What is the digestion time for different foods and how does this process work?

Digestion is one of the basic processes occurring in the human body. Its purpose is to obtain energy necessary for the functioning of the body. The digestive system is the digestive tract and digestive organs, primarily the liver, pancreas and gallbladder. This system performs various functions, including food intake, mechanical and chemical decomposition, transport of food content, absorption of nutrients or removal of toxic substances from the blood. In addition, he is also responsible for producing antibodies or maintaining water balance. Do you know, however, how long it takes for individual foods to digest and how does the process work?
Hey my love
Due to the fact that I study dietetics and I am very interested in topics such as healthy diet, sport, healthy lifestyle, I would like to start adding posts on these topics. I hope that the posts will be interesting and useful.
At first glance, I took the topic of digestion. Because yes everyone knows that there is such a thing but how it goes, what exactly does this process look like? How much food is in our body? I hope you find the answers to these questions here! :)

From the mouth to the intestines

The first stage of the digestion process is the crushing of food in the mouth, from where the food content goes to the stomach producing gastric juices. The composition of gastric juice contains digestive enzymes, gastric mucus and hydrochloric acid responsible, among others, for the reduction of microorganisms. Liquid foods do not stop in the stomach, medium-hearty meals remain in it for 1-2 hours, and very hearty even 5-7 hours. From the stomach, the food content goes to the duodenum, which is the initial segment of the small intestine. Here, the pancreas and liver ducts escape. Bile produced by the liver helps to break down fats, while pancreatic juice contains important digestive enzymes responsible, among others, for the end of the protein breakdown process and the breakdown of polysaccharides. The next stage is the entry of food pulp into the small intestine, where the absorption process begins. The final stage of the process is entering the large intestine of undigested food residues, which are excreted in the form of feces. In addition to food debris (including fiber), feces also include water, dyes, mineral salts and microorganisms.

How long does digestion take?

The digestion time of food usually lasts about 24 hours, but it is an individual matter and depends on the food consumed. If a bowel movement occurs less than 2 times a week, then there is constipation. How long the process lasts mainly depends on whether the food is light or hard to digest, to a lesser extent on individual inclinations. Easily digestible foods include, for example, dairy products, i.e. yogurt, white cheese or buttermilk, lean meat, fish, rice or semolina. On the other hand, fried meat, nuts, processed cheese and fast food are difficult to digest. And so coffee with milk is digested in the stomach for about 1.5 hours, egg 2 hours, and pork chop even 4 hours. Legumes, although healthy, weigh the stomach for 4-5 hours, bread, veal or beef for 3-4 hours, and poultry, vegetables and fish for 2-3 hours. So it's worth composing your meals to diversify them into various products and not to burden the digestive system. It is therefore important to remember about the correct digestion time and to observe regularity in terms of bowel movements.