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Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic Evolution^SM

Toilet Matters Squatty Potties and Good Health! ("WC", outside the U.S., is a common designation for "water Closet" or flush toilet - you'll occassionally see it used on this page..)

Rember to always consult your physician before undertaking any kind of dietery, physical, or medical change - regardless whether it's described on my pages or anywhere else on the Internet!

"The ideal posture for defecation is the squatting position, with the thighs flexed upon the abdomen. In this way the capacity of the abdominal cavity is greatly diminished and intra-abdominal pressure increased, thus encouraging the expulsion of the fecal mass. The modern toilet seat in many instances is too high even for some adults. The practice of having young children use adult toilet seats is to be deplored." - Bockus, Gastro-Enterology, p. 511. Note: I'm going to ask one of the artists in my family to undertake a better drawing than what you see here in the bottom figure. This is because the natural squatting position is more than just pulling your knees up to your chest - you need to create that intra-abdominal pressure described by Bockus! - Roger J. Wendell

In 2001 I took a great trip throughout the Silk Road and China - it was there that I discovered "Squatty Potty" toilets, despite their lack of cleanliness, to be much more healthful than what we're accustomed to in the Western world. This is because a "squatting" position is required that places natural pressure on our intestines in addition to protecting our bottom's from having to sit on or touch anything! This bit of pressure, from squatting, is what helps move things along quickly and efficiently in addition to reducing clean-up and paperwork afterwards.

I don't think the term "Squatty Potty" is generally used to describe these toilets. Nevertheless, I use the term here because it's pretty darn descriptive. I first heard the term from Tina, our American friend in Western China, but can't say I've heard it used much since then...

Anyway, in addition to China I've been fortunate to visit various other places around the world, including Africa, where the squatty potty is the norm. And, it appears to me that most of the world has us beat when it comes to toilets in this regard. Clearly, the squatty is quicker, cleaner, and much more natural than sitting on a huge porcelain insulator. Squatties also use a lot less resources and are much easier to construct and maintain.

During my trip through China I found the "squatty potty" to be in full use everywhere - including their trains!

Platforms?

Some folks have constructed a platform around their existing toilet. This flat surface, at the traditional level of the toilet seat, allows the user to squat over the existing porcelain structure. Also, if you look around the Internet a bit you'll see there are some suppliers and manufacturers selling "Nature," "Lillipad," "In-Lieu," and "Squat" platforms. Although I haven't tried any of these commercial ones I do have lots of personal experience everywhere else and can assure you that squatting is quick, easy, efficient and healthful - I hope you'll give it a try!

- Roger J. Wendell
Golden, Colorado

If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of 1,000 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissues with 100% recycled ones, we could save: 373,000 trees, 1.48 million cubic feet of landfill space, and 155 million gallons of water. Seventh Generation Co.

Other Toilets, Facilities, and Supplies: (Displayed here just for the fun of it!)

Click Here for a video of an in-flight flush at 32,000 feet above Four Corners!

Here's one of the toilets we used on Mt. Rainier...	USS Pampanito 09/09/05 WWII Submarine Toilet	The other USS Pampanito WWII Submarine Toilet	Toilet in Ecuador Climbers' Hut at 16,000 feet!	Also discovered in Ecuador
Reading...	Tanzania toilet	Typical African toilet...	Climbers' toilet on Mt. Kenya	Found this one in Australia...
Bathroom Art!	Roger in Grand Canyon	Monument Creek toilet	Me on the Monument toilet	Three Grand Canyon toilets...
Me visiting Four Corners in '92	Montezuma, Colorado	Me and a French pay toilet!	Condoms at Calais, France	Making payment in Calais, France
Outhouse For Sale	Virginia City, Nevada	Dover, England, UK	Hygiene Monitor, UK	Harrods Department Store, London
Urinals, UK	Urinal candy, UK	Police toilet China	Public toilet Xinjiang, China	Public toilet Xinjiang, China
Mining toilet in Tombstone	Private toilet Nogales, MX	Tanzania Toilet Paper	Kenya Toilet Paper*	Earth First Toilet Paper

Above: In June 2007 I was on business in Tucson and took a tour of the "Good Enough Mine" in Tombstone, Arizona. Far left is the miner's toilet on display there. A few days earlier I was a bit further south, into Mexico, and asked a family if I could photograph their private toilet after they so graciously allowed me to use it! - Roger

* Toilet tissue insert

Left and Above: I found this advertising insert inside the roll of toilet tissue I purchased in Kenya (above). It's pretty serious business as it explains how proceeds from the sale help keep parents employed and kids in school - what a fantastic idea!

Dachau	Dachau	Dachau	Austria WC	Bidet - Wolkenstein, Italy
Mauna Kea observatory	Arches National Park	Portable camp toilet	San Francisco street toilet	Aluminum siding in Boulder

Garderobes were medieval toilets in large public buildings and castles.
They were often holes in the outer walls which dropped into cess pits or moats.
Tami and I photographed a few while on a visit to the United Kingdom in October '06:

Tower of London

Dover Castle

Garderobe entrance

Escape the smell!

Groom of the Stool

Me at Dover Castle's garderobe

World Toilet Association
CNN.com/Technology (AP) Friday, November 23, 2007

"The World Toilet Association kicked off its inaugural conference Thursday, hoping to spark a sanitation revolution that will save lives through better hygiene and break taboos about what happens behind closed bathroom doors."

"2.6 billion people worldwide lack access to proper restroom facilities."

"Dr. Shigeru Omi, western Pacific director of the World Health Organization, said 1.8 million people die annually due to diseases related to inadequate sanitation, 90 percent of them children younger than 5."

"Providing healthy bathroom facilities worldwide would cost some $10 billion a year -- equal to 1 percent of world military spending or what Europeans annually spend on ice cream, he said. The new association aims to provide toilet facilities to impoverished countries, provide for urgent sanitation needs after natural disasters and spread information and technology for improving toilets."

Literature:

• Fertile Waste (Managing your domestic sewage) by Peter Harper - Copyright 1997
  
• Improving on the World's Greatest Invention (A Healthy Addition!) by Wallace Bowles - Copyright 1999

• Colon Health Handbook (New Health Through Colon Rejuvenation) by Robert Gray - Copyright 1980
• The Master Cleanser (with Special Needs and Problems) by Stanley Burroughs - Copyright 1976

Links:

1. Acupuncture
2. Bathroom Diaries
3. Biodiversity
4. Biology
5. Composting Toilet World
6. Cancer
7. Death
8. Diet
9. Food
10. History of the flush toilet
11. History of the embossed toilet
12. How Long Will You Live?
13. Humanure - A Guide to Composting Human Manure
14. Self Help Concepts by W. H. Bowles - Australia
15. Toilet Market (Toilet University)
16. Toilet Nation
17. Toiletology 101
18. Toilets of the World
19. Vegetarianism
20. Voluntary Simplicity
21. Water

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