Have you ever thought about the time it takes your body to make your meal into waste, aka food transit time? Good digestion can be a sign of good overall health and conversely, waste that hangs around in the colon for too long can cause issues.
Read on friends as we tell you more about food transit time and why a high-fiber diet can help move things along.
How Does Digestion Work?
BBC / Via media.giphy.com
It all starts with the food we put in our mouths. After you eat something, it goes through the stomach and small intestine. That process can take anywhere from six to eight hours to get to the large intestine.
Once there, your meal continues to be broken down and digested meaning your system is taking all the good stuff it needs and the waste you don't need is left around to be exited out. This length of time can vary greatly from person to person.
What is the Normal Transit Time?
Most people assume that the food they eat comes out in their next bowel movement. But in reality, our digestive systems work a lot slower than that. Your meal takes quite the journey as it travels through our bodies. The normal “transit time,” or trip from our mouths to the potty, is about 24 hours for someone with a healthy digestive system. (Though it does vary a bit from person to person.)
Why Should I Care?
Food transit time is a signal of overall digestive health and wellness.
Poor digestion is more than just annoying and uncomfortable. Waste that sits in your colon for too long has the chance to be reabsorbed back into your bloodstream and irritates the walls of your intestine. We hate to be a bummer, but if waste is regularly sitting in your colon for too long, it can increase your chances of serious conditions like candidiasis (fungal infection caused by yeast), diverticulitis (an inflammation or infection of the intestines), or even cancer.
We always suggest contacting your medical provider if there are any worries.
How to Improve Digestion?
Masterchef / Via media.giphy.com
Eat Nutrient Rich Foods
To take care of our digestive tract, (and also to have pleasant poops), we need to eat foods that are good for the gut like eating a variety number of food types to achieve a healthy diverse microbiome, like fruits and vegetables.
Exercise!
Exercise has way more benefits than just weight management. You can encourage what you eat to move through your body by getting moving. Plus, we know that exercise increases our metabolism. So get out on that walk or book that yoga class to get more than just your body moving, but your bowels, too.
Drink More Water
The advice you’ve been given to drink eight glasses of water a day is not just a myth. Low fluid intake (of non-caffeinated beverages, so no, that venti iced coffee doesn’t count!) is one of the main causes of constipation. In addition to keeping you hydrated, water also keeps your poop hydrated and helps it move through your body faster. Plus, water will help you digest all that fiber you’re going to be eating!
Chew Slower
Our digestion doesn’t start in our guts but in our mouths. When you chew your food more slowly and better, it helps you speed up digestion.
Eat More Fiber
Doctors agree that a high-fiber diet is a great way to support your gut health. Fiber comes with many health benefits like regulating the body’s blood sugar and cholesterol levels, lowering inflammation in the body, increasing healthy gut bacteria, and helping you digest better. Fiber is that amazing!
Examples of high-fiber foods that are good for our gut are apples, bananas, raspberries, artichokes, green peas, broccoli, beans, and whole grains.
It's hard to get enough fiber daily via diet alone. The good news is you can get additional fiber from a fiber supplement like Bonny.
Bonny Makes Pooping Easy
Bonny is an all-natural prebiotic fiber powder that helps you have a pleasant pooping experience. Bonny contains a custom blend of psyllium husk and prebiotic inulin to help with digestion and support gut health.
Bonny is vegan, gluten-free, and fab. The best part is that Bonny tastes so good plus it comes in fabulous flavors like Apple Pie and Mixed Ripe Berries. Take Bonny daily and you’re on your way to sweet relief!
As always, we wish you pleasant poops!
