“This squatty potty is super comfortable as well. And I just feel more “emptied”.

here is the link

Thanks for the great Squatty Potty reviews!

The Squatty Potty stool will simulate the squatting postion. You may also use the stool as a platform to squat from, keeping you in shape and your colon healthy.  The health benefits of squatting are just being discovered by the western world.

Bed, Bath, and Beyond: Secrets of Chinese Longevity

May 17, 2012 by MelissaSchneider

phototravels.net

There was a time, back in my heyday of idealism and social-work-induced rent options, when I lived with 8 girls in a 5-bedroom apartment in Harlem.  I had somehow finagled my own room, likely on gossamer claims of being a restless sleeper, but most of the girls shared a room.  One such heavier-sleeping friend was named Joann, who shared a room with Amy.  The two of them enjoyed an alley about two feet wide between their twin beds, and were book-ended by a burgeoning, barely restrained closet on one end and their bedroom wall on the other end.  I loved that apartment.

The problem, of course, with Joann and Amy’s room, was the complete lack of floor space.  You couldn’t go in and loll against the wall or sit in a chair.  No, if you wanted to see what the giggling was all about, you had to plop yourself right down on one of their beds.  Amy’s side was plopping-safe, but every time I dropped myself on Joann’s side, it was like falling on hard-packed cement.  (Somehow, my brain was never able to retain this information, leading to many unfortunate experiences)  Her mattress, you see, wasn’t normal.  It was a “Chinese mattress.”  Constructed, it seemed, to confer pain rather than rest on its users.  (Or at least on its quick-sitting guests).

“Chinese mattress” is probably not the official term, but it was our colloquialism (my friend Mary, who is getting married this weekend (Yay for Mary and Cristoph!) also once owned such a contraption).  These mattresses are about 4 inches thick, can be carried by hand, run their owner close to $50, are made of tightly packed straw or something like it, and, according to this news clip on YouTube, could be carcinogenic.

Which, by way of rambling and desultory introduction, brings me to my completely unresearched and largely anecdotal point:  Old people in China are mysteriously healthy.  They aren’t creaky.  They might be a bit stooped, but they tote babies around under their arms, they sit on the same 2-foot tall plastic stools relished by the rest of their kin, and they express a concerted lack of oofing when sitting and getting up again.  On the whole, their old age seems pleasant, fruitful, less overshadowed by pain and doctor’s appointments.  What is going on?

I have a guess.  Or, more accurately, three guesses.  I call them “bed, bath, and beyond.”

Bed:  The Chinese people generally sleep on the hard, uncomfortable mattresses described above.  Regrettably, for those of us who can’t relinquish our vision of a downy nocturnal paradise, these beds are probably good for your back.  You can’t curl up on your side, flanked by pillow-mountains and a warm husband, twisting untold numbers of vertebrae and your neck in the process.  No, if Chinese mattress users even thought about straying from a ramrod-straight prostration strategy, they’d probably bruise something by morning.  Over a lifetime, I have to think that their spines are straighter as a result.

Bath:  By “bath” I euphemistically mean “toilet.”  Have you ever used a squatty potty?  (I could (and should) write an entirely different post dedicated to the story of my mastery over those once-stultifying holes in the ground…feel my triumph, oh mainland!)  The squat toilet is basically all that’s available in China, unless you’re in a Western restaurant or hotel, in which case you might be lucky enough to rustle up ama tong.  It means horse bucket and it’s the Mandarin word for Western toilets.  Yes, I laughed too.

The lack of Western toilets in China is not the result of any disparity in technology, knowledge, or affordability—no, the Chinese actually just prefer their squat toilets.  They think they are cleaner.  And, when you get right down to it, they’re probably right.  Instead of baring your undefended bottom to the murky history of some public toilet seat, you just put your shoe-clod feet on the potty’s rumble strip and go to it.  (At my husband’s workplace, they had to post signs explaining that it’s not okay to stand on Western toilets and squat on them…)  My point is this:  every old person in China uses, and has been using, these toilets all their life.  Two, three, maybe four times a day, they have to squat to just a foot above the ground, hover in that position for a few minutes, and then haul themselves back upright.  I’ve never seen a Chinese toilet equipped with handicapped bars or support of any kind.  Prerequisites for toilet use thus include: decent balance, flexible hamstrings, a stellar Achilles’ tendon, functional quadriceps, and a redoubtable backside.

Beyond:  The longevity of China’s elderly is likely also extended by diet and lifestyle factors so numerous that I simply call them “beyond”.  People in China just don’t seem to overeat with quite the relish we do in the States.  As one woman somberly observed, “for Americans, enough is not enough.”  People in China care a lot about their health, they eat a lot of vegetables, and they apply a dizzying range of Chinese medicinal concepts to their dietary choices, with a zeal that Westerners would call strict discipline, but which the Chinese simply think of as logical.  They are also lucky to have a narrower range of dietary malefactors:  nothing is deep-friend, and you can’t find high-fructose corn syrup to save your life, and Chinese desserts are…well…let’s just say I don’t think sugar cravings are a big problem over here.

So, if you want to be a flexible, jaunty, creak-free member of the geriatric legion, consider the way of the Chinese:  Pee in the ground, sleep on a slightly softened rock, eat your veggies, and you’ll enjoy your eighties.

Dear Judy

As for the bamboo squatty potties, they are amazing. they look even better in person. My mom put a set of bamboo shelves in the bathroom to match. Thank you for making such a great product! I was looking for something like it a while ago, and wasn’t able to find anything very appealing until I came across these in a blog entry. Going #2 is much more comfortable, and quite a bit cleaner.

Remy

Ever had a vacation ruined cause you cant poop? Coming from a family with three sisters (and a mom of course) i know how a day at the beach or amusement park, not to mention a long ride to Southern California can be all but dashed by a constipated, bloated travel partner that “Just Wants to FREAKIN poop”.

So avoid the constipation station and go straight to the Log Ride with the squatty Potty

How I Ate A High Fat Diet, Pooped 8 Pounds, And Then Won A Sprint Triathlon.

On Friday (three days ago), I posted this tweet:

Totally not trying to be gross, but I just pooed almost 10lbs, No joke. I feel freaking awesome. I used this: ow.ly/aglXD
13 Apr 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
So what’s the story behind the “ten pound poop”?

Well, I got a Squatty Potty (pictured right). They sent me one to evaluate, so I tried it out on Friday morning, just before I was about to leave town for a sprint triathlon.

As you know if you watch my YouTube channel, I recently got a Tanita body fat scale. So although I don’t normally weigh myself, I’ve been messing around with the scale, and happened to have weighed myself just a half hour before I decided to try the Squatty Potty.

I was totally shocked at what happened, and the reasoning behind using the Squatty Potty is basically this:

Your body is meant to be in a squatting position to properly eliminate stuff from your colon. You can control to some extent your need to defecate by contracting or releasing the sphincter on your backside.

But that sphincter muscle can’t maintain proper pooping function on it’s own.

Instead, your body relies on a bend between the rectum, where the feces is stored- and the anus- where the feces comes out.

Here’s an image to illustrate:

When you’re sitting, the angle is “kinked”, which puts upward pressure on the rectum and keeps your poop inside. Not only does this create straining and constipation, but it also inhibits complete elimination – which means that you can literally have old feces just hanging around in your lower digestive tract.

Turns out that kinking was definitely the case with me.

Just before that tweet on Friday, I used the Squatty Potty and had the most liberating, enlightening bathroom experience of my life. I just kept pooping, and pooping, and pooping – with zero strain. It just kind of slipped out.

I felt so fantastic afterwards, that I had to weigh myself to see exactly how much old poop I had hanging around inside me that I banished forever. I did exaggerate a bit in my tweet (I actually lost closer to about 8 pounds), but nonetheless, I felt like a new man – not drained of energy as you might think you’d feel after an experience like that, but actually invigorated and in a fantastic mood.

Who knows how all that crap got in there – but considering I ate highly processed junk food and had a very poor pizza and ice cream based diet for the first 22 years of my life, I have my suspicions.

For this week’s Random Giveaway, we are extremely excited to partner with The Squatty Potty to give away not one, but two of these amazing little stools! Look for a review of this great product in an upcoming issue of Paleo magazine (spoiler alert – it works incredibly well!)

What’s The Big Deal?

Being a relatively new development, toilets have us sitting, with our hips and knees at right angles, like we’re sitting in a chair. While this is generally a very comfortable position, it may not be the best for us when “doing our business”, as sitting can cause us to “bind up” and make it more difficult for us in the bathroom.

Simply put, the squat position is the natural way to achieve easier and more complete elimination. The Squatty Potty makes this more comfortable for you by giving you a stable platform to elevate your feet and legs, allowing greater hip flexion and straightening out the anorectal angle (the angle formed by the junction of the rectum and the anus).

Benefits of Squatting:
• Avoid constipation
• End hemorrhoids
• Prevent colon disease
• Pelvic floor issues
• More effective elimination

The Squatty Potty Can Benefit You By:
• Unkinking your rectum, taking you from a continent mode to elimination mode
• Helping to heal and prevent hemorrhoids
• Allowing for easier elimination and efficiency to empty the bowel
• Helping to reduce episodes of constipation and help those who suffer from chronic constipation
• Reducing gas and bloating, making you feel lighter and healthier

We encourage you to check out some of the medical studies on body position when in the bathroom, as well as testimonials from customers and those in the medical field! And, while not a requirement for entering this giveaway, it’s always nice to show some love and “like” their Facebook page!

What The Winner Gets:
Two winners will each get an amazing Squatty Potty stool (that will have you wondering how you ever lived without it!)

Special Conditions:
This giveaway is only open to individuals in the United States

How To Enter:
Simply comment on this post by Friday (4/13) at 9am PST.

Good Luck!

Hello, Bill, You and I had a nice conversation when I ordered 2 Squatty Potties a couple of months ago. I’m writing in to say how grateful my husband and I are to be using them. My son and daughter-in-law recently visited us from Sydney, where they live, and both commented on the benefits. I also wanted to let you know that I had a routine gyn appointment this morning at Kaiser-Permanente and told my doctor about SP. She excitedly wrote the information down, and at the end of our appointment, raced off to tell their hemorrhoid specialist about them. I had commented on how using the SP really helps with that issue in addition to other benefits. So, if you happen to hear from someone at K-P, you know where it came from. It must be nice knowing you are offering a product that truly changes lives. And you have to have a sense of humor about it.

Thanks again,  Mary Keil

Thanks for the great testimonial.

Thanks all who have submitted testimonials on the squatty potty.

In the mid 1800′s the sitting toilet began to be used by the upper class in England. Western cultures quickly adopted this more “civilized” way of pooping but the vast majority of the world kept going the way they had been, in the squat position. Now in the 21′s century, there is finally scientific evidence that shows that the sittiing toilet can be detrimental to your health.

“Our family had a long and difficult road to potty independence for our 5 year old son (who had lingering digestive/bowel issues and chronic constipation related to premature birth). After years of working to move out of diapers/pull-ups for BMs and having the potty schedule/process literally rule our lives, it was discovering the option of squatting that finally got us over the hump and past the fear of using the toilet. We had tried every kind of toilet training device, method, and strategy you can imagine, spending hundreds of dollars on various seats, stools, books, and other tools (not to mention the GI specialists and other professionals). If only we’d known sooner about the Squatty Potty!

There are a few other products on Amazon offering a similar concept, namely a stool that allows one to get into a stable squatting position over the toilet for bowel movements (see Little Looster’s Looster Booster, White, The Potty Stool for Toddler Toilet Training Step Stool, The Welles Step – For Easier Defecation, or Health Step). We prefer the Squatty Potty for its sleak, unobtrusive, non-plastic design that easily fits into our narrow bathroom and allows quick clean-up of any splashes or spills. The design allows for anyone in the family to quickly and comfortably get to the toilet and have the choice to use or not use the stool with no need to move it out of the way. There is no blocking the bathroom door, either.

The Squatty Potty does require assembly, but there are only 3 wooden pieces plus their bolts, and the hexagonal allen wrench needed for the bolts is included. It took me about 10 minutes to line up and tighten the 6 bolts, and I’m happy to know that I can quickly disassemble the stool if needed for travel or storage.

There are only 2 colors available at this point, the natural bamboo and painted white. It would be nice to have some other options, but since it’s wood, you could always paint it to match your decor if desired.

The Squatty Potty is not generally marketed as a potty training device, but it worked wonders for our family. For humorous and informative videos on how to use the device and the other benefits of squatting to use the toilet (as people have been doing since the dawn of time), you can check out the Squatty Potty website and YouTube.”