I always thought that most of the food comes out again after nutrients are absorbed.
For example, here is a can of noodles. It says the 800gr in the can have a total of something like 600kcal. If the entire can would be converted into fat, this would have to be about 5500 kcal. That would mean that about 90% of it comes out again.
But sometimes I eat and eat and eat and a lot less is coming out then went in.
So, how much food is actually coming out again after being processed in the body?
In: 128
Most of what comes out is not the food that goes in. Most of the fiber comes back out, but the rest is bacterial growth, dead intestinal cells, and excreted gunk pushed out from your liver in the bile and not resorbed. (Bilirubin related compounds are in the last category and give feces it’s distinctive brown color).
Digestion is a ton more effective with a dozen bacterial species assisting in the breakdown, each doing things you genetically can’t. When those bacteria die they’re excreted. They grow best when there’s good fiber- insoluble for them to grow on and soluble they can partially digest. What’s left of the fiber comes out with them.
Pretty much everything involved in this process is >50% water trapped in a network of other stuff. The food, you, the waste, all of it. It’s going to contribute a lot to bulk going in and coming out.
Even food that isn’t packed in water/soup is usually pretty wet. Because water can leave you in a variety of ways (sweat, exhalation, urine, feces), it’s hard to measure exactly how much of your food is leaving you in any way at any time. Plus, at any time your body could be retaining very different amounts of water, which will also affect the flows in and out.
The solid parts of food (what isn’t converted to energy or fat) do exit as feces, but even that is pretty wet. If you’re dehydrated or not eating enough fiber (which is great at absorbing and trapping water), your bowel movements will be smaller, especially if you were expecting exactly the same mass of food to come out the other end.
Your body doesn’t consume everything you put in your mouth. That is why we poo, pee and vomit. They are excreting the part of your food and beverages that your body did not consume, pee and poo are more on the natural side of the process, but vomiting is more of an emergency exit strategy to prevent food poisoning or you know, the minor case of DEATH.
In general from what you consume the energy parts are divided into three main categories: fats, proteins, sugars and ”other” minor things which contains things like trace elements like minerals and salts. They are measured in 1/1000s of grams (milligrams) when the three main categories usually take the ~99% of the content of the energy. Water has zero calories, so it is zero calories.
Carbohydrates are divided into two (three) main categories: sugars, fibers (and alcohol). Your body doesn’t consume Fibers, their main function is to help the digestive system to poop. Your muscles consume most of the protein and some of the sugar, and fat deposits, skin and other places consume the excess sugars muscles.
Disclainer: This on top of my head, so some of it might be incorrect.
Your body doesn’t consume everything you put in your mouth. That is why we poo, pee and vomit. They are excreting the part of your food and beverages that your body did not consume, pee and poo are more on the natural side of the process, but vomiting is more of an emergency exit strategy to prevent food poisoning or you know, the minor case of DEATH.
In general from what you consume the energy parts are divided into three main categories: fats, proteins, sugars and ”other” minor things which contains things like trace elements like minerals and salts. They are measured in 1/1000s of grams (milligrams) when the three main categories usually take the ~99% of the content of the energy. Water has zero calories, so it is zero calories.
Carbohydrates are divided into two (three) main categories: sugars, fibers (and alcohol). Your body doesn’t consume Fibers, their main function is to help the digestive system to poop. Your muscles consume most of the protein and some of the sugar, and fat deposits, skin and other places consume the excess sugars muscles.
Disclainer: This on top of my head, so some of it might be incorrect.
Your body doesn’t consume everything you put in your mouth. That is why we poo, pee and vomit. They are excreting the part of your food and beverages that your body did not consume, pee and poo are more on the natural side of the process, but vomiting is more of an emergency exit strategy to prevent food poisoning or you know, the minor case of DEATH.
In general from what you consume the energy parts are divided into three main categories: fats, proteins, sugars and ”other” minor things which contains things like trace elements like minerals and salts. They are measured in 1/1000s of grams (milligrams) when the three main categories usually take the ~99% of the content of the energy. Water has zero calories, so it is zero calories.
Carbohydrates are divided into two (three) main categories: sugars, fibers (and alcohol). Your body doesn’t consume Fibers, their main function is to help the digestive system to poop. Your muscles consume most of the protein and some of the sugar, and fat deposits, skin and other places consume the excess sugars muscles.
Disclainer: This on top of my head, so some of it might be incorrect.
Most of the food is absorbed beside fiber. There’s also some amount of water that isn’t absorbed, but it’s a small fraction. For all other nutrients, it’s negligible.
Your pasta isn’t mostly fat, why would you assume that.
Dry pasta is mostly carbs which have 4 calories per gram. It has also some water left and some unfermentable fiber left that have 0 calories per gram, and some fermentable fiber that has around 2 calories per can gram.
Your 800 grams of pasta have more than 500 calories. That’s for a portion of it.
Most of the food is absorbed beside fiber. There’s also some amount of water that isn’t absorbed, but it’s a small fraction. For all other nutrients, it’s negligible.
Your pasta isn’t mostly fat, why would you assume that.
Dry pasta is mostly carbs which have 4 calories per gram. It has also some water left and some unfermentable fiber left that have 0 calories per gram, and some fermentable fiber that has around 2 calories per can gram.
Your 800 grams of pasta have more than 500 calories. That’s for a portion of it.
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