Digestion: Total transit time

[bittersweet]

Okay, what is an exceptable amount of time to pass from the moment a food enters your mouth to when it exits your body?

Is 24 hours sufficiently quick?
What about 36 hours?

I'm not necessarily asking about frequency of bowel movements.

[lissomllama]

An hour or two seems right to me. After we swallow the food it takes about 20-40 minutes to break down and disperse nutrients (in a pure, healthy, raw, vegan system) and anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour or a few to push out the feces from the last meal eaten. I would say that 24 hours is WAY too long. A healthy person should have a few bowel movements a day after each meal eaten or close to that.This varies though and my digestion didn't get like this until just the last couple months of being raw. It doesn't happen right away. The digestive tract has to become clear and clean and get rid of old backed up stuff so that usually takes a while of being really raw.

[pdx kris]

I'm not sure how long is optimal, but a good way to see how long yours is taking is to swallow several whole corn kernals, because they pass through without being broken down!

I think I actually read that in Alissa's book? I can't remember though, I read her book a long time ago!

[Pierre]

Mine has been 8 to 16 hours as long as I can remember. Other telltale foods are oranges and açaÃ*.

[Mango]

An hour or two seems right to me. After we swallow the food it takes about 20-40 minutes to break down and disperse nutrients (in a pure, healthy, raw, vegan system) and anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour or a few to push out the feces from the last meal eaten. I would say that 24 hours is WAY too long. A healthy person should have a few bowel movements a day after each meal eaten or close to that.This varies though and my digestion didn't get like this until just the last couple months of being raw. It doesn't happen right away. The digestive tract has to become clear and clean and get rid of old backed up stuff so that usually takes a while of being really raw.
How long on raw did it take for you to digest this way? I have been raw 2 months and I know it still takes 36-48 hours to digest. I am lucky to go once a day. My husband who is a complete SAD eater goes after each meal. It is so unfair :mad: .

[DharmaGirl]

Hi guyzzzz....
Optimal transit time is 18 hours! Seems most men for some reason, are more regular than women and do usually go after every meal, but I have to disagree, lisso, 24 hours is not way too long; it's actually pretty darn good ;) lots of people only have 3-4 bowel movements per week (SAD), but it takes awhile for our bodies to adjust to raw and eating raw will definiltey help speed that transit time!! remember, transit time means how long it takes a particular meal to go from one end of the digestive tract to the other; not the frequency of bowel movements......
peace and health,

[Raw Magwene]

18 hours is what I've heard, too. Which makes good sense to me. I don't want stuff hangin around in there!

I've also heard that it's ideal if you poop after each meal. Like starting the digestive process anew should end the previous cycle.

My neighbor doesn't eat anything in the morning until after she's had a movement, which also sounds like a good thing, but I'm not moved in the mornings, usually.

Mango, I recommend adding some more fiber and drinking more water. Flax seeds and pears are good. So's psyllium. Once a day is okay if that is regular for your body, but 48 hours is an awfully long time for stuff to be in your gut. Do you have hard stool? That's what usually happens if your large intestine gets that much time to extract water from the stool.

I love poo talk!

[RawFoodieMom]

Doesn't it depend on what it is you ate? Like nuts would be longer than fruit?

[veganman]

My understanding is 12 - 24 hours is a decent transit time. This would not necessarily equate to number of bowel movements per day. I believe one could have a bowel movement after each meal and still have a transit time greater than 24 hours, or have only one bowel movement per day and have a transit time of less than 24 hours......

[Mango]

Mango, I recommend adding some more fiber and drinking more water. Flax seeds and pears are good. So's psyllium. Once a day is okay if that is regular for your body, but 48 hours is an awfully long time for stuff to be in your gut. Do you have hard stool? That's what usually happens if your large intestine gets that much time to extract water from the stool.

I love poo talk!
I do use flax seeds almost every day. I am not too good with drinking much water. I figured that since I am eating so much fruit and I am not thirsty that I don't need much water. Psyllium makes me so bloated and gassy. Sometimes the stool is hard. It blows my mind that it would be hard with the way I eat. I normally don't overdo it on nuts so that can't be it either. Hopefully it will get better the longer I am raw.

[Biff]

One way to know for certain what your own transit time is - do a cleanse. For one person, it can be 18 hours, for another, it can take 36 hours. Depends how clean you are.

Why not test it on yourself to see? After I was raw for 6 months, I did the Master Cleanse, was suprised to find out that the last bit of solid food that passed was on day 3 of the cleanse. (This could have been old food that was stuck, but still was the last bit.)

[lissomllama]

How long on raw did it take for you to digest this way? I have been raw 2 months and I know it still takes 36-48 hours to digest. I am lucky to go once a day. My husband who is a complete SAD eater goes after each meal. It is so unfair :mad: .

It took me almost 4 months of being 100% raw (no slips at all) to start having a bowel movement after each meal or near there and stool quality has improved completely as well. Everyone is different though. It may take others different lengths of time.

[RawFoodieMom]

LOL... You know you're a raw foodist when you're jealous that other people spend more time in the washroom than you... :)

Just the fact that others have more frequent BM's doesn't mean they're healthier. BM's can also come when the food you ate is rejected by your body!

Debra