Hi, I don't think you need to be worried. I know sometimes I have a bowel movement that has this mornings food in it, other days it seems like I am having BMs with food from the previous day, maybe 48hrs between. I have between 4 and 6bms a day, eat little to no veg/fruit.

If you feel ok I think you are fine. If you are not feeling well and think that your digestive system is having issues I think you should look more into it.

Everyone is going to have a different situation, we digest and process at different rates, not to mention about the food we eat or don't. Also the number of BMs is going to change how quickly your body can or needs to process the food.

Good luck, hope this helps.

Hi, Solomin. It depends on what you eat, and what it is combined with. When I eat grapefruit or raspberries for a snack, it moves through me within three or four hours. If I have a ham, cheese, tomato and cucumber sandwich for lunch, or dinner of chicken with a carb and vegetable, it will take longer, maybe six hours, or overnight. If I have pasta with only vegetables, it is faster. Fruits digest very quickly so maybe try to eat it on an empty stomach so you can absorb its nutrients.

Try to food combine and see how your system processes certain food combinations: Soft, soluble vegetables such as squash, pumpkin (try canned pumpkin, add some spices for flavour), peas, spinach, or zucchini with rice, sweet potato, or pasta take approximately the same amount of time to break down, and be expelled. Meat takes longer to break down, so if you have meat in the meal, eaten with soft vegetables or fruit it stops up the rest of the food and takes a bit longer, or harder to exit. 

It’s best not to confuse identifiable residue in your stool with “digestion” issues. While chewing well is always wise, the residue you see has nevertheless had most of its nutritionally useful content properly absorbed. You’re looking at the shell for the most part.

Hi Scott,

This is definitely food that I do not digest. It comes out the same way it was when it went in.

Thanks!