Every time I eat, my food just rushes through me.” “I have to poop almost immediately after eating.”

This is NORMAL.

It is called the Gastrocolic Reflex. It is your body’s way of pushing food through the system in order to make room for more food in the system. Think of it like shoving food into an already full tube – some has to come out of the bottom to make some room at top of the system.

Second, it takes between six and forty-eight hours for food to be digested. So, the food you consumed recently is not the food coming out at the other end of the system. 

To check this, don’t eat corn for a week. Then have some corn and notice when it comes out. You will find that it isn’t immediate and will take some time to work through the system. This also can tell you how long it takes to digest food. Less than 6 hours is very short and more than 48 hours is very long, anywhere in between is pretty normal. Again, too short or too long is something to discuss with your doctor.

The Gastrocolic Reflex can become overactive and may need to be evaluated by a doctor. If the urge is sudden; you have chronic diarrhea; abdominal bloating, pain or cramping; or excessive gas, it might be time to visit a doctor. Many of these symptoms overlap with celiac disease and it may be hard to tease out what the issue is. 

Celiac disease can increase the intensity of your Gastrocolic Reflex. There are some medications that may be able to help calm this reaction. If you find it burdensome or problematic, talk to your doctor.

Good luck out there and let me know if you have more questions you want me to research.

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