# make a run for the border or bathroom? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 17, 2000, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-run-for-the-border-or-bathroom/22661 "2000-06-17T01:33:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2000, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-run-for-the-border-or-bathroom/22661/1 "2000-06-17T01:33:49Z")
This hadn’t happened years ago, but lately(month or so) every time I eat at Taco Bell, I feel I must go to the bathroom. Is it something they put in the food? If not, why would it happen? This is weird. ---
**Author:** ![lswote](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lswote/32/5737_2.png) [@lswote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lswote)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2000, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-run-for-the-border-or-bathroom/22661/2 "2000-06-17T02:04:35Z")
Probably the prune juice they put in the hot sauce. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2000, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-run-for-the-border-or-bathroom/22661/3 "2000-06-17T02:16:15Z")
I don’t use the hot sauce! ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2000, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-run-for-the-border-or-bathroom/22661/4 "2000-06-17T02:47:54Z")
This really is a GQ topic, no? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2000, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-run-for-the-border-or-bathroom/22661/5 "2000-06-17T03:13:47Z")
Alphagene: Not if you’ve ever eaten at taco bell. ---
**Author:** ![tbea925](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@tbea925](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbea925)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2000, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-run-for-the-border-or-bathroom/22661/6 "2000-06-17T13:12:49Z")
Things change…my brother used to be able to eat beef; then his doctor changed his blood pressure medication, and he became allergic to it. When his doctor changed his prescription back, he was no longer allergic to beef. Could be a combination of things that triggers the bathroom response to whatever meat they use at TB, or sulfites in the lettuce, or MSG (TVP), or… ---
**Author:** ![Byzantine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@Byzantine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Byzantine)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2000, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-run-for-the-border-or-bathroom/22661/7 "2000-06-18T04:58:41Z")
The answer is: It isn’t food! It’s crap. Hence the overwhelming compulsion to visit the bathroom. I’d vomit too if I ate there. Of course I wouldn’t eat there even with a gun to my head… Oh, wait, I’m getting it now… it gives you the shits! Well, why didn’t you say so! But the answer is the same. It isn’t food. Don’t eat there! Reminds me of that joke: Doctor, it hurts when I do this… then don’t do that! ---
**Author:** ![Grumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Grumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2000, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-run-for-the-border-or-bathroom/22661/8 "2000-06-18T06:27:00Z")
The problem is usually in the lettuce. Everything else is cooked to death or deep frozen. And lettuce always has dirt on it. It’s ripe for any human germ to take root in the wet folds. ---
**Author:** ![Byzantine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@Byzantine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Byzantine)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2000, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-run-for-the-border-or-bathroom/22661/9 "2000-06-18T06:30:56Z")
Oh let’s not get into wet folds and their germs… ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2000, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-a-run-for-the-border-or-bathroom/22661/10 "2000-06-18T13:09:48Z")
Maybe your Taco Bell just has a really kuhl bathroom, and you are subconsciously drawn there?