What Your Poo Is Trying To Tell You: the basics

Nobody grows up dreaming of becoming fluent in poo. And yet, here we are.

The average person passes around 1 ounce of stool for every 12 pounds of body weight each day. Not exactly dinner party chat, but stick with me, because what that stool is made of and what it looks like tells you far more about your health than most people realise. Your gut has been quietly sending you messages for years. This is where we start listening.

If you've ever stood in the bathroom wondering whether what you just saw was "normal," you are in very good company. Constipation, loose stools, that odd greenish tinge after a big salad, most of us have quietly wondered about at least one of these and said nothing to anyone. So let's take the awkwardness out of it and talk plainly about what's going on down there.

What's actually in your stool

Roughly 75% of your stool is water. The remaining 25% is a mix of fibre, gut bacteria, dead cells and various waste products your body no longer needs. The balance between these elements is what determines texture, colour and consistency, and each one tells its own part of the story.

Water. When you're dehydrated, your body pulls extra water back out of your intestines, which leaves you with harder, drier stools that are more effort to pass. Staying well hydrated keeps things softer and easier going, quite literally.

Fibre. There are two types, soluble and insoluble, and your gut needs both. Soluble fibre dissolves into a gel-like substance that helps regulate things, while insoluble fibre adds bulk and helps keep everything moving through your digestive tract.

Bacteria. Your gut is home to billions of bacteria doing far more than just "digestion." They help synthesise certain vitamins, support your immune system and finish off the breakdown of food your body couldn't manage alone.

Understanding these three building blocks is the foundation for everything else, including colour, which is where things get properly interesting.

Understanding stool colour

Colour is one of the clearest signals your gut sends you, and once you know what to look for, it's surprisingly easy to read.

Brown. This is your baseline, healthy colour, and it comes from bile salts produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder to help digest fat.

Green. Often just a sign you've been eating plenty of leafy greens or taking iron supplements. It can also mean food has moved through your gut a little faster than usual.

Yellow. A pale, greasy stool can point to excess fat that hasn't been absorbed properly, sometimes linked to malabsorption issues such as coeliac disease.

Black. This one is worth taking seriously, as it can suggest bleeding higher up in the digestive tract, from ulcers or gastritis for example. It can also simply be from iron supplements or certain medications, so context matters.

Red. Bright red can point to bleeding lower down, such as from haemorrhoids, while darker red is worth getting checked promptly.

None of this is about self-diagnosing from a blog post, it's about noticing patterns and knowing when something is worth a proper conversation with someone qualified to help.

Where do we go from here?

You now know a lot more about what your gut has been trying to tell you all along. The next step is turning that awareness into action, and that's exactly the kind of root cause work I love doing with clients. If any of this has struck a chord, or you've got a "is this normal?" question you've been sitting on, let's talk it through.

Book a discovery call