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?

  • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today
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    4 months ago

    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.

    • Karl@literature.cafeOP
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      4 months ago

      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.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        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.

  • roofuskit@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    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.

    • happydoors@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      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!

  • ikidd@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    4 months ago

    I used to shit like every two to three days, especially if I were out backpacking. Now it’s more like daily.

    • VitoRobles@lemmy.today
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      4 months ago

      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.

  • Apytele@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    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.

  • atro_city@fedia.io
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    4 months ago

    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.

  • Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    4 months ago

    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.

  • FosterMolasses@leminal.space
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    4 months ago

    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…