Why Does Salad Go Right Through Me? Healthy Eating

Salad is the one type of food that screams healthy. Salad is usually nutritious, bland, but very dependable when it comes to nutrition.

You can choose to take it as breakfast, lunch or supper. Eating salad which is vegetables, should be healthy.

It should be beneficial to your body and the digestive tract. However, if you do not select the ingredients properly, you can experience uncontrollable loose stool.

This can also be because of the fiber surge. Occasional diarrhea after taking salad is not something that you should worry about.

But if it lasts for quite long, like more than two days, then something might be seriously wrong. You will have to visit a physician.

What does it mean “salad goes right through me.” It’s a unique but explainable feeling. It happens immediately after eating salad. You feel like you have to have to rush to the bathroom or toilet.

At the time, you experience bowel movement. It’s a common thing for individuals with certain conditions like ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease. Today, we will be discussing the salad and why it goes right through some individuals. So!

Why Does Salad Go Right through Me?

It can happen because of the gastrocolic response. This reaction is normal but always involuntary, and it occurs each time food reaches the stomach.

Each time food enters the colon. Your body reacts by releasing a hormone that contacts your colon. The contraction makes the food that you have previously eaten move further in your digestive system.

In turn, this makes you have the urge to pass stool. The gastrocolic reflex is always mild in some people that it causes no symptoms. To others, it can be so intense, and the urge to pass a stool after eating can be pretty severe.

Additional Information: Causes

Not Washing the Veggies Properly

Bacteria are among the leading causes of this issue. It’s advisable that you properly wash all your veggie salads before eating.

Properly rinsing the vegetables will help remove dirt such as fecal matter from rodents, soil, and many more.

These are but a few contaminants that are sources of bacteria. So, it’s pretty easy to remove them through proper washing and rinsing.

However, if you are confident that you did this procedure perfectly, you might have underlying issues.

The Amount of Fiber

If you have any issues, such as diarrhea, you need to look at your fiber intake after taking salad. You need to take a certain amount of fiber for your bowel movements to be healthy.

It should, however, not be too much. The amount of fiber in the salads might greatly vary. It depends on the type of ingredients that you choose to use.

If you need less fiber, try the very plain salad. Usually consists of raw leafy lettuce. However, with this, you won’t get much fiber.

However, lettuce does have high water content. A high intake of this veggie will undoubtedly increase your chances of having loose stools.

For healthy fiber, you have to eat a balanced salad. It should include avocados, broccoli, sprouts, Brussels, and many others.

The Tomatoes Amount

The tomatoes might not be the problem as such. However, they can be a cause of this issue. If you have other options, you might not want to add tomatoes.

It can bring up issues if you have a sensitive stomach. Tomatoes are incredibly acidic, and they will undoubtedly increase the chances of you having loose bowels.

Do You Use Cheese In Your Salad

Many people always include cheese in their salad recipes. Cheese is another food that causes diarrhea in most people. It primarily affects people with lactose intolerance conditions.

This might lead to cramps, bloating, diarrhea, gas, and many more. People suffer from this intolerance when the small intestine fails to produce the enzyme lactase.

It’s the enzyme lactose that enables the body to digest lactose. However, if you experience this when you take cheese, it’s possible that you also share this when you take milk products.

It might be the dressing

When it comes to salad, there are various ways in which you can dress it. The dressing you use might as well be the cause of the entire issue. It can be an unwanted addition.

The dressing can contain high-fat content, and fats are known to cause this issue. It would be best if you tried salads that have low-fat content and do not have lecithin.

If it takes care of your issue, then you will know what you are dealing with. If you do not understand what lecithin is, it causes diarrhea, cramps, and abdominal pains. Try to avoid it as much as possible.

Another common ingredient that people use to dress their salads is vinegar. Vinegar is quite acidic and can trigger this issue, including heartburn. Therefore do not go heavy on dressing at any time.

The Salad Might Be Quite Heavy

It would be best if you did not assume that a meal that has lettuce is light. If your salad has other add-ons like beans, cheese, heavy dressing, and other things, it is a heavy meal.

This can, in turn, add to the pressure of the stomach and even cause acid reflux symptoms. It can be worse if you choose to use dairy-based dressing and full fat.

This will undoubtedly trigger the issue of the loose bowel. The next time you decide to order or make a salad, you should consider all this. It will help you avoid all these issues.

To also prevent things like heartburn, ensure to carry a bottle of TUMS. It will help relieve the pain by quickly neutralizing the acid. It will have you feeling great in minutes.

Gastro Colic Reflex

The Conditions That Affect Gastro colic Reflex

The gastrocolic reflex has already been mentioned. I hope you still understand what it is. If not, you can check it out in the upper section of the article.

Certain health conditions like IBS can bring about the gastrocolic reflex. IBS stands for “Irritable Bowel Syndrome.”

This condition makes one move food through the digestive system much at a quicker rate than average. Other conditions that can make one pass stool faster are:

Celiac disease
Anxiety
Food intolerance and allergies
Gastritis
Crohn disease
Inflammatory Bowel Disease

These are just some of the issues, and each will increase the rate of the gastrocolic reflex. It will make you have the urge of wanting to poop soon after eating. At the time, it might also lead to other issues like:

Mucus in stool
Abdominal discomfort or pain
Constipation
Diarrhea
Frequent need to pass gas

The Right Time to See the Doctor

According to physicians, the gastrocolic reflex is quite normal in most people. Usually, it happens when you take food.

In this condition, you will feel like visiting the toilet immediately after taking food. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to see a physician.

But if you experience certain things, you should immediately see a doctor. This includes things such as:

Additional gastric symptoms
Diarrhea that lasts for more than two days

If you have the above symptoms, it might be showing that you have other underlying health issues.

How To Prevent And Treat

As mentioned severally, the issue is relatively standard. Therefore you should not have the pressure of trying any complicated treatments.

The great thing is that you can do several things to help reduce the severity of the issue. There are several things that you can do, and they include.

Changing The Diet

Certain foods cause intense gastrocolic reflex than others. Therefore you should avoid them at all costs whether it’s through salads or other meals. Here are some of the foods that you should be so keen on.

Foods with high fiber content
Dairy products
Greasy or fatty foods

You can also use a food diary. Keeping such records will help you to identify the types of food that increase gastrocolic response.

In the diary, you should record the types of food that you eat daily. It would be best if you also recorded how it impacts your digestive system. Once you identify the foods that trigger the issue, you should try and temporarily avoid the food.

Conclusion

You should note that there are various types and combinations of salads. Therefore they have several different variables, and knowing the exact cause of the issue can be pretty tricky.

It already sounds trick in some way. However, the issue might be because of combining several ingredients and eating them at the same time.

However, if the diarrhea is so severe, then you should consider seeing a doctor. Ideally, you can stop eating the salad.

If you feel that it’s something you can work with, you should try eliminating some foods from the diet or salad.

You can do this until the symptoms subside. This will undoubtedly help you to know the exact cause of your issue.

Later you can read the foods or the ingredients to see if the problem will resume. This is the best way to go around the issue.