You've Been Pooping All Wrong How to Make Your Bowel Movements a Joy

By: Trisha Pasricha, MD, MPH

Published by Penguin Group, 2026-04-07

A GI’s guide to the brain-gut-microbiome connection, including research on why people develop IBS and how anyone can achieve poophoria

Welcome to the easy-to-digest user’s manual for your body’s unsung hero: the gut. Leading Harvard gastroenterologist, Dr. Trisha Pasricha takes us on a riotous deep dive into our own bowels with new insight from neuroscience, enteric biology, and physiology for an actionable framework to make pooping a breeze.

No one would expect you to have stunning teeth if you were never shown a toothbrush. You would struggle to fall asleep if you never knew how to turn off the bedroom lights. But no one talks about the fundamentals of pooping, and so many—even the highest of achievers—spiral into a quagmire of poor habits and toilet-anxiety.

You’ve Been Pooping All Wrong will teach you:

• What is a “normal” bowel movement? What do different colors mean? Is there a wrong way to sit? Is there a better way to wipe?
• The intricate connection between your brain and your gut: Why do you suddenly need to find the restroom right before your turn at karaoke and why does stress make you constipated?
• How to harness your gut’s microbiome to boost your health: How does your lifestyle influence your microbiome and how can your microbiome, in turn, reshape you?
• The three P's of having a perfect poop: A simple framework to transform your bowel habits based on years of gastroenterological expertise.
• And much more…

Here, you’ll learn the tools to achieve bowel consistency, ease, and—yes—joy so that your gut flows on autopilot and you live your life without obsessing about the toilet: in short, poophoria.