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  1. Sounds like a great idea. I never thought about this before, nor did I know about the health benifits of really squating. wow. The video really starts at 2:00 though…. thanks

  2. What did people use before the modern toilet? An outdoor toilet that was a raised board or a box with a rough cut hole on which to sit or a toilet chair. I have used the outhouse, even as an adult but not at my home. The question is–who decided the toilet position should be elevated. Romans? Greeks? Some old guy who was too fat to squat?

    Elimination in any position would have been and will be better accomplished with consumption of more fiber, probably more abundant in most diets than now. I am a fiber evangelist, but that does not count my chocolate birthday cake with a half inch of chocolate icing/frosting this week. Chocolate frosting works as well as fiber. Okay, I am being silly.

    IRL my friends think I am funny.

    In every society that uses the floor toilet, there are elderly who cannot hunker to the floor, so do they have special grab bars so these elderly do not fall in or need another human to bring them to their feet?

    Hunker is a term (verb), regional, I believe, for a postion of resting, sitting on one’s heels. Country people do this all the time as a way of resting without actually sitting. It is a stand alone verb, not like hunker down in meaning.

    As for the tp, I had a friend who was hilarious and would ocassionally announce to me that he just installed his quarterly roll of tp. The doctor’s spare use of tp is a guy thing.

    Waiting for Poop 3.0.

  3. No hemorrhoids back when? No bowel cancer in Africa years ago? Really? Really, he knows all this and how? If you look at the first medical texts of the middle ages, they discuss hemorrhoids. And people died so young in the Africa of old (in fact, now) that other things killed them before bowel cancer could. Crack pot information that makes me have no faith in the rest of his presentation.

  4. Who knew. As a kid I used to put my feet up on the edge of the bathtub across from the toilet. Trust your instincts.
    I’ve also lived in the Middle East where they do use the floor toilets he showed in the video-yes, there are frail and elderly and overweight people in every culture who use the western modern toilet; however, for the majority of healthy people, squatting just isn’t a problem. They do it from early on-and much better than I ever could!

  5. Don’t know about his historical references, but during my Care of the Elderly part of my nurse training the lecturer explained that opening your bowels was much easier with your feet raised and to help the constipated elderly to do that before rushing to get medication prescribed. She said the ideal position was with your feet up on the toilet seat, but as that wasn’t practical in most cases(!) to try a foot stool instead.
    I’d say Mr Poop has a very good point. The decreased use of loo roll alone is a good thing I’d say!

    PP- I’ve often wondered about the lack of rail or similar too. I’d concluded perhaps everybody is so used to squatting every time they use the loo their muscles are stronger for longer? Don’t know, there must still be those who need assistance.

  6. Surprising that he didn’t at least say something like, “And of course, a healthy, high-fiber diet also makes the whole process a lot easier.”

  7. @Parsimony, Hazel: I’ve seen squat toilets with grab bars attached. But I’d agree that a lifetime of deep squatting would make for stronger leg muscles and better balance–making support less necessary.

    And regarding history, I’m not sure when the shift was made either. What’s interesting is that even if the shape of the toilet changed–became elevated–that doesn’t necessarily mean it was used in a seated position. I remember seeing an 18th century print of a fine gentleman using an outhouse and he had his feet up on the bench, on either side of the hole.

    • I have a lifetime of normal (for us Westerners) toilet sitting and getting up. However, needing back and knee surgery has made this difficult for me. If I did not have a claw foot tub crammed directly in front of the commode, I would need grab bars!

      People who put their feet on the toilet seat and squat tell me there is no way they are putting their behinds where other people put their behinds.

      Have you ever seen and outdoor toilet? If I had not been afraid my foot would slip in, I might have wanted to avoid my bottom touching it…lol.

      In the pooping 1.0 post, I asked about the tall commodes in handicapped stalls and why? I am a tall, old lady and my feet don’t touch the floor. Consequently, I cannot do my business. The muscle control is messed up. So, why would anyone think a five foot woman could handle these tall commodes? The old ladies leave long smears of poop and great drops of orange urine.

      For anyone who has seen them, are the squat toilets in a private stall or is this a communal activity. Company would throw me off completely. I don’t even like three-holers in some outhouses for churches and camps!

      FWIW, I have tried squatting and pooping in the woods. It just won’t happen! I will have to carry my five gallon bucket and a toilet seat on any trip to the woods.

      Will there be a Pooping 3.0?

  8. I think it is good that this dialogue is happening at all. I’ve used those floor model commodes in foreign countries and they’re so easy to use compared to the raised toilets. Sure, he should be talking about fiber and all that, but that’s common sense at this point. Dietary fiber’s easier to eliminate than stuff lacking it.

  9. I just watched this video last week, so interesting that it’s coming around again.

    My kids both squat on the toilet seat to poop (they face the back of the toilet with one foot on each side of the toilet seat).

    They are 9 and 6 (but the size of a 7 and 3 year old). When they were babies I did something with them called “elimination communication.” I used cloth diapers, but at every diaper change I offered them the opportunity to go potty. I would hold them in a supported squat over the big toilet or a training potty as they leaned against me (they were facing out). They eventually would only pee or poop in the potty and not in their diapers. The squatting just evolved from there. Neither of them are interested in sitting on the seat — when they try it they say it feels “funny.” 🙂

    I think finding ways of moving that are in line with our anatomy is awesome — hence I’ve also been barefoot-style running for the last few months.

    So, I say…

    Go barefootin’ and Squat when poopin’!

  10. Interestingly, both of my children poop WAY faster when they’re squatting over a hole vs. sitting on a toilet (one of them takes approximately 1 minute as opposed to 20 minutes!). Also, when I traveled in Europe I noticed that many countries had the hole-in-the-floor toilets, especially Italy. Who knows why, exactly, we have the throne setup over here in the states. I’d like to see all the toilets taken out and replaced with floor models that are also compostable, instead of using drinking water to flush waste.

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