It is a common experience: you glance into the toilet before flushing, then pause. What’s…wrong with your poop?

Poop changes color often, and typically for quotidian reasons. Generally you’re fine if your poop is anywhere in the earth tones palette, from green to deep brown. Thee variations arise naturally as a result of the foods you eat and how they are digested.

But the color of your poop can also fall outside this normal range, which could be an indicator of a problem. Here’s The Verge:

But if your poop is gray, black, red, or maroon, those colors could be signs of a health problem. Pale or gray could mean that something is preventing bile and its accompanying red blood cell waste from reaching the small intestine. That could be from a problem anywhere in the liver, the gallbladder (which stores bile), and the connecting ductwork. Often, people with gray poops show other signs of liver problems, like jaundice.

And there’s more:

Black, red, or maroon-hued poop can all be from bleeding. Tarry and sticky stools usually suggest bleeding from the stomach or upper small intestine — like from an ulcer, for example. Dark red or maroon poops could mean bleeding in the upper colon or lower small intestine. Red diarrhea could be due to an inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis — or it could mean that your colon is infected with bacteria like certain strains of E. coli. And bright red blood on the toilet paper could be due to hemorrhoids — itchy, swollen veins in the rectum or anus that bleed. That’s the much more common, and much less scary option: because it could also be from polyps or colon cancer.

Bottom line: take a look in the can once in a while and see where you fall in the color wheel. If you suspect your poop may be a bit off-color, call your Los Angeles proctologist for a checkup.