Okay, it’s time to get personal. Good health starts with good insides, right? The results might show up on the outside, but it’s all for naught if things are not right within.

Last year we took a cruise to the Western Caribbean. On one of the Days at Sea we signed up for a lecture with the ship’s personal trainer/fitness guru.

He had the whole room squirming and twittering with nervous giggles when he asked, “How many times a day do you go? And by “go,” just to be sure there’s no misunderstanding what I mean, I do mean number two.”

Of course no one volunteered the info. So he made it easier for us to answer. He offered us options.

• Once a day?
• A couple of times a day?
• Once every couple of days?
• Less than once every couple of days?

For me it depends. I’m going to get really personal and admit that during certain times of the month, it seems I can’t stop going. I definitely go about every time I eat…and then some!

But then there are the times I go once a day. Thankfully I mostly always seem to manage that. When I had cancer, my meds constipated me something fierce. I was lucky to go once a week. Then again, I also wasn’t eating much during that time. All I know was that not going was disconcerting. I’d much rather go too much than not enough!

Still, having a week’s worth of food rotting in your bowels, no matter how small an amount, is not good.

Did you notice that word I used? “Rotting” That was the word the guy on the cruise ship used. That sure made me think.

Basically, if you don’t poop as many times a day as you eat, guess what that food’s doing? It’s sitting rotting in your intestines. Zombie bowels. That’s what it really boils down to.

So the moral of the story is you don’t want that. You want to eat foods that encourage you to cleanse your system regularly. Fruits, veggies, fiber, etc. In other words, foods that fight zombie bowels naturally.

Here’s to not rotting from the inside out!