In a word: nope.

It's not your pouch's job to digest food for you, and it sure can't chew it. From what I've read here, most of us see spinach looking very similar on both ends. Much more important is if there are foods that make you feel lousy. Foods that make your poop look interesting are of little consequence (and can help you judge your transit time).

My pouch breaks food down more now than when I gor it so I will disagree about breaking things down. If I hold poop in for 6 hours longer it is broken down more.

Peaches I can not do at all. Causes me grief to get it out. Shen gave me lactulose solution and it helps with digestion when I eat veggies.

At least it makes our poop smell better.

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If I hold poop in for 6 hours longer

My hero.....I can't hold it for longer than 30 min once I get the urge...

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Shen gave me lactulose solution and it helps with digestion when I eat veggies.

Lactulose is like putting high octane gas in the engine. Your bowels move faster, faster faster.

No, it should not be a big deal if peaches or anything else comes out looking undigested. Dpending on how well you chew and whether the food speeds up transit, how it looks coming out can vary. As long as you feel OK, there is no problem.

There can be some digestion in the pouch, but not much,as most of the digestion occurs in the small bowel before the pouch. The longer it sits in the pouch more digestion occurs, and people with a continent ileostomy may empty their pouches less. Over time, the mucosa of the ileal pouch tends to change and become more like the colon and more adapted to absorbing water.

Bottom line, gauge your pouch health by how YOU feel overall. Don't sweat the small stuff!

Jan

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Lactulose is like putting high octane gas in the engine. Your bowels move faster, faster faster.

I don't have that issue anymore. In the beginning I did. I have a continent Ileo though. a pouch is a pouch though. If I empty right after eating certain foods it is undigested, if I hold it in longer it is broken down more. I was told when I got this that the pouches will break down food more as years go by.

That's completely normal. I used to have that with my ostomy as well. That's why we are told to really chew our food and eat small amounts when we can. It's weird but sometimes I can go "ohh look that was breakfast!" haha.

I see almost EVERYTHING in my poop. If I eat a lot of sweets or chocolate, then my poop literally smells like sugar or chocolate. It definitely grosses me out when I see little pieces of orange in the toilet after eating an orange the night before. Chewed-up apple comes through looking like I could hose it off and run it through again! Tomatoes and red bell pepper, too...! I could recycle or reuse those as well! Truly, it would be easier and simpler to identify what I Can't can't see instead of what I can see in my poop.

People ask me if I have problems with absorption and malnutrition. I don't think I do. For me, this undigested stuff is yet another disgusting part of my life in poo.

Funniest sight is flushing the toilet, then looking down to see a freshly cleaned, whole pea just bobbing up and down in the clear water! Those suckers don't flush easily.

lixxie, if you see a whole pea it could also be a sign that you need to chew a little better!!! What I usually see in the toilet is chewed lettuce. You can only chew lettuce so much. But the recommended 28 chews should result in a whole pea being reduced to something less than a whole pea. Everyone should remember we are humans, not wolves, so food should not be wolfed down whole. This is especially true for those with J Pouches.