If you want to be healthy, you gotta know your sh*t. Like, your actual poo. Really! 

Unless you have access to a Magic School Bus, the best way to keep daily tabs on your digestive system is inspecting your poo. But like any good detective, you must know what to look for. And you’ll also want to know how to get the results you want. 

To learn all that and more, pick up The Good Sh*t by Dr. Todd Sinett, which dropped just last month. Here’s a quick preview of some key insights from the books, and why it deserves to be your next bathroom read.

The Battle of The Diets

All you have to do is open Instagram to know: we’re in an age of fad diets, and they all have competing principles. Some experts say intermittent fasting is the way to go, others recommend 6 small meals a day. Some say paleo, others say vegan. High fat battles low fat, and juice cleanses compete with “clean” diets. It’s dizzying. And incredibly profitable for the diet industry.

And while some fad diets can help us drop weight in the short term, diets generally don’t help us keep weight off in the long run. The only proven numbers in the diet industry are dollars spent. So here’s the real question that prompts Dr. Sinett’s inquiry into excrement:

What is healthy for me? And what is healthy for you? And why doesn’t the diet industry offer tools to differentiate what’s best for each of us?

In short: there is not one diet for everyone. And all you need is a diet that works for you and your digestive system. 

So how do we figure out which diet is uniquely right for your bod? Well, here’s where everything turns to shit. In a good way! 

Body Language

What if instead of obsessing over what we put on our plate and the number on our scale, we asked our body whether our diet is working? It’s primed to answer if we listen, since the body’s way of communicating is poop. 

In his personal and professional experience, Dr. Sinett found that when bodies are feeling good, BMs are that way too. And feeling constipated and bloated or suffering diarrhea is a full-system glitch. In terms of your diet, “a good bowel movement is your body’s message of a job well done.” Just like your pee will tell you if you’re getting enough water, your poo tells you if you are eating and digesting well.

This is a grand inversion around our thinking about nutrition, which is so zeroed in on universal programs for everybody. But each and every body is different. So is it possible that you can learn more about your nutritional needs by focusing on our poops rather than your meals? Dr. Sinett says yes! Simply put, what’s on your plate doesn’t tell you how your body is processing and excreting it. If you want to evaluate how your diet is impacting your body, your best tool is in your toilet bowl.

The Down and Dirty

So you’re ready to become the Sherlock Holmes of your sh*ts. Dr. Sinett is primed to teach you how to tell if you’re getting good poo or bad poo, and why poo is so important. 

As to why poo is important, the digestive system is your body’s waste management system. So you should know that the pricey juice cleanse you’re considering doesn’t remove toxins from your body. Your body does! Your digestive system is a built-in detoxifier. 

While every body is different, Dr. Sinett offers general guidelines to give you a gut that optimally detoxes your bod. He suggests you take control of your sh*t with dietary changes, like committing to substantial meals, and behavioral adjustments, like not suppressing the need to go. The book also guides you on how to build and maintain healthy bacteria in the digestive tract, including how probiotics can help (or hurt!). 

Why The Good Sh*t Is The T*ts

Our favorite aspect of the book is how G.D. practical it is. In one chapter, Dr. Sinett takes us on a grounded AF tour of “health foods”, where corn starch can be dressed up as “veggie chips” and bottled green juice packs upwards of 50 grams of sugar. 

Sinett goes on to advocate for regular milk and whole grain bread and even some red meats. He also recommends sex for stress reduction. Like, ok! This health plan suddenly feels very achievable! (Honestly, minus the sex since we’re quarantining solo, but it’s #2021Goals.)

The book culminates with a 10-day program of intuitive eating and poo monitoring that promises to get you into healthy BM mode. Without spoiling the ending, we’ll say that Amazon reviews are unified in their praise of the program.

Conclusion

The big message of The Good Sh*t is that your body has its own laws, and no diet is complete without consulting with your body’s needs. In this easy and informative read, Dr. Todd Sinett teaches you how to wade through the diet crap, listen to your body, and figure out which foods are best for you. It’s a poo-forward primer on how to look and feel better.