Does the body always absorb all calories, regardless of amt?

[VegannNY]

Something I've always wondered about, and thought I'd broach to the forum:

 

Is the body capable of absorbing ALL calories consumed, regardless of amount? Not talking about fiber, here, but quantity. IE: say you actually manage to eat 10,000 calories in one sitting (NOT speaking from personal experience, really!) Does the body actually absorb all 10K calories, or do some pass through the system unassimilated, due to overload?

 

Just curious...!

 

Janet (VnNYC)

[Katabatic]

That's a good question. I'm curious as well

[liftandcode]

That's a good question. I'm curious as well

 

me too!

[Im Your Man]

Yes some calories pass through the system unassimilated, because undigested, when there's simply just too much food or bad food combining. Some analysis found undigested proteins in fecal matters of people eating too much proteins that the body simply didn't need. The body has a sort of biologic intelligence, it won't waste energy for things it doesn't need. There's another reason : the body and the digestive system have their limits, they're not machines that can execute impossible duties, so at a certain point, indigestion begins, not only some food will not be digested and assimilated, but some people die of too much food at the same meal!

[Fallen_Horse]

I wonder if there have been any good studies done.

 

I wonder if I can eat 2 bags of Oreos in one sitting and have it only count as one?

[GRardB]

I've read that the body can only absorb 50g of protein at once (200 calories from protein), give or take a few grams depending on the person. That's all I know regarding this topic. I don't know if anything more becomes fat or passes through the body. Interesting though.

[VeganDeVil]

I wonder if I can eat 2 bags of Oreos in one sitting and have it only count as one?

 

[VegannNY]

2 bags of Oreos? Hmmmm, sounds like a challenge! (Just kidding.)

 

But seriously...the human body isn't perfectly efficient, and there *is* a limitation re: how long food stays in the digestive tract. So it's *possible* that the body just can't absorb all calories that are thrown at it in one sitting. Not that I'm going to go out and test that theory.... Think it would make for a really interesting bio experiment, though...

[Richard]

This has made me think... maybe people with eating disorders could have an operation where they have a valve in their chest, with a bag attached coming out of them. Then they can eat as much junk as they want, and it won't go to their stomach, it will just come out the bag and then they can remove it and throw it away. They get the satsifaction of eating junk food, without the health side effects. When they want to eat something healthy, they just flip the switch and it will be digested as normal.

 

[Im Your Man]

This has made me think... maybe people with eating disorders could have an operation where they have a valve in their chest, with a bag attached coming out of them. Then they can eat as much junk as they want, and it won't go to their stomach, it will just come out the bag and then they can remove it and throw it away. They get the satsifaction of eating junk food, without the health side effects. When they want to eat something healthy, they just flip the switch and it will be digested as normal.

 

There's people who because of rectum cancer had an operation called ostomy I think, a hole in the belly with a bag where shit comes out, but it's not like your idea, because food already been digested and nutrients assimilated. -

 

But concerning your idea, a few years ago I wanted to lose weight but I was too deeply addicted to vegetarian junk food like chocolate milk that for a day or two I was actually tasting the foods but spitting each bite instead of swallowing, lol. Later it transformed to make myself vomit. Fortunately this boulimia episode is far behind me and now I can eat 10 thousand calories without feeling uncomfortable about it.

 

In one of The Simpsons' episodes, where action took place in a not so distant future, there was an invention like what you're talking about : a sort of food simulator, like virtual reality but in flavours. You chose among a dozen of different foods on the small gadget, you breath in it and you experience it without calories.

 

But in terms of reality there's a similar thing you can do : inhale some alcohol vapour and you get the effects of being drunk without any calories or without feeling sick the next morning.

[VegannNY]

...Okay, if we're talking fantasy stuff here, wouldn't it be cool to have a readable gauge in the human body logging calories expended/inputted for the day? (Sort of like a more accurate, cyborg version of fitday?) Would take *all* the guesswork out of diet issues...!

 

That aside...you can inhale alcohol fumes and have an effect? Didn't know that one...

[Im Your Man]

 

That aside...you can inhale alcohol fumes and have an effect? Didn't know that one...

Sure, there's even some guys that commercialized this about 5 years ago in UK: we enter in a machine, breath in a tube. I don't know if it sells. It's easier to just breath in your old beer and wine bottles but less efficient.

[VegannNY]

BTW...realized after I posted that I wanted to sympathize re: the bulemia phase that you mentioned in the earlier post. I can only imagine what that must have been like, and congrats on getting through it ok!

[Richard]

Yeah that's an interesting idea