It takes ~36 hours from the moment you bite into your meal to when you’re pooping it out. Meaning, your digestive tract has 36 hours worth of meals it’s currently digesting at any given time.
When you eat something bad, it seems that you’re on the toilet pooping it out within the hour. How is that even possible if the pathway is blocked by 36 hours worth of meals?
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That meal that ‘passes through you’ may not be the content coming out. As others have said, it doesn’t bypass your digestive system, it has to pass through like the rest of your food, or utilise the emergency system that is vomiting or completely emptying your digestive system.
Most times though, you may just be eating something that triggers your digestive system to pass what it has. When food hits your stomach, your body releases hormones that tell your colon to contract. This is called the **gastrocolic reaction**. It’s a perfectly natural reaction, and it can be mild, but for some it can be pretty strong. It’s so you can eat more food.
It’s possible some foods trigger this harder for you than others. Greasy foods are known to trigger it more intensely than other food.
That meal that ‘passes through you’ may not be the content coming out. As others have said, it doesn’t bypass your digestive system, it has to pass through like the rest of your food, or utilise the emergency system that is vomiting or completely emptying your digestive system.
Most times though, you may just be eating something that triggers your digestive system to pass what it has. When food hits your stomach, your body releases hormones that tell your colon to contract. This is called the **gastrocolic reaction**. It’s a perfectly natural reaction, and it can be mild, but for some it can be pretty strong. It’s so you can eat more food.
It’s possible some foods trigger this harder for you than others. Greasy foods are known to trigger it more intensely than other food.
It’s not the “triggering” food that’s being specifically flushed – your body isn’t smart enough for that. It’s everything past a certain point.
There are three stages in digestion, broadly speaking. Stomach, small intestine, large intestine. Stomach turns food into liquid sludge, small intestine extracts most of the useful parts from the sludge, large intestine extracts a few more and most of the water, then the remnants are dumped.
If you eat something, and your body decides for whatever reason that you shouldn’t have eaten it, priority A is vomit. Vomiting immediately empties your stomach via the most direct route and prevents further damage.
If you eat something and immediately need to go to the bathroom, you either ate something that irritated your stomach in a general way and it’s decided to move the train to the next station early to try and alleviate it, or you already had quite a lot of passengers on the previous train still travelling through you, and your body needs to clear space for the incoming meal via the only method it has.
It’s not the “triggering” food that’s being specifically flushed – your body isn’t smart enough for that. It’s everything past a certain point.
There are three stages in digestion, broadly speaking. Stomach, small intestine, large intestine. Stomach turns food into liquid sludge, small intestine extracts most of the useful parts from the sludge, large intestine extracts a few more and most of the water, then the remnants are dumped.
If you eat something, and your body decides for whatever reason that you shouldn’t have eaten it, priority A is vomit. Vomiting immediately empties your stomach via the most direct route and prevents further damage.
If you eat something and immediately need to go to the bathroom, you either ate something that irritated your stomach in a general way and it’s decided to move the train to the next station early to try and alleviate it, or you already had quite a lot of passengers on the previous train still travelling through you, and your body needs to clear space for the incoming meal via the only method it has.
It’s not the “triggering” food that’s being specifically flushed – your body isn’t smart enough for that. It’s everything past a certain point.
There are three stages in digestion, broadly speaking. Stomach, small intestine, large intestine. Stomach turns food into liquid sludge, small intestine extracts most of the useful parts from the sludge, large intestine extracts a few more and most of the water, then the remnants are dumped.
If you eat something, and your body decides for whatever reason that you shouldn’t have eaten it, priority A is vomit. Vomiting immediately empties your stomach via the most direct route and prevents further damage.
If you eat something and immediately need to go to the bathroom, you either ate something that irritated your stomach in a general way and it’s decided to move the train to the next station early to try and alleviate it, or you already had quite a lot of passengers on the previous train still travelling through you, and your body needs to clear space for the incoming meal via the only method it has.
I’m curious about this 36 hours business. I can eat something, say something fibrous that will stand out like corn or oranges or soemthing (something you can tell what it is when it comes out), and I see that back in the toilet at least within 8 hours, usually faster than that.
I’m curious about this 36 hours business. I can eat something, say something fibrous that will stand out like corn or oranges or soemthing (something you can tell what it is when it comes out), and I see that back in the toilet at least within 8 hours, usually faster than that.
I’m curious about this 36 hours business. I can eat something, say something fibrous that will stand out like corn or oranges or soemthing (something you can tell what it is when it comes out), and I see that back in the toilet at least within 8 hours, usually faster than that.
Food cannot bypass each other. The system once leaving the stomach only goes one direction. All of us have different motility, speed of digestion and water absorption. Also very different biomes or colonies of bacteria helping us digest in the small intestine and converting some of our food into more useful vitamins and minerals. Additionally we have different waves of motion with muscles and the cilia (inside intestines) to move food along or even to clean house once food has passed (our system can be suprisingly clean). Some folks can eat and 8 hours later it is leaving, 12 hrs, or in your case 36. All of these are simply different speeds based on environment and genetics and food. If you are having diarhea then you are bypassing the large intestine and water reabsorption is not happening.
Food cannot bypass each other. The system once leaving the stomach only goes one direction. All of us have different motility, speed of digestion and water absorption. Also very different biomes or colonies of bacteria helping us digest in the small intestine and converting some of our food into more useful vitamins and minerals. Additionally we have different waves of motion with muscles and the cilia (inside intestines) to move food along or even to clean house once food has passed (our system can be suprisingly clean). Some folks can eat and 8 hours later it is leaving, 12 hrs, or in your case 36. All of these are simply different speeds based on environment and genetics and food. If you are having diarhea then you are bypassing the large intestine and water reabsorption is not happening.
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