‘I Drank the Viral Chia Seed Drink for 5 Days To See if It Would Actually Help Me Poop'

As that one very famous and very wise saying goes: “Everybody poops.” It’s a fact of life, even if poop is kind of… really gross. We often don’t like to think about how our digestive system works, whether it’s working correctly or not, or whether our poop is healthy. We kind of just eat and let our stomachs do their thing. But every now and then, there seems to be a trend promising to clean you out, get rid of bloating or even deworm you with papayas.

Since online trends aren’t always safe or backed by science, you could expect my skepticism when I saw the “internal shower,” or viral chia seed drink on TikTok, claiming to cleanse you and your bowels.

However, when you think about what chia seeds are and have been known to do for our bodies, the trend’s claims did start to make sense. Per the Mayo Clinic, chia seeds are great sources of fiber and we all know fiber helps with pooping. But could this “internal shower” trend be harmful? I’m someone with less-than-regular bowel movements who already had a bag full of chia seeds for my a?ai bowls, so I had to give it a try.

Before I set off to try this chia seed drink for (almost) a week, I asked Christine Lee, MD, a gastroenterologist at Cleveland Clinic some vital questions. I wanted to make sure this was safe to try and get an inside look into why this drink may or may not work. Read on to see her answers and find out if this worked for me.

Related: The Very Best Pre-Bedtime Snacks To Eat if You Want to Poop Tomorrow Morning, According to GI Docs

How do chia seeds impact your poop?

As we stated before, chia seeds are known to be a good source of fiber. And the whole process of having them soak up water has its benefits related to the “internal shower.”

“Chia seeds can soak up a lot of water; this can increase the water content of the solids passing through the gastrointestinal tract,” Dr. Lee explains.

Good hydration is a great way to keep your poop healthy and regular, so adding lots of water to high-fiber seeds and ingesting them together really is a great poop concoction.

“These items work similarly to adding fiber to your diet,” Dr. Lee says about the chia seed drink. “It creates an osmotic gradient (draws more water into the intraluminal space of your GI tract). The net effect is an increase in the water content of the solids (waste) passing through the gastrointestinal tract (resulting in softer, easier and more complete evacuation).” Again: this drink gives you the hydration and fiber you need to theoretically pass a healthy poop.

What is the viral “internal shower” chia seed poop trend on TikTok?

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With over 122 million views on TikTok at the time of this reporting, it’s not surprising if you’ve heard of the “internal shower.” But for those who haven’t seen it yet, it’s a drink that involves chia seeds, water and lemon juice. The “recipe” calls for two tablespoons of chia seeds, lemon juice (or a fresh lemon) and water. You let the concoction sit for 15 minutes so the seeds can absorb water and become gelatinous and then you can go ahead and drink it, with promises that it will clean you out (AKA help you poop).

The trend really took off last June and promised to be an easy cure for constipation, bloating and more. For example, in June 2022, CEO, entrepreneur and influencer Jac Vanek posted about not pooping in two days while traveling, and she decided to try this drink to help with that problem. In the end, she gave the “shower” a thumbs up, insinuating that she finally was able to poop later that day.

How do you achieve a healthy poop?

Before we even get into how to fix our bowel movements, what are some general rules of thumb we should follow to have a healthy poop in the first place?

Dr. Lee listed several ways to have healthy bowel movements, including, “[a] high fiber diet, being well-hydrated during the day, plenty of high-quality exercises, avoiding prolonged sitting/sedentary lifestyle, and avoiding pain medications/narcotics whenever possible.”

And when it comes to what a “healthy poop” even looks like, Dr. Lee tells Parade, “High-quality defecation leaves less waste/stool remaining in the colon post-defecation (i.e. one that does not leave a feeling of incomplete evacuation).” Basically, a satisfying poop is when you’re not constipated, everything passes and there's no bloating left. Again, there are ways to visually see what a regular, healthy poop is supposed to look like and a consistent pooping pattern is another sign of regular bowel movements.

Here’s what the gastroenterologist said about trying the chia seed poop hack

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So we’ve talked about the benefits of chia seeds and this drink in general. But when I asked Dr. Lee about this “internal shower” trend, specifically, she said that while healthy and a good way to regulate poop, some of the more intense claims are too much.

“It is not a stimulate laxative so generally considered ‘not potent’ enough to necessarily ‘cleanse you out’ nor ‘cause internal shower’ but [it] can help potentiate better elimination of waste out of the GI tract,” she says. So, essentially, the chia seed poop hack isn’t so much a hack as it is a good habit to include in your daily schedule for better poop sessions.

Before I embarked on this week of chia seed cocktails, I also had to make sure there wasn’t a risk and to see if Dr. Lee recommended it.

“Like most things in life, nothing is completely risk-free. That being said, the health risk associated with this is extremely low (provided one is not allergic to chia seeds nor lemons),” she told me, stating that she’d recommend the drink for regulation. “[It’s] more likely to be helpful than harmful,” Dr. Lee says.

The viral chia seed and lemon drink took some time to "work"

Armed with more knowledge about chia seeds and poop than I ever thought possible, I started my week-long experiment. And before I go any further, we’re about to get really close with each other and my poop habits, so let’s just get real comfy. I am lactose intolerant and have always had an issue with bloating; I don’t really pass “healthy” poop too often. Yes, I avoid dairy and, yes, I take dairy pills to help me consume dairy when I do. But I just have a sensitive stomach overall, which means loose stool for me. I don’t typically have a big issue with constipation, but it does happen and often I just feel bloated and backed up even if I’m able to poop.

It doesn’t hinder my life, so I'm sticking with it as is. But that is partly why the viral chia seed poop hack caught my attention; something to fix my bloating and less-than-stellar poop.

I started my week of the “internal shower” drink on a Tuesday. I drank it later in the evening—around 6:40 p.m.—and was actually constipated and bloated from a trip I was on that weekend, so I had a lot to gain going into it. I didn’t poop again until the following day at 12:30 p.m., which did make me a bit skeptical about this “hack” from day one.

Wednesday didn’t really give me more hope about the drink because, while I had a very regular-feeling poop, I had another one that was looser and harder to get out (signs of constipation for me).

By Thursday, I was on a regular regimen of drinking it around 2:30 p.m. every day. I didn't mind the texture; it was kind of like tiny, slightly-harder boba bubbles, with its jelly consistency. It was harder to get down, though, when stuck together in large globs, so I'd recommend constant stirring and drinking it fast.

While my constipation went away, my stool wasn’t that much different than usual. But it did deliver on the promise of helping constipation and bloating, so I was hopeful.

The drink gave me the most normal poop I’ve had in a while

I did skip Saturday and Sunday because of a hectic weekend, but I got right back to it on Monday. And my body seemed to have missed the chia seed drink big time. While constipation wasn’t a weekly occurrence for me before this weekend, I found myself backed up come Monday, almost like my body needed that little push from the chia seeds to poop. By Tuesday, I had somewhat loose stool, but the constipation feeling hadn’t completely left. But by Wednesday morning, I had a healthy poop, finally!

While my bowels were confused by the drink (I think I needed more than a week to get more used to it), I had some of the most normal poop I’ve had in a hot minute. And I was prepared; Dr. Lee told me that chia seeds aren’t laxatives, so even though TikTok promised an “internal shower,” I shouldn’t expect anything magical or fast-acting. So while I wasn’t surprised it didn’t “clean me out” and have me running to the bathroom, it did help with bloating and, again, helped with constipation.

Bottom line: If you’re looking for something to help you pass poop quickly, this isn’t really it. But it does get things moving along and was pretty gentle on my stomach; at no point did I feel like there was a rock in my digestive tract or like my poop was just making its way out whether I was on a toilet or not. There were two incidents like that the day after I stopped, though, with some seriously horrible bathroom trips. I’m unsure if this is chia seed related, but interesting, considering this poop experiment.

Again, the chia seed drink isn't a life-changing, fast-acting laxative, but it's a great way to regularly get fiber into your diet if you want to regulate your bowels. As for when to look into doing that, Dr. Lee shares that it’s really only something you have to do if you have a “habit of being infrequent (i.e. no bowel movements for several days).” But as she told Parade, there’s no harm in wanting to regulate your poop in a healthy manner.

“I’ve found that no one knows their body better than oneself,” she's said, stating that if something feels off, you should talk to a healthcare professional and have it assessed. “Any symptoms, however small or big, if it’s new to you or bothersome to you, better safe than sorry. Have it checked out and get professional recommendations that are more specific to you.”

Next up, if you're also feeling constipated, here are some ways to help you poop.