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?

  • Soulifix@piefed.worldEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    Do you ever stop to think that maybe you’re being lied to? Where was that part of the process?

  • morphballganon@mtgzone.comEnglish
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    4 months ago

    I suppose your teacher read a statistic that Americans are more likely to be constipated due to more cheese and less veggies and fruits in their diets, and constipated people on average poop less, and just simplified this trivia in their long-term memory and lost the details.

  • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.todayEnglish
    0·
    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.

  • Zedd @lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
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    5 months ago

    Thought this was c/shittyasklemmy. It’s not, so here’s an earnest response. I’m from the US, but have spent a bunch of time living outside of the country. Every guy I know usually poops daily, but a lot of women only poop every couple of days. It doesn’t have anything to do with the cold.

    Fun somewhat related story time. I once had a colleague travel to the US from South East Asia. He went to our boss a few days into the trip and said he needed to go to the hospital. My boss eventually convinced him to explain the problem. His poop was a solid mass instead of liquid. Dude had never had solid shit before. It’s possible an anecdote like this is what gave your teacher that idea.

  • MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    All this (wonderful) shit-talking and no-one has mentioned painkillers. Earlier this year I spent a couple of weeks in hospital along with a lot of other oldies with fall injuries. We were all taking oxycodone and paracetamol for the pain, and the nurses were obsessed with our bowel movements. We were given laxatives twice a day to hurry things along, and threatened with an enema if we went too long without pooing. After the laxatives worked their magic on me I started refusing to take them, because it took me so long to get across the ward to the toilet I was scared I’d shit myself halfway.

    So yes, painkillers are costive.

    • Apytele@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      4 months ago

      Cleaning you is waaay easier than disimpaction. If it’s bad enough I have to call someone who doesn’t work holidays, weekends, or any other hour a bank isn’t open. If it’s NOT bad enough to call that person, that’s actually way worse because it’s gonna be you, me, and these phalanges, and neither of us is gonna be having a good time. Now that I work in a tiny community hospital I don’t even have residents I can sucker into it anymore!

      • MrShankles@reddthat.com
        0·
        4 months ago

        “Shhh shhhh shhhhh… you’ll feel better soon, I promise”. And they do! (Then my shift ends, and I think about my life choices)

        I was never taught disimpaction in school… but when you know it’s gotta happen, it just is what it is

    • MrShankles@reddthat.com
      0·
      4 months ago

      I had to take oxy’s after hand surgery, and I am not accustomed to painkillers. I ended up constipated, and it was (BY FAR) the worst poop of my life. Like, that (literal) shit hurt worse than the pain of surgery

      I’m talking 45+ mins on the toilet; pushing, sweating, almost crying, standing up and down trying to get things to move. I became a little fearful and wondered if I was about to tear my rectum. I felt like I wanted to faint. I couldn’t just stop because it was half-way out, making my bum feel like I was getting spread-open by a dragon or something… and it wouldn’t pinch off. I admittedly dug in my butt, trying to pull it out… I was in fucking shambles and beginning to panic. It felt like I was fighting for my life

      It finally cleared, and I was left with pure exhaustion and butt pain. Prune juice helped me to reconcile that issue, and even though I had never tried prune juice — I’m a “forever fan” of that sweet sweet elixir of preemptive relief

      I’ll never forget that poop

    • 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
        0·
        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.

  • atro_city@fedia.io
    0·
    5 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.