Dr. Trisha Pasricha

It's going to just come out quickly, effortlessly, and more easily.

It shouldn't be pure liquid.

It shouldn't look like mud.

I would say that maybe we swung in the wrong direction there.

But it will just be easier to pass.

And in fact, they've done these studies where...

For example, in the US, there's this statistic that we talk about, which is based on a survey of thousands of adults in the US who considered themselves to have normal bowel movements.

And they said, OK, how often are you going?

And it turns out anywhere from three times a day to once every third day would be within the range of normal, although people still sort of believed that once a day was normal.

When they looked at other countries, for example, in East India, where people eat a significantly higher fiber diet,

those people were going like on a median of 14 times per week, which is almost twice as much as we sort of think is normal here in the U.S.

But it's often just a function of fiber.

And there are also other factors too, right?

Like exercise plays a role.

Your stress certainly can play a role, though what you're describing to me sounds interesting because it could be a form of post-infectious IBS, as you're describing.

But there have actually been a lot of studies about bacterial infections and how those can kind of sensitize the lining of the gut

in a way that can last for several years.

The good news is that, as it seems to have happened in your case, sometimes we see that it does get better eventually when you change your diet, when you change your lifetime.

It just takes time.

yeah, it's funny you bring this up because I am one of those people who have always looked.