Blame it on the Mac-N-Cheese Follow up

Oh my! Who knew that a post about what moves peoples’ bowels and how fast it happens would generate so many comments? People have certainly not been shy in sharing their two cents and some surprising details about their bathroom habits since that post.

We have had many a dinner-table discussion on this topic. One point my husband made is that colonoscopy prep is a great illustration that bowels aren’t going to react immediately to anything you eat. For those of you who have had the pleasure of a colonoscopy, you know that it takes time for the prep to kick in, and when it does, watch out! Since this is probably the strongest stuff you can ingest to clear out your colon, it’s a good example.

But for those who disagree and still blame the mac-n-cheese for immediate bowel movements (remember, you definitely can and should blame it a few hours later if you have lactose intolerance!) one of my family members, who shall remain nameless, has a unique suggestion. This unorthodox solution came up during a very heated discussion which culminated in each person at the dinner table sharing the one food that makes them rush to the bathroom without fail. (As a side note, it was rather amusing that no one tried to just never eat this one thing!)

Naturally our dinner-table doctor AGAIN attempted to explain the reason for this (see previous post from Aug. 27) which is when someone suggested how to find out once and for all if what you just ate is moving right through you: Eat a bunch of the food in question ALONG with food that makes the toilet water discolored. For example, eat it with beets or blue cake icing. If you eat this all in the same sitting, you should see the color in that first bowel movement which caused you to emergently rush to the bathroom. If you don’t, then the meal merely stimulated your bowels which are probably distressed from something you ate several hours ago or simply from being too full. If you DO see the coloring, then invite us to dinner and tell my husband he is dead wrong! Feel free to keep me posted!