You think you know what’s going on inside your body? Think again! According to wellness expert Maria Trimarchi, ‘There are all kinds of gross things in your body right now, maybe even hard lumps of calcium oxalate (that’s what a kidney stone’s made of). You’re making sweat, and eye gunk, and pus, and you also have undigested and partially digested food traveling through your gut. And did you know there’s more bacteria living in your body than there are human cells?’ So what other gross things do you have living inside you?
1. Poo: Trimarchi notes, ‘When you eat and drink, your body only needs a few hours to extract the vitamins and nutrients it needs from that food, and the leftovers are (you guessed it!) off to be excreted. The intestines – your bowels – are made up of both the small and large intestine, plus your rectum. Your small intestine is a tube that’s about 20 feet (six meters) long and one inch (2.5 centimetres) in diameter, and your large intestine is also longer than you might expect, too: It’s a tube about five feet (1.5 meters) long, and three inches (7.6 centimetres) in diameter. In total, that’s about the length of a small, basic vinyl garden hose you’d use in your yard, and it’s full of waste. Your stool is made up of undigested food, but that’s not all. There’s also mucus, bacteria and dead cells in there – and it’s the combination of all these ingredients that make poop brown. A normal bowel movement is mostly water, though (about 75% of it), and most of us get rid of about three to eight ounces of waste every day.’
2. Gas: ‘Everyone farts and everyone burps,’ says Trimarchi. ‘There’s no way around it. If you eat, you produce gas as the bacteria in your digestive system break down those foods. On average, you’re passing gas anywhere between 14 and 23 times a day. Think about that; you could be farting or burping once every hour. The gas producing those farts and burps contains carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and sometimes methane – and sometimes sulphur (only in farts, though). Certain foods will cause your body to produce more gas, and those include high-fibre and sugary foods, such as those notorious gas-encouragers: beans and broccoli. For some people, wheat or dairy – and products that contain wheat or dairy – can cause also contribute to gassiness, belching, farting and abdominal bloating because their bodies can’t properly digest those foods. Often the cause, though, is nothing more than swallowed air.’
3. Vomit: ‘The average stomach will hold about three-quarters of a gallon (that’s three litres) of chewed food and beverages,’ Trimarchi details. ‘You’ll know when you’ve reached this limit by that post-feast queasy feeling that sets in. Some reports find that while the stomach will likely stretch to hold a little more than three-quarters of a gallon of food and liquid, it will actually spontaneously rupture when it’s expected to accommodate as much as 1.3 gallons (5 litres). If your stomach and intestines decide to close the gate on what you’ve eaten, that food and drink won’t pass normally through to your bowel. Instead, it’s coming back up, and sometimes forcefully. Vomiting is actually controlled by a “vomiting centre” in the brain, and can be caused by a number of things, including food-borne illness (you can thank bacteria, viruses and parasites for most food poisoning), infections, some illnesses and pregnancy, as well as side effects of some medications or certain medical treatments (such as chemotherapy). If you don’t or can’t vomit, your body will still deal with the unwanted stomach contents. Leaks may develop in the stomach walls, allowing partially digested food to seep into your body.’