# A TMI question about the digestive tract. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 19, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-tmi-question-about-the-digestive-tract/713112 "2015-02-19T18:47:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-tmi-question-about-the-digestive-tract/713112/1 "2015-02-19T18:47:39Z")
(Sorry to be so graphic) So I had a salad for lunch. When it came out the other end, I can see whole pieces of lettuce floating around in the bowl. Does that mean my body didn’t actually absorb the nutrients inside said lettuce? ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-tmi-question-about-the-digestive-tract/713112/2 "2015-02-19T18:54:46Z")
Correct. Maybe you should try chewing. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-tmi-question-about-the-digestive-tract/713112/3 "2015-02-19T19:32:09Z")
Not necessarily. Plants have large and juicy cells surrounded by a cell membrane and a cell wall. You can crush a lot of cell walls without disintegrating a piece of lettuce completely, and you’d have extracted the nutrients from those, but you can also swallow pieces with almost no crushing and those cells would be protected by the cell walls from your digestive juices, being made of indigestible cellulose. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-tmi-question-about-the-digestive-tract/713112/4 "2015-02-19T19:57:07Z")
You’ll probably find that crunchy lettuce like iceberg comes out more intact than a softer lettuce, like Bibb. The cellulose, which humans can’t digest, is what’s being left behind, so to speak. Like corn kernel shells…you’re digesting the stuff inside. You just can’t digest the actual cellulose outer part. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-tmi-question-about-the-digestive-tract/713112/5 "2015-02-19T20:02:39Z")
you might be a poor masticator. practice, practice, practice. you will enjoy it and the juices it produces. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-tmi-question-about-the-digestive-tract/713112/6 "2015-02-19T21:09:33Z")
A man consults his Jewish doctor with a similar complaint: “Doc, I think I must have a digestive problem. Everything I eat comes out the other end looking just like it went in. If I eat an apple, a whole apple comes out the other end. If I eat a slice of bread, a whole slice of bread comes out the other end. If I eat a chicken drumstick, a whole chicken drumstick comes out the other end. What should I do about this?” The doctor answers: _Nu? Es drek!_So? Eat shit. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-tmi-question-about-the-digestive-tract/713112/7 "2015-02-19T21:18:25Z")
Human beings are rather poor at deriving nutriment from vegetation, seeing as we don’t have multiple stomachs or chew the cud. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-tmi-question-about-the-digestive-tract/713112/8 "2015-02-20T00:33:39Z")
Of course, the lettuce you ate likely didn’t have much in the way of nutrients to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-tmi-question-about-the-digestive-tract/713112/9 "2015-02-20T02:54:01Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > Human beings are rather poor at deriving nutriment from vegetation, seeing as we don’t have multiple stomachs or chew the cud. Or eat our own poop, as rabbits do. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-tmi-question-about-the-digestive-tract/713112/10 "2015-02-20T04:21:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Of course, the lettuce you ate likely didn’t have much in the way of nutrients to begin with. This. You got yourself a bit of H2O and a bit of roughage. Not terrible. Oh, and you gave your jaw muscles a bit of exercise. It’s always good to exercise our muscles, right? The media is always telling us how obese everyone is, and how we need to do more. So, I say kudos.