Some people on very high-meat diets report the opposite of what O’Mara claims about his BMs: They have more frequent loose stools, which is more likely a sign of fat malabsorption or a bile-acid response to a large fat load than a sign the diet is “working.” “Neither extreme is a marker of good colon health,” Sethi said. “Frankly, if your bowel movements are changing dramatically after a major diet shift, that’s your gut telling you something’s off-balance, not optimized.”