Chethan Ramprasad M.D. and Baha Moshiree M.D.

To understand why greens OK sometimes, you have to know why its usually brown. Normally, your liver helps you digest fats youve eaten by producing a greenish fluid called bile. That fluid does many helpful things: It helps you break down fat for the rest of your body to absorb, it has anti-microbial properties, can neutralize acidity or pH for vitamin absorption and enzyme activity, and it keeps you regular.

Bile mixes with food and waste products to form stool in the large intestine. When things are working as they should, bacteria in your large intestine break down the bile through a process called oxidation, which helps turn whole mixture brown.

When bile does not have time to be broken down, green happens. Some foods-like spicy foods, coffee, and alcohol-make your body fast-forward through the digestion process, so theres not enough time for bile to be broken down. This may happen if you dont usually consume these foods and drinks, or if you consume a large quantity. Healthy digestion involves a breakdown of bile, so most of the time, your body will adjust and slow down accordingly. Your gut may not respond to these foods the same way each time, so dont be alarmed by the occasional color change.

<ul><li> Artificial coloring in candy or processed foods . But youre not eating those, right? </li><li> A higher-than-usual volume of leafy greens . If you decided to change things and go all-in on greens like spinach or kale, or even green foods like kiwi, avocado, or cucumbers, you may have green poop until your digestive tract adjusts. </li><li> Diarrhea . Thats a sign of extreme fast transit through your colon. Sneaky things that give you diarrhea include medications or supplement ingredients like senna, which can be found in digestive enzyme/probiotic/health products claiming to help you lose weight. Food allergies and celiac disease can cause diarrhea as well. </li></ul>

If you experience an occasional green bowel movement (once every few weeks or month), it's probably okay, especially if you have a diet high in vegetables. However, if it's consistently green when you flush, you should consider seeing your doctor especially if your stools are liquid in consistency and are more frequent than your normal bowel habits. It could be a sign of a number of things, including carbohydrate enzyme deficiency, pancreatic disease, irritable bowel syndrome, or an infection. Best to get it checked out.

Sometimes, you cant help but notice that instead of brown poop, what youve just dumped into the toilet has a distinctly green twinge even perhaps a St. Patricks Day type of bright neon green color.

Why is My Poop Green?

<h1> Its a relief for your muscles </h1>

Ever since last nights dinner was digested, whether that was kale and kombucha or whiskey and filet mignon, your colon has been gradually expanding to accommodate the byproducts. Stretch receptors from your gut send a message to your brain that its time to get rid of whats been building up.

Meanwhile, certain parts of your body are contracting to hold it inspecifically, your two anal sphincters (an internal one thats an automatic muscle that requires no thought (whew), and an external, voluntary one). The rest of the muscles in the gut also contract both forward to move things through, and backwards so that water and nutrients can be absorbed. All this contracting leads to increased abdominal pressure (you know the feeling). Most of what we feel normally is the expansion of the bowels with air or fluid or poop.

And when that pressure builds up, your stretch receptors send get this out of here signals to your brain. When you finally do go, abdominal pressure decreases and stretch receptors relax. The release of all that tension naturally feels great. (Although in some folks, this abdominal pressure may not go away; this could be the result of gut bacteria that produces gases, or it could be due to your diet, or the presence of specific intestinal enzymes.)

<h1> Your nerves love a good dump, too </h1>

There are a huge number of nerve endings where your waste products pass: the anus has among the most in your entire body. It's the only organ that senses and differentiates gas from liquid from solids (poop). Nerves there, just like nerves anywhere else, transmit sensations like temperature, pain, and pleasure to your brain.

Two nerves in particular may be key factors in the feel-good experience.

<ul><li> The vagus nerve sends pleasant signals to your brain. Body functions that keep your body relaxed, like breathing and digestion, are largely driven by the vagus nerve, one of the biggest nerves in the human body that controls most of the gut. As you poop, this nerve transmits the satisfying sensation of decreased abdominal pressure. Your brain often perceives these nerve signals to be pleasurable as it is associated with completion of a task (that would be pooping). Stimulation of the vagus nerve through defecation could even momentarily lower heart rate and blood pressure. </li><li> The pudendal ner ve might get in the act, too. This nerve also provides sensory information from your anus to your brainand it happens to be one thats also in the clitoris and penis. Although this hasnt been studied formally, some scientists suggest that the pudendal nerve could contribute to enjoyable dumps, since it often carries the feeling of pleasure. </li></ul>

Although not fully studied, guys may even have a satisfaction advantage: For men, the prostate could even be involved. Often considered the male G-spot, this gland, situated just in front of the rectum, may be stimulated by particularly large bowel movements.

If you dont tend to poop on a regular schedule but feel perfectly okay, that's generally fine. If you dont feel completely satisfied after your poop and feel you can go again, <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__secure-2Dweb.cisco.com_1qC0CmQ8KJ2nrAeg3Isor8B-2DJ8pok4nUwlyxQUQfvEpWh3-2DyV54XvlZosby8MBAGul12qHjM251xR6gPTu-2DK7aDEwIwP4gBvvKZWBKaRtq1KTxq1Txh1p6rkMdOPLrctsi7xxaQKa2NDNzS1YQmkxwI06zAwV8l5nX6adHSh50gbThvXlpUq8JLPPAR-5FUEQaC4E0x0SGTJdY6G4RIisxKeN3XMfN0nGsng0ChZ9hlsGM45qdOCT8D98PxKUk9Nd0ee9xA0-2Dmr99yXTHQs8udsHtwOmwBiF-2DBSBg34L3AXc9j5kxipy2lx9HNoQNyvLPOCi-5Fsi-5FFcVmtj8Dd-2Dl-2D-2DCQyA_https-253A-252F-252Fwww.menshealth.com-252Fhealth-252Fa25832523-252Fpoop-2Dtypes-2Dnormal-2Dhealthy-2Dconstipation-252F&amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;c=B73tqXN8Ec0ocRmZHMCntw&amp;r=jgvPkYJ1-LN6txcZYYeUUcVNVF7mHhpDJZhdCcq9l3Q&amp;m=q8SrX_iBTY9SulhunA23s3pjvDSDXLnPPMdwg6baGdI&amp;s=RguFPBuZScdJfPSeURDAl-9mxnkS78z4UkFTcXY_o94&amp;e=" id="390c6851-b7dc-3f0a-ae31-19d0c0a871c3"> heres how </a> to get your gut into a better routine.

Chethan Ramprasad. M.D. is an internal medicine resident physician at NYU Langone.

Baha Moshiree M.D., is a gastroenterologist and internist and director of the Motility Program at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, NC. She also works with the International Foundation for GI disorders patient advocacy groups.

Sometimes a morning dump is justweirdly satisfying. You know what we mean. Its not just usyour biology is set up for it to happen, thanks to how your muscles and nerves work. Heres whats going on:

Why It Feels So Good to Poop

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Chethan Ramprasad M.D. and Baha Moshiree M.D.

Articles written by the author

Why is My Poop Green?

Why It Feels So Good to Poop