86 points by mikhael 5 hours ago | 21 comments
flossly 4 hours ago
I did quite some experimenting with this.

Fruit moves fastest and green leaves. Meat, cheese, oil and fats slowest.

But we often eat combinations: and the slowest component of your food determines the speed of the whole.

Also: it's a one lane road and "over taking" is not possible.

So, eating a fast moving meal after a slow moving meal results in the fast mover getting stuck behind the slow mover.

Hence I start my day without and slow food (only fruit, herbs, green leaves, spices, ginger => usually a smoothy); and end the day with slow food (oily food, nuts, seeds, beans; usually combined with green leaves as we need a lot green leaves).

YMMV

mrroryflint 4 hours ago
There have been alternative (often mad) health proponents who have insisted upon only eating fruit in the morning for years - similar(ish) reasons. I think there is probably something to it.
konradb 4 hours ago
I remember this being a thing in some Tony Robbins book!
sublinear 2 hours ago
Whole fruit also has a lower glycemic index due to the fiber. This slow release of sugar helps reduce insulin resistance and balance out hormone response in general.

Hormonal imbalance is severely underrated as a root cause of common mental health issues like anxiety, depression, etc.

Having fruit in the morning is a little boost without the guilt. Adding in some light exercise, like walking, also helps prime the day. It even gets easier to wake up early for all this the more regularly it's done. It's one big reinforcement cycle for healthy habits.

oulipo2 4 hours ago
I mean the most obvious reason is fibers
x______________ 4 hours ago
Interesting.

A great opportunity to add "YMMV"

Ballas 3 hours ago
Your Movements May Vary?
anonu 2 hours ago
YBMMV
flossly 4 hours ago
Did it!
gchamonlive 2 hours ago
Isn't slow food going through your body during sleep something that'll impact your sleep quality?

When you wake up you are basically fasting so your body is ready to take a hit. Slow food will go through your body faster when you eat it in the first half of your day.

boring-human 4 hours ago
I don't disagree with your findings, but here's the model I use:

- Fiber: ^

- Dairy: v

- Coffee: ^^

- NSAIDs: vv

- Ice cream splurges: vvv

arethuza 3 hours ago
My breakfast routine for ~40 years has been coffee, muesli, coffee, yoghurt, coffee, fresh fruit all served with plenty coffee.
CTDOCodebases 3 hours ago
Eating bitter greens can cause the body to secrete more bile and that speeds up fat digestion.
andsoitis 4 hours ago
Have you found that coffee speed things up?
sublinear 2 hours ago
I have, but I think any stimulant would do similar. I no longer smoke, but that did it too.
lordgrenville 4 hours ago
n=1

But interesting nonetheless, thanks for sharing your findings.

flossly 4 hours ago
I have a small following of people how also saw improvements doing this.

Then, I did not come up with this myself, but found a lot of anecdotals in this direction.

And... I comment on a real science piece that seems to be making similar claims.

vogelke 3 hours ago
> It's a one lane road and "over taking" is not possible.

Best poop-related comment I've seen.

alpineman 2 hours ago
Or just don't eat meat and cheese at all
mcv 1 hour ago
Better for the environment too.
flyinglizard 1 hour ago
The best thing for the environment is dying. You stop wasting resources and start fertilizing the soil.
danielbln 48 minutes ago
Only a Sith deals in absolutes.
senectus1 1 hour ago
yeah my mileage is i eat fruit and i get cramps and the squirts for the next two days.

as I've gotten older my ability to consume fruit, onions, garlic and most dairy (and coffee :-( ) has been taken away from me. its really a miserable experience for someone that enjoys eating new and interesting things all the time.

asplake 40 minutes ago
IANAD, but sounds like IBS or similar, not necessarily age-related, and potentially treatable.
paul7986 3 hours ago
For me i drink close to a gallon of water a day and that truly cleans me out daily.
calf 3 hours ago
Just to be clear I thought the typical advice has been fiber -> protein -> carbs, for blood sugar reasons, you're saying to frontload fiber/carbs & backload proteins for easier digestion? That is interesting, I wonder what studies there are on this.
altmanaltman 4 hours ago
What do you mean, the human stomach is absolutely not a "one line road", your comments lacks the basic biological understanding. What you're describing is a good generic diet and maybe that's why it feels good but please learn a bit more about the stuff you are expetimenting on.
flossly 4 hours ago
I did not mention stomach. I meant the GI-tract as a whole.

I've used food coloring and indigestibles (like corn kernels) to do experiments on whether meals can "overtake" or "merge" or "join" with other meals into poops.

jahller 3 hours ago
that's the most insane thing i read today. kudos to your curiosity
andrewf 1 hour ago
Then you'll love https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jpc.14309

"Six paediatric health-care professionals were recruited to swallow a Lego head."

flyinglizard 1 hour ago
Adding debug prints to your diet.
altmanaltman 1 hour ago
Food coloring is a liquid dye. It will mix with whatever chyme it encounters in the stomach and small intestine, dyeing a large portion of the stool. It does not prove that food stayed in a single-file line.

Also, again the GI-tract as a whole is also not a "one-lane road".

Please educate yourself and do not do "experiments" on yourself. A good place to start learning more would be: https://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/book.aspx?bookid=691 if you're intrested.

SideburnsOfDoom 3 hours ago
I will add an anecdote that from observation, two people on the same diet over long periods can have significantly different poop frequencies, and differing regularity.

YMMV. It's not just determined by the food intakes, there are individual factors.

At a guess, these individual factors start with 1) genetic component to reactions to substances such as lactose and to caffeine. 2) Gut microbiome.

In other words, saying "change diet and you can change the poop schedule" is true, but "with this diet you will definitely get this schedule" is not.

mplanchard 33 minutes ago
The article is open access, I don’t see any reason to prefer the dumbed-down narrative summary: https://gut.bmj.com/content/72/1/180
dustractor 1 hour ago
This is why I suspect that GLP-1 agonist medications have the potential to cause a cascade of negative consequences for the health of some people. One of the mechanisms is slowed gastric emptying which leads to decreased motility of the small intestine as a side effect. They do tell people to drink more water to counteract this. It just seems like trading one set of problems for another so hopefully doctor and patient will carefully weigh the benefits versus the risks. We shall see.
deepsun 1 hour ago
"Linked" not "caused". So it may be that someone with Parkinson's just happen to have slower rates.
sph 4 hours ago
I guess with my IBS I should be the healthiest person around.
adt 46 minutes ago
Akshually, IBS-D is the least common form of IBS.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3865067/

iszomer 2 hours ago
Consumption of dairy and products are a relatively fast and painful solution for personal system purges within 30m but entirely depends on how processed they are.
DaedalusII 2 hours ago
you may evaluate the concept of a milk enema, dramatic and rapid defecation ensues in comparison to a saline enema
Qem 1 hour ago
I wonder if this explains in part the purported health benefits from cofee. One thing people claim makes hard to quit cofee habit it's that they can't take a shit in the morning anymore.
fibermaxxx 2 hours ago
More fiber, more plants. I know individuals that eat "only vegetable on the burger" Oats, grits, or smoothie for early day Mine:Fruit smoothie with oats Starches, leafy greens, for midday Mine:roasted sweet potato on a salad Legumes and tree nuts for dinna Mine:Chickpea sauce over roasted veggies with pasta, or cashews.

The goal is more than 13 plants a day and your movement will be very consistent

cess11 4 hours ago
https://gut.bmj.com/content/72/1/180

The study. It basically says that this is something one perhaps should consider in clinical settings and that the speed of fecal matter might be a worthwhile direction for future inquiry.

"Altogether, a better understanding of the complex, bidirectional interactions between the gut microbiota and transit time is required to better understand gut microbiome variations in health and disease."

It does not say 'this is a sign of health and that is not'.

phyzix5761 2 hours ago
I wonder how Ozempic affects this because it slows down gastric emptying.
jonatron 4 hours ago
I'm surprised there's no mention of hot drinks in the morning.
1 hour ago
devolving-dev 5 hours ago
I wonder what this means for GLP 1 drugs that slow digestion.
andreareina 2 hours ago
Actual outcome data shows that they're a net benefit, and it's not even close.
NotOscarWilde 44 minutes ago
Can you elaborate?

More specifically, as a stroke of coincidence, I am currently suffering from a flare-up of my IMO (intestinal methanogenic overgrowth, also known as methane-based SIBO, small intenstinal bacterial overgrowth) which comes and goes for over 2 years -- with its first onset coinciding with a year on Ozempic 0.5mg that manages my Type 2 diabetes quite well.

What I am interested in, and what I have not been able to find authoritatively yet, is whether giving up Ozempic (or any GLP-1 agonist) in such cases has a worse impact on the overall health than keeping Ozempic and trying to fight the recurring overgrowth some other way.

The gastrologists that I see usually point at Ozempic as a likely suspect and probably would advise me to give it up, and the diabetologists see it as the best way to prolong my excellent blood glucose management as long as possible into my later years (I am under 40). In fact, I had to argue with my diabetologist several times not to increase my dose (for even more weight loss) in fear of worsening of the gastric symptoms.

Necessary disclaimer: Of course, I fully understand that there are scientific results and individual cases like mine may not be relevant to them at all. I also understand that we are likely not doctors here (of medicine, at least).

hhh 4 hours ago
And if I flip flop between both?
nacozarina 1 hour ago
stress-induced

nobody dumps during their first two days of boot camp

beardyw 4 hours ago
If the writer ingested a lot, very little came out.
pawelduda 3 hours ago
Sooo.... Another reason to drink coffee/yerba mate? Although the latter also supposedly stimulates release of GLP1, which slows down "the release"
Grp1 1 hour ago
this post needs an enema
bregma 1 hour ago
I find I can't keep it down for more than a few minutes. I guess I can eat all the poop I want and stay healthy then?
feverzsj 4 hours ago
Eat lots of fibers and water, and you'll poop like a cow.
iammjm 1 hour ago
... Would that be good? I mean that soft flat pancake thing they produce. My general approach so far was to aim fora not too soft, not too hard kind of poop. Like a one that slides out of you with minimal wiping needed afterward. Like what would be the gold standard for poop consistency?
sans_souse 4 hours ago
No shit
delis-thumbs-7e 4 hours ago
In that case you really should go and see a doctor ASAP.
fny 1 hour ago
Headline is megaclickbait. The research is about how healthier gut microbiomes correlate with improved pooping and nothing about how it impacts your health.
mplanchard 27 minutes ago
From the article’s “key takeaways”:

> By considering interindividual and intraindividual differences in transit time in human studies, diet–microbiota interactions and disease-related microbiome signatures may be better elucidated.

There is also an entire section entitled “The role of gut transit time in health and disease”

fny 17 minutes ago
None of this is summarized in the posted article. It's in the research paper which I didn't read because the article seemed like fluff.