Delicately wondering

[badger]

the article's no longer there, so I don't know what it said, but I've had problems with it all my life. I'm mostly vegetarian and eat probably double the amount of vegetables the average people eat. I also eat high fibre cereals and brown rice. Yet I still have trouble being regular.

The only time I was was when I was taking Kefir, but it was kind of going the opposite spectrum where I was going much too much.

For me I know it has a LOT to do with anxiety in general every day life.

But the worst is when I travel. I plug right up and it gets really uncomfortable after a while.

[OakLeaf]

I used to be like that. It was awful. Don't know if it was just having to get used to frequent travel, or being more diligent about exercise in the road, that made the difference.

[ny biker]

Okay, we have information from an expert. Bodily functions are a favorite subject of Gene Weingarten, who is a columnist for the Washington Post. This week for his online chat, he took a poll of his readers which included questions on frequency of farts per day and poops per week. In commenting on the poll results, he says that he interviewed experts for a book he wrote years ago on hypochondria, and the average is 7-8 poops per week. However he also points out that the "normal range" is wide.

The transcript from the chat is here. Just so you're warned, Gene and his readers do not mince words. Also be careful about clicking on the links that he provides in his chat, because some may be not safe for work or may be blocked by your firewall.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...072801766.html

The poll in question is the Low-Brow poll. You can click on the "Continue" button at the bottom to see the results, and it's not necessary to actually take the poll.

(Previous online chats with Gene have delved into the phenomenon of poop-shame, from which many women apparently suffer. This is the reluctance to go in a public restroom due to embarrassment. He's also discovered that women flush with their feet, and he finds this fascinating because evidently men don't do this.)

[OakLeaf]

Bah. Men don't flush at all with those swirling urinals.