Why is it that I sometimes eat a snack and have to use the bathroom immediately thereafter even though moments before I didn’t have to and I hadn’t had any food for hours beforehand? Doesn’t it take hours for food to make it through the digestive tract?
I have the same problem sometimes and sit there wonder how is this happening?
Perhaps you are lactose intolerant.
If your snack contained dairy, and you are lactose intolerant, you could feel a sudden urge to move your bowels.
I seem to remember reading somewhere, years ago, about this. It’s some sort of odd little biological thing, and it’s apparently not uncommon. For some reason, eating seems to trigger the urge to eliminate.
It’s also pretty common in dogs and cats, especially young ones. Ten minutes after a meal, it’s time to potty.
If I remember this right, eating of course triggers peristalsis (muscle contractions to push the food along) in the esophagus, and this can trigger peristalsis further along the pipe, leading to the need to find a toilet and a newspaper immediately.
This happens a lot with babies. It can throw you for a loop the first time - the baby’s just settled down to some serious nursing, everything’s quiet and peaceful, and then suddenly — SQUIRT SQUIRT RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP (drib drib). And the kid, of course, pays no attention and keeps on eating.
That was just funny.
I believe it takes somewhere between 12 to 24 hours for food to make its way from the mouth to the end of the Nether Canal. So you’re not pooping out the food you just ate; you’re excreting what’s left of the food you ate the day before. As noted earlier, the act of eating can trigger the peristalsis-like movement in the lower intestine that is a precursor to a bowel movement.