On average, and generally speaking, how long does it take for something you eat to come out the other end?

The long part is the colon which stores stool for 24–48 hours. The rest of the trip happens in a matter of hours I believe.

If you ever feel like you’re going immediately after eating, that’s because eating triggers peristalsis – the motions your guts make to move things along – which makes your colon push out whatever’s already in it. No matter how bad you have the runs, you’re never pooping out what you just ate.

Thank you, @Mariah.

One reason I asked is that I like to eat beets and cranberries, which, of course, makes my stool have some red in it, which might be confused with blood, which would be worrisome. But if know the timing, then I wouldn’t be concerned if the appearance of the red color is within the expected time interval.

On a similar but separate note, on one occasion, and only one occasion, some two months ago, my stool was very green. I don’t recall eating a lot of spinach, and spinach never made my stool green before, so does anyone here have any idea what that might be? Has anyone experienced this? I asked a gastroenterologist, and he wasn’t sure. He guessed excess bile, but only on one occasion?

Gotcha. Yeah if the red really worried you I’d just say maybe go without beets for a few days and make sure it goes away. It’s hard to guess the timing exactly as it varies from person to person.

I wouldn’t worry about anything that only happens once, but yeah I believe green can be caused by bile which I think is associated with eating a lot of fats. This can make your stool float too.

A lot of fruits make me output green but my situation is anything but normal lol. I’m not sure that happens to anyone else.