[TummyDepressed]

Generally, there is a 'type' of food those with IBS are meant to avoid. They all tend to be rich:CurrySauces, i.e. on BologneseGraviesChocolateAlcoholSo what is it that makes 'rich' food irritating to the stomach?I find rich food constipates me. It leads to me form very small stools. Does anybody know why this could be?Cheers...

 

[Kathleen M.]

Rich food typically is higher in fat.If you eat a high fat meal your colon will get a bigger "move it along" signal than if you eat a low fat meal.Often rich foods are part of larger meals.If you eat a large meal you colon will get a bigger "move it along" signal than if you ate a small meal.Rich food tends to be low in fiber, you eat less fiber, you have smaller stools if we are talking like the next day or two when it comes out. If you are taking BM's right after the meal sometimes you move something along just enough to get a smaller amount to the end and if your rectum says "gotta go" with a small stool instead of waiting until you are really full up then you will have a smaller BM than usual.

 

[TummyDepressed]

Thanks Kathleen. That is very interesting.It is always the next day. If it eat rich food I will have very small stools that are hard to force out. It is often the same with alcohol.So then my next question!!!! Why does the colon want to get rid of fatty food faster?

 

[Kathleen M.]

I don't think the colon cares, and when the colon is more active is when the fatty foods are in the stomach, small intestine, not when it gets to the colon.I suspect it is how much "room" for lack of a better word a meal will need to be digested. Fatty and large meals take more to digest so you gotta get stuff out of the way. You can't just shove whatever is in the small intestine out of the way without also making room for it so the colon moves things along.Now sometimes that means stuff is moved along enough to have a BM shortly after (or sometimes even during) a meal. If the stool getting shoved to the end isn't fully processed then you will have diarrhea, as all stool starts out as a liquid and the water is removed to conserve it and that turns it into a solid.

 

[TummyDepressed]

Kathleen - that is really useful. Do you work for/run this site. You seem to dedicate a lot of time to it.So it is the stomach that 'dislikes' fat and wants to digest it quickly. Why is that... is it harmful for some reason to have fat in your stomach?And with alcohol I guess there could be a different reason.... perhaps this slows down the stomachs function and causes it to work less efficiently....?

 

[Kathleen M.]

I help moderate the site. I also have a biology degree so I do know a fair amount about how bodies work. It isn't that fat is dangerous or the stomach hates it.Fatty meals and lean meals are different in what they need to be digested.So the stomach senses the fat and sends signals out to the rest of the digestive tract to prepare it for what is to come. Fatty meals need different things so set off a different signal.Fatty meals need more bile and other fat digesting things to be released than a lean meal would need. It isn't that the stomach passes judgment on the meal as to it is good or bad, but you don't want a fatty meal to go into the intestines when it is expecting a lean meal. Since the signal is diffferent the reaction of the GI tract as a whole (including the colon) is different.People do need fat in the diet. There are some types of fats you cannot make yourself so you have to get them from the diet. So your body isn't built to reject all fat or think all fat is bad. It just has to release the right thins so you can process it correctly.