My bathroom habits: facts about flax

After years of blogging, it occurred to me that I’ve never written about my bathroom habits. This oversight needs to be corrected. After all, some of my most satisfying moments occur on the toilet.

Now, you might be thinking, “Brian, you need to get a life.” But going to the bathroom is part of my life. And since I’m a vegetarian, it takes up a larger share of my day than it does for most people.

Yes, it’s a scientific fact. Vegetarians and vegans kick butt, so to speak, when it comes to the frequency of bowel movements (detailed BM statistics for veggies and meat-eaters can be found here).

I’d always suspected this. Normal bowel movement frequency ranges from three times a week to three times a day. I’m at the high end of normal, that’s for sure. (It’s nice to be special). Without nasty heavy animal flesh clogging up my intestines, food flows freely through me.

Sometimes, too freely.

I recently realized that I’d overdone my flax consumption. For a long time I’ve taken a flax oil capsule twice a day. Then for breakfast I started eating an organic cereal with flax seeds in it. Concerned that I still wasn’t getting all the potential benefits from flax, I started adding two tablespoons of ground flax seed to the cereal.

I enjoy my sit-down bathroom time—that’s when I read my TIME, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report subscriptions—but I came to realize that I was going to have to bring in a few more magazines to get through a week’s reading if I kept eating all those flax seeds.

For according to the Mayo Clinic flaxseed and flaxseed oil have laxative properties. That’s great if you’re on the low end of the bowel movement frequency bell curve. However, if you’re a vegetarian high-scorer like I am, too much flax seed is going to put you over the top. Or rather, on the top of the toilet seat.

Moderation in all things. Including bowel movements. However, more often is better than less often when it comes to preventing colorectal cancer and decreasing the risk of Parkinson’s Disease. Plus, I can testify to how frequent trips to the bathroom keep you up to date on current events, if you store the right reading material next to the toilet.

Most of us yearn for normalcy, though. Check out the Bathroom Habits Survey and learn how you compare to over a million other people who were also willing to share (anonymously) what goes on behind the bathroom door. Which is always closed by 51% of respondents.

And 82% always or sometimes inspect what they’ve left in the bowl before flushing. I’m normal!

Comments

[Carol Ann]

You are really your Mother's son. Fortunately, even at my more elevated age, I have never needed magazines in the bathroom, which amazes my GP at every physical.

[Brian]

Hey, I don't need magazines in the bathroom; I enjoy them. I mean, it isn't as if I'm waiting around for my smoothly functioning vegetarian system to do its thing. I suspect my mother spent more slack time in the "reading room."