# Undigested food in stool



## Finnish guy (Oct 28, 2009)

Hi.How common in IBS is to see undigested food in the stools? This has plagued me for a while and I thought that if it due some other reason than IBS. I have often diarrhea or loose stools, I have not fecal occult blood in stool, my hemoglobin was 151, ESR and CRP normal... And I am 21-years-old, no familiar colorectal cancer or stomach cancer.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Um it is common in all healthy people.The looser the stools the easier it is to notice.IBSers usually start looking at stool more closely than they did before they had IBS. Eating corn is a common way to get a feel for your transit time as most people do not chew it up that well and you can usually spot it even in formed stool.Undigested matter in stool is commonly used to determine what someone ate (like a fossilized stool for ancient humans or from an animal you can't find easily to watch what it eats but does leave stool behind).


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## MIRMAK (Sep 27, 2009)

Kathleen M. said:


> Eating corn is a common way to get a feel for your transit time as most people do not chew it up that well and you can usually spot it even in formed stool.


And what is "normal" transit time? I mean for healthy people.Because I tried it for myself, I took some corn in the 11-12 in the evening and I already saw (hm...) it in the morning around 7-8 o'clock.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

For someone without any GI problems normal transit time is anywhere from 16 to 72 hoursFood goes pretty quickly through the stomach and small intestine and spends most of that time in the colon. It does not effect your nutrition if it goes through the colon really fast, which is why they can remove someone's colon if severely diseased and they can eat food and survive just fine. That is also why if they are doing weight loss surgery they bypass parts of the small intestine (where you absorb calories and nutrients) and not worry about bypassing parts of the colon.


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## FormativeYears (Jan 3, 2010)

One word: salad. Of almost any kind. Leaves spraying out of my damn butt. Which is too bad, because I really like salad and want to eat more...


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## TheHobbes (Dec 25, 2009)

I get that all the time. I've tried to cut out foods like tomatos, corn, etc, which seems to help.


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## Halleycomet (Jan 6, 2010)

New here but I have "lost" the ability to "digest" any raw or most cooked veggies and fruits. No gallbladder since 1981 and over the years this has gotten steadily worse. I have had undigested food show up in the bathroom within minutes of eating it---and I dared to eat half a raw apple local organic etc this fall---it was SOOOOO GOOOD!!!!---and I was then stuck at home for 3 days with a severe D attack. I am diabetic (partly I suspect because I can't eat the stuff that is suppossed to be good for you!) and have considered weight loss surgery but again if you can't ---not WON'T--eat the stuff they recommend you eat this is not going to work and might make my life worse. And I really can't have that happen! Finer made it worse BTW. Colon test was clean. And then if you get the C aspect----makes you want to say "Just rip it all out!" Sp far calcium and Rx Vit D are the only steady things to help. Imodium is iffy but I take it by the handful when I have to go out just in case. Ugh......


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## daedsiluap (Sep 7, 2009)

Blueberries. Everytime.


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