Undigested food

(Omar) #1

I have to research for what happen to improperly digested food, or food for people with impaired digestive capability. Which may not have any obvious symptoms.

will it be converted to fat?

(Doug) #2

Omar, I think most undigested food will go all the way through the body, without being absorbed.

“Improperly digested” - I’m not sure what this means, really. But I do not think that more of it would be converted to fat.

(Karim Wassef) #3

usually, food that is “hard to digest” needs to be fermented in the gut.

This is usually bacterial, but if there’s digestive problems, it could be other organisms.

This happens with fiber… if you can’t digest it… other things will try to do it for you. If nothing can digest it, it will flow through you unless it causes damage or gets “stuck”.

(Omar) #4

I have no experience but I have observation

1-If you eat late and go to be shortly after eating.
2- if I do not take the digestive enzymes.

my weight loss plateau in such conditions.

I was under the impression such undigested particles are considered toxin and stored in the fat cells as toxins. But it could be misunderstanding on my part.

(Omar) #5

I agree but ( to make the disagreement less impact always say I agree followed by but :grinning:)

I agree with the part of hard food that it is digested in the large intestine but what if the body does not produce the proper enzymes and/or sufficient stomach acid.

so what happens to me when the food is not digested, I feel the food just sits there. So the question if the weight loss seize I see, is it because the body is storing some undigested molecules that does not know what else to do with them or it is disruptions of the transient food processing in the guts that increase the residence time.

(Ethan) #6

Likely there would be failure to absorb nutrients. There could be an inflammatory response or SIBO-based cycle

#7

I think it is more likely that you become malnourished despite eating, and this creates system wide havoc. I lose weight if I eat too much of the wrong fats, but through dehydration. Weight that comes back on right away when the food doesn’t pass right through. I’m considering getting some lipase to see if it helps. Especially if you don’t break down fat and protein, it would be difficult for the body to let go of fat and keep muscle metabolism up. Those systems would think you’re starving.

(Door Girl) #8

My undigested food takes the express train out of my body and retains identifying characteristics when I see it in the bowl.

Are you talking about slow transit times (mouth to exit) in combination with digestive issues? Timing of eating and this digestion in relation to processing?

The time of eating appears to matter in some people. I’m writing before coffee, but one of the doctors well respected on here in terms of eating windows makes the case that stopping eating sooner in the day is beneficial.

Are you finding this to be true for you? My n=1 shows better digestion and more benefits when I only eat in the evening. But that is my n of 1 only. What is yours?

(Consensus is Politics) #9

I’ve never had advanced biology classs of any kind. Just 8th grade Biology, which Was a favorite clasd of mine, so I aced it without studying.

So… I’ll use a different approach. I’ll make a texhnical observation, basic troubleshooting. Its something I excel at. From fighter jets weapons systems to fax machines in a lawyers office, and tons of stuff in between, if I wasnt trained on it, give me a minute, good chance I could still figure it out.

Like I said, basic troubleshooting here. Keep it simple. You eat. There is a digestion path. Usually its a one way only path. When it works in reverse for some reason, YOU ARE GOING TO KNOW (my opinion, may need more research on that subject).

Ok, so you eat a sandwich. Lets say its low carb, keep it keto. Not much difference unless its really high carb i think.

First thing that happens as you chee it, saliva begins breaking things down. Breads begin to dissolve very quickly in the mouth, like most carbs, and glucose begins to get into your blood stream nearly instantly, without even swallowing it (I could be wrong, but 8th grade was a long time ago). Osmosis through mucus membrane in the mouth, especially under the tongue.

Then the rest of the sandwich follows a moment later to the stomach. Hydrochloric acid dissolves what can be, or ar leasts softens it up the the gut microbes to work on (being non texhnical here, this is basic troubleshooting) and on goes the one way ride.

Intestinal muscles continue pushing the meal, one way, which includes everything there, even the indigestible stuff. Like that marble you swallowed as a kid, as kids do (or my son, swallowed a small car, think Hot wheels, but maybe half that size. It showed up in his diaper. I was impressed.) everything flows one direction, heading out.

But sometimes, digestion slows to a crawl (I dont know what triggers it. My ‘guess’ is it slows down when no new meal is incoming. I seem to recall digestion typically takes about 8 hours. In my experience eating one meal a day, that sometimes extends to as long as 3 days, depending on the amount of indigestable food stuff coming in for the ride.

If things come to a halt, and there is no pain, no known illness, perhaps there just isnt enough material on the train to make it move (or possibly dehydration? And its waiting for some kind of lubricant to get it going?).

I know of no mechanisms to selectively hold on to specific materials in the tract. Ones it gets going, digested or not, if its moving, its moving, along with everything else. Hot wheel cars and all.

Unless, it is something that cant be squeezed along the path because of shape, size, or (???) and it get stuck, or impacted. But then that’s usually an extreme situation and very little if anything gets past it, and usually pain results.

I do realize that this post is really a no brainer simple explanation about how that works. But sometimes the simple stuff is over looked, and we over complicate the search for the cause. (We had dozens of man hours wasted troubleshooting an aircraft because the wing commander wrote up “Hung missle. missle failed to launch.” I continues to read the rest of his record for the flight, and found out why… “Radar does not work in the
/O
/F
/F
Mode.
It’s written that way on the knob. There wasnt enough room to go around the knob. It was a radar guided missle (Aim-7 Sparrow) and will not work with radar OFF. :roll_eyes:

(Omar) #10

yep

there will be lots of bacteria having parties and feasts.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #11

:+1:
Years ago, there was a large file of corollaries to Murphy’s Law on the mainframe at my university. One of my favorites ran something like this: “After the 28th metal cabinet screw has been removed, it will be discovered that the line cord has fallen out of the socket.”

(Omar) #12

I am just trying to understand.

even though I am not looking for weight loss, I always observed weight loss plateau with my digestion or the lack of it.

(Omar) #13

The Murphy’s law I like is that the last key you try is the right key.

I think difficulties help evolution.

(Omar) #14

ok got it

so most participants think that undigested food will not cause weight gain. or weight loss plateau.

(Door Girl) #15

The question here is between undigested food and really slowly processed food.

Undigested food passes through the system in its own time.

A slower transit time can give the guy more time to break down food, increasing the amount that can be used from the food.

I think the bigger point here is that you have found that eating late without your digestive enzymes leads you to a plateau. Is that due to digestion or something else, we don’t know. But if this combination doesn’t work for you, make changes to what you are doing.

Making serial observations as you change things can help you figure out your body without needing to know exactly what is going on. I dug deep into mitochondrial health, and realized that grandma’s advice may not have been scientifically informed but it checked all the boxes to improve mitochondria. (Move your body doing productive things, but rest when needed. Eat real food, and keep treats as treats. Get good rest. Pray. [sub meditate/relax for prayer if it isn’t your personal choice for peace] )

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #16

Here’s one way of looking at it: if the food passes through us undigested, it’s gone. But if we digest it, the body then has to do something with it, such as store it.

#17

Well… I think maldigested food can cause a plateau. Not because bigger particles are stored, but because a deficiency of the small enough particles stresses the body and tells it to hold on to stuff.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #18

Corn and peanuts.

The publicist who watched all three events said the people fell the moment I read the words ‘corn and peanuts’. It was that detail that made seated people go limp. First, their hands slid off their laps. They shoulders sagged. The heads flopped to one side, and their weight carried them to the floor or into the lap of their neighbor."

It’s a funny story, and the fainting is just the proverbial undigested cherry on top. :wink:

(Omar) #19

yes

by definition

you are assuming that not digested means not absorbed. and food that is not absorbed can not be considered a factor in wait gain/loss

(Omar) #20

Potential for Weight Gain

You’re not likely to gain weight due to increases in fat or muscle mass if you’re experiencing malabsorption, but some types of malabsorption could cause buildups of fluid in the body, called edema, or bloating. Either of these could make you feel like you are gaining weight. Once you treat the cause of the malabsorption, you’ll most likely stop having these symptoms and find it easier to maintain your weight.