Picture the scene: you went to the loo expecting business as usual. What you got was lumpy porridge-like poo. Soft, mushy, a bit shapeless, the kind of thing that makes you tilt your head and wonder what's going on. 

Don't worry, you're not weird, and you're not broken. Porridge poo is very common, and most of the time it's your gut reacting to something pretty boring. And we can help. 

What "porridge poo" actually means

There's a brilliant little tool called the Bristol Stool Chart (below) that sorts poo into seven types, from rabbit-dropping pellets at one end to full liquid at the other. Porridge-style poo usually lands around a Type 6: soft, fluffy, ragged edges, not quite formed. The one you're aiming for is a Type 3 or 4. Smooth, sausage-shaped, easy to pass, in and out in seconds.

If you've never actually looked at the chart, it's two minutes well spent. 

Why Your Poo Might Be Porridge-y..

Most of the time it comes down to a handful of everyday things:

You changed your diet. Suddenly eating loads more fibre? Started a healthy kick with all the beans, lentils and leafy greens? Your gut sometimes needs a beat to catch up, and looser stools are part of that adjustment. Give it a week or so and it usually settles.

Coffee, alcohol, or a generous helping of both. Coffee genuinely gets things moving, and alcohol irritates the gut lining and hurries everything along. Your gut probably doesn't like the excess!

Stress. Your gut and your brain in constant communication. When you're wound up or running on adrenaline, your digestion feels it quickly This one trips up a lot of people, because they're looking at what they ate when the real culprit was a horrible week at work or internalised stress. Also when you're stressed you might change your usual habits - poor sleep, more coffee, alcohol - all not great gut choices!

Something didn't agree with you. A dodgy takeaway, a food you're a little sensitive to, or a sneaky artificial sweetener. Sorbitol is a classic, hiding in sugar-free gum and sweets, and it can send some people running to the loo. The body's solution is simply to hurry and get it out of your system. 

A passing bug. If it came on fast and you feel rough with it, you might have caught a tummy bug doing the rounds. These usually clear up on their own in a few days.

Magnesium or high vitamin C. Taking a lot of either? Both can loosen things up more than you'd expect.

When it's really no big deal

Most of the time, there's nothing to worry about. A day or two of soft stools after spicy food, a stressful stretch, or a holiday where you ate unusual food is just your gut doing its job. Keep your water up, eat normally, and things tend to firm back up by themselves.

If it keeps happening, though, your gut might be trying to tell you something. Ongoing loose stools can be linked to things like IBS, a food intolerance you haven't pinned down yet, or simply how your own microbiome is getting along. Worth paying attention to. Not worth lying awake over. Our piece on why you might have diarrhoea all the time goes into the longer-term causes properly.

When to actually book in with your GP

Quick checklist, and please don't read it in a panic. None of this is meant to scare you.  Get an appointment if:

• It's carried on for more than a couple of weeks
• You notice blood
• You're losing weight without meaning to
• It's waking you up in the night
• There's pain that won't ease off

Where Gut Wealth comes in

If your gut feels a bit all over the shop and you want to easily look after it day to day, well, that's the whole reason we exist. Gut Wealth liquid sachets and daily capsules are designed to work alongside your own microbiome and add a simple choice to your routine. And because no two guts are the same, we built a Find Your Gut Match quiz to point you towards the right one for you.