How long does it take for food to be digested?

I know that there are probably different times for certain situations but was just curious as to a rule of thumb of how long it took to digest food, how long it was in your stomach, how long it takes for it to be excreted through the entire system etc. Does any absorption occur in the stomach or is it basically jsut the small intestine? For some reason I thought food was in your stomach for up to four hours, and took about 2 days to be passed all the way through your system, but I am not sure. Wondering if anyone here had some information of the top of his/her head. Thanks in advance.

[QUOTE=AppleCat;42898941]I know that there are probably different times for certain situations but was just curious as to a rule of thumb of how long it took to digest food, how long it was in your stomach, how long it takes for it to be excreted through the entire system etc. Does any absorption occur in the stomach or is it basically jsut the small intestine? For some reason I thought food was in your stomach for up to four hours, and took about 2 days to be passed all the way through your system, but I am not sure. Wondering if anyone here had some information of the top of his/her head. Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]

Depends on the person and what is eaten. For most active people, though, I think the number is closer to 18-24 hours for something to be passed completely through your system. If you want to find out, eat corn, then wait to see when it "finds its way back to the light."

Alright thanks. Makes sense about it depending on the person and what is eaten. I was just sitting here thinking how weird it is that its in the body for that long (hard to think you have that much length of intestine inside). I know that food passes through the pyloric canal when leaving the stomach, but how is it pushed through there? When does the stomach decide its time to let food through? Is it all at once or is it just a little at a time? I know these probably dont fit in the nutrition section, but thought I could maybe get some answers here.

[QUOTE=AppleCat;42909701]Alright thanks. Makes sense about it depending on the person and what is eaten. I was just sitting here thinking how weird it is that its in the body for that long (hard to think you have that much length of intestine inside). I know that food passes through the pyloric canal when leaving the stomach, but how is it pushed through there? When does the stomach decide its time to let food through? Is it all at once or is it just a little at a time? I know these probably dont fit in the nutrition section, but thought I could maybe get some answers here.[/QUOTE]

Man! I almost lost my appetite... Jok :)

mcdbb is correct in my case as it takes me exactly 24 hours, I let go
everyday at the same exact time 7:00 am, if it takes you longer then you're prolly not getting enough fibre. Sorry but I hated biology.

[QUOTE=AppleCat;42898941]I know that there are probably different times for certain situations but was just curious as to a rule of thumb of how long it took to digest food, how long it was in your stomach, how long it takes for it to be excreted through the entire system etc. Does any absorption occur in the stomach or is it basically jsut the small intestine? For some reason I thought food was in your stomach for up to four hours, and took about 2 days to be passed all the way through your system, but I am not sure. Wondering if anyone here had some information of the top of his/her head. Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]
Take it with a grain of salt...

[url]http://www.angelfire.com/ny2/bass/sequential.html[/url]
[quote][size=1]DIGESTION TIME OF VARIOUS FOODS (approx. time spent in stomach before emptying)
Water
when stomach is empty, leaves immediately and goes into intestines,

Juices
Fruit vegetables, vegetable broth - 15 to 20 minutes.

Semi-liquid
(blended salad, vegetables or fruits) - 20 to 30 min.

Fruits
Watermelon - 20 min.digestion time.
Other melons - Canteloupe, Cranshaw, Honeydew etc. - 30 min.
Oranges, grapefruit, grapes - 30 min.
Apples, pears, peaches, cherries etc. - digest in 40 min.

Vegetables
Raw tossed salad vegetables - tomato, lettuces, cucumber, celery, red or green pepper, other succulent vegetables - 30 to 40 min. digestion. -

Steamed or cooked vegetables
Leafy vegetables - escarole, spinach, kale, collards etc. - 40 min. - Zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, string beans, yellow squash, corn on cob - all 45 min. digestion time
Root vegetables - carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips etc. - 50 min.

Semi-Concentrated Carbohydrates - Starches
Jerusalem artichokes & leafy, acorn & butternut squashes, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yam, chestnuts - all 60 min. digestion.

Concentrated Carbohydrates - Grains
Brown rice, millet, buckwheat, cornmeal, oats (first 3 vegetables best) - 90 min.

Legumes & Beans - (Concentrated Carbohydrate & Protein)
Lentils, limas, chick peas, peas, pigeon peas, kidney beans, etc. - 90 min. digestion time
soy beans -120 min. digestion time

Seeds & Nuts
Seeds - Sunflower, pumpkin, pepita, sesame - Digestive time approx. 2 hours.
Nuts - Almonds, filberts, peanuts (raw), cashews, brazil, walnuts, pecans etc. - 2 1/2 to 3 hours to digest.

Dairy
Skim milk, cottage or low fat pot cheese or ricotta - approx. 90 min. digestion time
whole milk cottage cheese - 120 min. digestion
whole milk hard cheese - 4 to 5 hours digestion time

Animal proteins
Egg yolk - 30 min. digestion time
Whole egg - 45 min.
Fish - cod, scrod, flounder, sole seafood - 30 min. digestion time
Fish - salmon, salmon trout, herring, (more fatty fish) - 45 min. to 60 digestion time
Chicken - 1? to 2 hours digestion time (without skin)
Turkey - 2 to 2 ? hours digestion time (without skin)
Beef, lamb - 3 to 4 hours digestion time
Pork - 4? to 5 hours digestion time

(Editor's notes:
Note1: raw animal proteins have much faster digestion times than the above times for cooked/heated animal proteins.
Note2: The digestion times given are under an ideal situation of eating only one food, chewing well, and having efficient digestion, as is the case e.g. after a fast. They are digestion times for optimally healthy persons, with good eating habits. The digestion times are to a large part derived from Dr. Gian-Cursio's and Dr. Bass' practices.
Digestion times are much longer on a conventional diet, and for persons with non-optimized digestive systems, or persons lacking in energy, and for meals with many ingredients put together haphazardly = not in the optimum sequential order.)[/size][/quote]

Thanks for that link. Pretty interesting to see the different amounts of times for those things. Thanks again.