, giving you the benefit of the doubt.
If you intentionally linked to a search engine.... that isn't a great look
The reference is my formal education in the subject matter. I'm honestly quite certain this person needs an education more than a paper that without such an education they'd fail to comprehend.
We can't all be PhD Electrical Engineers with a focus on wave guides. Just friendly feedback the "Educate yourself" response in a forum puts people off, even the readers who you are not directly addressing.
response in a forum puts people off
I don't care. I can't fix stupid. I can explain things. I can't understand them for you.
People that make claims without evidence will have them dismissed for exactly that reason. If that's putting you off, then kiss off.
They just trolling
I’m asking you for the source for your information up there. I was legitimately curious and believed you to be inviting yourself to this discussion in the interest to discuss honestly but I see now from the link provided now you’re just a 15 day old account trolling bad actor being unfairly confrontational here with misinformation you probably just gained out of some AI slop. I didn’t sign on for this and I don’t know what I did to set you off. Nor do I believe you’d give a fair reason for behaving this way. (I’m sure it’s just laziness anyways)
Either way I chose not to give it more of my precious time or energy so enjoy the block.
For the benefit of any other posters who are legitimately curious as I am: I really do hope they do look into studying this further.(for real)
I'm set off? 😂
It's very difficult to prove a negative. There's tons of papers out there with weak evidence and poor methodologies and very low citations claiming various non-ionizing EM are bad. The problem is the lack of reproducibility. You can look up meta-analysis on this, if you like.
No.
Not so fast. Yes.
Relevant username
I'm here to question whether you have the authority to make a comment like that
😂👏❤️
Common misconception. They only poop when Trump tells them to. If they don't wait til instructed ICE comes and shoots them.
Land of the free, ladies and gents.
Is this why so many Europeans treat us like some different species
Having worked in fentanyl crisis towns and then have the neighboring towns proudly proclaim how great America is and how much FREEDOM we have... Totally understandable how Europeans look at us.
Hell, I'll never forget the look my european coworker gave me when I told them we have a two week parental leave and it's a fire-at-will state.
Yeah but that's us being oppressed, I would think it makes sense they find those things abhorrent. But not really the same thing
If an American had thought something as ridiculous as the OP about some other country (and genuinely no offense meant to the OP) they would get destroyed
IIRC normal shitting intervals is 3x a day to 3x a week
Nope. I shit every day, in the morning, on a schedule.
Your teacher was full of shit. Sure the Standard American Diet (SAD) is terrible and leaves fiber much to be desired, but not every American sticks to the SAD. I'm sure other countries have people that have shit diets and get constipated too, not just the US.
Generalizations don't help anyone.
Some of us do, but that's a dietary issue associated with high animal product consumption and basically no fiber consumption.
Like everyone else anywhere from 3x/day to once every 3 days is normal and healthy.
You have no idea what you're talking about
You have no idea who you're talking about
Do I now?
I actually tried out the carnivore diet for a couple months a few years back. After the first week, I had a bm at the same time every single day. For comparison, I was averaging once per 2-3 days before that.
While I'm not a fan of the diet, the experiment did a good job of revealing who doesn't know shit about what they're talking about, with the subjects this time being you and captianlezbian.
Your experience matches mine.
You have no idea where you're talking about
No
And holy shit! to my astonishment your teacher just said the dumbest thing i have heard this year, and i have suffered through Donald Trump speeches….
and i have suffered through Donald Trump speeches….
Why?
She's an idiot.
She was nice and funny.
Well, there was one lemmy post...
E: 3y ago and deleted, but apparently lemmygrad (despite my hatred for them) retained a copy thankfully. https://lemmygrad.ml/post/793635
I was worried that lemmy wouldn’t reach the pinnacle of quality to match reddit, and then this post came along to soothe those fears. Good luck on your no poop quest.
Hahahahaha that entire post was crazy start to finish
Here in hot Australia, there are so many toilets to help with the diarrhea every summer...
I just flip upside down in my ground harness and let the poops fall out into space.
I may not be your average American because I eat lots of veggies and beans and stuff but I'm once or twice a day, and they are solid sinkers.
Wait--once or twice in the same day or did you mean every one to two days for regular bm?
One or twice in the same day, usually once.
I’m guessing this notion came about from the Baptist and evangelical folks, who indeed try to reduce the frequency of bodily functions, as they see those as sin. As a result, Lutherans and the like indeed only do number twos every couple of weeks. But the rest of Americans (the silent minority), who live on a diet of fiber free fast food, sodas and watery beer, open the diarrhea valve at least twice a day. Only in America!
That's not true about mainstream Lutherans....
They're really nothing like Baptists or evangelicals (which have plenty of overlap being Pentecostal.)
Lutherans still typically serve wine for communion. It's basically Catholicism lite... Methodists are also mainstream protestants. None of these are Evangelical or Pentecostal or charismatic (no faith healings, no speaking in tongues, no magic underwear, and they do more than missionary work in places that don't want their missionaries...)
Like my brother's church, Assembly of God. They're Evangelical, pentecostal, and charismatic. Most of their offerings go to missions. And they have bios and a world map with colored pins associated with the missionary bios. So many of them are in places that don't want Christian missionaries.... So what do they do? Build a fucking church in a Muslim country where Christianity is banned. So the church got burned down and missionaries were taken hostage... What do they want to do? Pay the ransom and rebuild the church... And brag about sending millions of dollars overseas for this dumb shit. Like... How about invest in the local community?! These places of worship are pathetically parasitic. Now remember, it's dumb fucks like these (Evangelical Pentecostals, who mainly focus on global mission work) that are the largest majority of Trump's base. This tracks, sadly. Mission work is an excellent way to traffick people and move/launder dark money, unregulated and tax free!
What has this to do with fecal matter? Stay on topic, dude.
Religion is such a disease, good grief.
as they see those as sin.
Youre joking...
It’s BS. The Simpsons already made that joke anyway.
Ahhhh The Simpsons already did my reference! lol
I’m guessing this notion came about from the Baptist and evangelical folks, who indeed try to reduce the frequency of bodily functions, as they see those as sin.
Ah yes, the lesser known Everybody Poops edition
Me, as an American:
I love this so much. Where's it from?
Billy Madison, basically at the very end.
It also applies to much of what the Trump administration says so you'll get a lot of use out of this gif.
It's also being performed by one of the greatest comedy writers of all time, Jim Downey
When I was a kid, I’d poop once or twice a week, but I had a weird diet (vegetarian from very early childhood in a meat-eating family, so I drank a lot of milk, because my parents worried about protein).
Nowadays, I probably poop 1-3 times a day, depending on how much I eat. I’m vegan now, and I get more than enough fiber without any of the, uh, fixative properties of dairy, so that probably has a lot to do with it.
I hope that wasn't too much of a torturous experience. I would go like 3-4 days without pooping as a kid and even that caused rather bad constipation
No, thankfully it felt pretty normal to me. It was definitely closer to three than five on the stool scale, but no blockages.
The only reason I realized it was abnormal was because I mentioned once that I didn’t poop during a week of sleep away camp and everyone thought it was an exaggeration.
I didn't poop for like 2 or 3 days of a camp trip in elementary school and man did i pay the price.
I'm an American who poops once a week. I'll go ahead and speak for all Americans here that this is undoubtedly true.
I can confirm that this individual can speak on my behalf for all things defication.
once every 3 days to 3 times a day is considered normal. when i was on my first weight loss journey, i was eating properly within calories and exercising every day.. i would go every second day or third day and it wasnt much. the more processed, bready and sugary foods will have you on the bog daily. cut out the bread, and your screen time will drop!
And then there are the americans with IBS-d. They shit 5 to 10 times a day.
All this (wonderful) shit-talking and no-one has mentioned painkillers. Earlier this year I spent a couple of weeks in hospital along with a lot of other oldies with fall injuries. We were all taking oxycodone and paracetamol for the pain, and the nurses were obsessed with our bowel movements. We were given laxatives twice a day to hurry things along, and threatened with an enema if we went too long without pooing. After the laxatives worked their magic on me I started refusing to take them, because it took me so long to get across the ward to the toilet I was scared I'd shit myself halfway.
So yes, painkillers are costive.
I had to take oxy's after hand surgery, and I am not accustomed to painkillers. I ended up constipated, and it was (BY FAR) the worst poop of my life. Like, that (literal) shit hurt worse than the pain of surgery
I'm talking 45+ mins on the toilet; pushing, sweating, almost crying, standing up and down trying to get things to move. I became a little fearful and wondered if I was about to tear my rectum. I felt like I wanted to faint. I couldn't just stop because it was half-way out, making my bum feel like I was getting spread-open by a dragon or something... and it wouldn't pinch off. I admittedly dug in my butt, trying to pull it out... I was in fucking shambles and beginning to panic. It felt like I was fighting for my life
It finally cleared, and I was left with pure exhaustion and butt pain. Prune juice helped me to reconcile that issue, and even though I had never tried prune juice — I'm a "forever fan" of that sweet sweet elixir of preemptive relief
I'll never forget that poop
Thank you for sharing! I realise now what the nurses wanted to spare us....
Cleaning you is waaay easier than disimpaction. If it's bad enough I have to call someone who doesn't work holidays, weekends, or any other hour a bank isn't open. If it's NOT bad enough to call that person, that's actually way worse because it's gonna be you, me, and these phalanges, and neither of us is gonna be having a good time. Now that I work in a tiny community hospital I don't even have residents I can sucker into it anymore!
"Shhh shhhh shhhhh... you'll feel better soon, I promise". And they do! (Then my shift ends, and I think about my life choices)
I was never taught disimpaction in school... but when you know it's gotta happen, it just is what it is
No.
The climate is colder in North America
Colder than where?
On the off chance that this is a real question:
I am an American, and I poop regularly, every day.
I will admit that I do not adhere to the standard American diet, but I know that I am not alone in my poop habits.
I genuinely don't understand the logic of "America is a colder climate", because that is ostensibly incorrect.
I live in North America. It's about daily for me. Doctor doesn't care.
You can't make him care, all you can do is keep notifying him when it happens.
Ironically that's what twitter was once for lol
Presumably why it's now Shitter.
American here. I poop every day, some times 2x a day.
Damn, really living it up.
Yeah, all the veggies, chick peas, and lentils really help. Now that I can't afford meat, pooping is a breeze.
Can confirm.
Source: am American, poop daily, saw a doctor once
In debt ever since
American here. I don't shit. My digestive system is perfect and produces no waste.
Found Kim Jong Un!
Lol, your teacher sounds amazing.
Oh, she was xD
I used to shit more like twice a day during grad school (probably because of all the junkfood like living off microwave burritos lol) but then I shifted to about once a day and was mildly concerned about it.
When I looked it up to see if it were symptomatic of low fiber or something else... color me surprised to find dozens of reddit posts talking about how people only shit once every 3-4 days. I was stunned.
Then I realized a lot of those posts were made by Americans, and it reminded me of someone in college who once reasoned that him living off McDonald's for three meals a day was "sustainable" because he counted calories religiously... not taking into account that he was essentially living off fiberless food whatsoever lmao
So basically...
I live in northern Scandinavia and I poop probably 2–3 times a day, at set times. When I wake up, then some time usually shortly after lunch. Then maybe a bonus one after supper as well. But definitely 2 times a day. I had a cousin in law who lived in Florida, said she poops once a week or so. I couldn't believe it when she said that.
If you're wearing a fitness tracker, the US will know about your daily routines.
Yeah, no, no wearables on me. Analog mechanical watches on my wrist, if anything.
you seem lost.
this is clearly a shittyasklemmy@lemmy.uhhoh.com post
As an American I am full of shit, yes.
One meal in, one meal out
That might be dysentery lol
That would require critical thinking! Boooring
It's not serious enough to think critically about. If I'm wrong, it's just funny.
It's important to remember that teachers are on average less educated that the average citizen. My high school biology teacher told us boys with restless legs were just masturbating their anus in class....
After having worked IT in several schools over the last 20 years (both high schools and universities), I can honestly say that teachers are the most misinformed and least knowledgeable professionals I've ever worked with. Only principals are worse, and most I've met could probably be classified as mentally disabled.
I think this might be inadvertent selection bias. Because I know plenty of teachers that are very smart, but they are also the ones least likely to need IT's services.
It’s important to remember that teachers are on average less educated that the average citizen.
That is an incredibly bold statement to make. Can you back this up with sources ? Especially since you said it is important to remember. And where are you talking about ? Is this true everywhere ?
OP works in IT. They think anyone they have to work with is less intelligent than the average citizen.
My high school biology teacher told us boys with restless legs were just masturbating their anus in class....
i am trying this right now
Hahahaha, sending this to a sibling (a teacher) who would agree with all the above.
At least they're pretty humble about their own ignorance, and seek out the rest of the family to learn stuff they don't know.
I am European and growing up I pooped 7 days a week. When I spent some time in the US, it dropped to 2 times a week. Must be something in the water...
Maybe it's 'cause they don't have bidets? Your ass knew better than to go through that TP hell.
Europe isnt a primarily bidet country.
Also you can't summarize Europe as a single entity.
So even my claim aint holding much value
Europe isnt a
primarily bidetcountry
Oh but of cooouurseee it's a country, what, you think it's a continent? You're such a scallywag!
Edit: Apparently /sarc was very needed here.
How long were you in the US? It's normal for sudden diet changes to temporarily cause constipation. I'm an American, and eating in Mexico made me super constipated. Also most people I know are at least daily, if not more
Bait
American here. I've always heard that you should see a doctor (or at least try upping your fiber intake) if you don't poop at least once a day on average.
As mentioned in other comments, the United States' climate ranges from tropical to arctic depending on location, so your teacher's explanation is nonsensical. Either your teacher was an idiot, a jokester, or you misinterpreted/misremembered what she said.
I shit like 3 times a day usually. Everybody is different.
I'm no doctor but three a day sounds likeva problem.
My diet is bad but it's consistent, get everything out in the morning. I'm probably ok, other than needing to eat healthier
Thats fair. I have a morning and evening usual and thinking about it I'm sure i have one in between more than i think about. When my dietary needs are on point it's once in the morning though. Those days weeks are nice.
Its not.
Oh, thanks for clarifying.
You too mister "no doctor".
Miss.
Miss who?
Me. Not a mister...
Miss "no doctor"...
Why do you miss no doctor?
Why did I think I'd want to read these comments?
If Americans poop less, it is due to lower fiber content in their diets.
I live in Canada, so by this argument I should be packing my shit even more densely due to the cold. And yet by eating a diet that includes enough fruits and veggies I manage to take a dump every morning.
What the fuck?
No. Though to be fair, I don't live in the cold part of the US.
So sorry to hear that shitty education is not unique to us.
FWIW between once every three days up to three times a day is considered medically normal. If you're consistently outside of this without obvious reason you should look into your digestive health.
When I was younger I typically only shat about once a week, naturally (as in, without medical/medicine causes)
Every shit was a lincoln worthy log that i could have probably built a cabin with.
I miss those days.
I hate shitting 2-3 times a day now.
Do it on company time, and I will be calling it filling out paperwork.
until the company installs those insane slanted toilets that make it impossible to shit.
Then you use your bosses desk. Bonus points if you stick an ice cream cone in it.
In nursing school they taught us anything from 2x daily to 1x weekly is normal due mostly to variations in diet but with some influence from activity level, hydration, and genetics. Now I'm in practice that seems too long; I start getting nervous when my patients say it's been 3-4 days. Personally I poop between 4x daily and once every 3 days depending on how angry my IBS is. I do HAVE to know what part of the world you're in now though.
Anything from 3 times a day to once each 3 days should be considered normal/healthy unless there are reasons to expect other intervals.
The climate is colder in North America
It's gonna be 81f (27c) where I live today, and it's not even summer yet. At the peak of summer, we regularly get temperatures over 100f (~38c). We've even seen 111f (43.8c) in my state, and I don't live in the hottest state, not by a long shot. Your teacher was incredibly ignorant.
It does get really cold here in the winter, but thankfully humans have developed these things called heaters, so it's not cold indoors. I go from my heated house, to my heated garage, get into my car (which also has heat), and drive to my heated workplace, or the heated supermarket. Then I do the same trip in reverse. I'm only exposed to the extreme cold for 2-3 minutes the whole trip.
As far as shitting, I have IBS-D. I'd be so fucking happy if I could manage to only shit once a day. On bad days, I'm on the toilet 10-12 times.
No offense, but can u pls summarize?
Paragraph 1) It gets very hot here.
Paragraph 2) Even in the winter, we just turn the heat on.
Paragraph 3) I shit a lot.
In short, your teacher was an idiot.
Alr, thanks for that.
No, she wasn't an idiot overall. She might be ignorant in this subject, but she was sooooo good at english.
Only time that happens is when I’m camping.
i am shitting right now. i shit abt 2 times a day. usually between 3 and 5 on the bristol scale. sometimes 6 if i had a bad lunch.
If you’re doing it like 2 or 3 in an hour or two I’d count that as one. Could just take a colon a bit to conclude itself. It needs a break too. It’s a long tube to be emptying.
Yes, this is why Americans are so full of shit.
I used to shit like every two to three days, especially if I were out backpacking. Now it's more like daily.
If only. But sadly it's never been less than twice a week for me, even when I was vegan.
I would think being vegan it would be easier to get fiber.
Fiber was fine, there's just less waste.
No, everyone around the world poos once every day or every 2 days, if they're healthy.
Should be.
I’ve been backed up before. Make sure to watch your fibre intake.
Not normally but fiber is often lacking in the diet. Has no relation to cold. If you have seen the bbc bear gryllis thing with folks on islands the reason they can't poop is they did not find the fiber stuff and only lived on meat.
Kind of but its subcultural like fascists only eat meat and anything that's not meat and dick shaped will just make the gay thoughts stronger they only poop once a week most of the rest of us have eating disorders so like that can happen but it varies wildly I'm sure not on average some of us use laxatives or enemas multiple times a day there is an opiate epidemic so that can make you only poop once a week if you've ever done those you know it can vary regionally but it varies by culture if you come here and pack your lunches or something you'll probably poop the normal amount you poop its purely cultural
Uhm… what????? Maybe it’s because we moved to EU now but even when we lived in USA that wasn’t a normal thing no.
Same reason as why Americans blow the toilet after going to Taco Bell:
FIBRE
Y’all just eat meat and cheese. No fibre, thus you’re always constipated.
USAians eat burgers, fries, and high-fructose corn syrup. They sit on the toilet trying to excrete their non-fluid bodily waste on average for 8-9 minutes due to a horrendous lack of fiber. More than 72% are overweight and 47% are obese.
If I had to guess, once a week sounds about right for the average Magastanian. Not sure about the rest.