Could my University's food be causing this?!!

[CrystalChord]

Okay, I'm totally freaking out. A couple days ago, I had chicken tenders, fries and a sierra mist for dinner. I used BBQ sauce and Honey Mustard for the chicken tenders and a LOT of ketchup on the fries. The next day, my stools looked REDDISH ORANGE. It also seemed like my food hadn't digested properly.

I have been constipated today and yesterday evening, but I was able to manage to pass some. It's still reddish orange, save for a very tiny bit that was sort of runny and greenish-yellow. I haven't had much water the past couple days either (last night I drank a few Saranac Shirley Temple sodas, and have been drinking gatorade quite a bit recently).

It looked also like there was blood (yes, I examined it--gross) possibly on the outside of it. I am on my period, so I'm wondering if that's causing it.

Could my University's food be causing my stool to look this way?? It's really scary, because I keep reading about tumors and internal bleeding. Please help me out!

[CrystalChord]

Also, tonight I am eating about the same thing: a chicken tender wrap (lettuce, chicken tenders from a deep fat fryer, ranch dressing, and pickles) and friench fries with lots of ketchup, but tonight I drank some water.

I remember having orangey-red stool after eating nearly a whole bag of Blazin' Buffalo Ranch doritos along with a lot of gummy sweets with my friend in July. I'm wondering if it's the deep-fried food and the sauces and sodas I've been drinking lately.

[Little]

Sauces with a lot of dyes in them can definitely turn your waste products colors. One of my teachers (Navy corpsman retired) used to joke about how people's poo turned colors with the Bug Juice served at mess.
Blood in stool should always be checked by a doctor, but as a rule the brighter red it is, the closer to the end of your colon the problem is. Black or tarry stools are from problems higher in the system.
I've heard rumours that universities put laxatives in their food to keep the dorm plumbing running smooth. I would have believed it when I was living on campus, eating at the cafeteria. Try laying off the heavy colored sauces for a while, see if it goes away.

[WildChild]

Can you get salad? Some fresh veggies and fruit? Try water with a twist of lemon instead of soda. Little is right about the dyes but on the whole this sounds like a diet calculated to undermine your health. Find the better food choices if you can.

[CrystalChord]

Thank you so much, Little!

I can't really eat very healthily at my University. All of the late night meals (of course I shouldn't be eating late at night anyway, amirite?) are all deep fat fried, and even their Boca Burgers are coated in a layer of grease! The dining hall I am closest to is very open, and their deep-fat fryers are ALL right up front, rather than in the back like at the other hall.

If what I saw WAS blood (or a blood like substance) in or on my stool, what I saw was VERY bright (not dark brown or maroon but again like an orangey red), but it seemed like there wasn't much of it; it was reddish, but it was thin on the sheet and it wasn't spotted. It was like...take a red orange in photoshop and lower the opacity of the brush you're using to about 70%:

[CrystalChord]

Can you get salad? Some fresh veggies and fruit? Try water with a twist of lemon instead of soda. Little is right about the dyes but on the whole this sounds like a diet calculated to undermine your health. Find the better food choices if you can.

Sadly, the choices for salads are never any good either. The lettuce is usually wilted or brown and the vegetables are dried up. I've also seen a lot of bad fruit in the displays. I love drinking water, I just seem to forget at my U.

The only time is when I go to work in the morning. I work at a little restaurant run my my Japanese professor's wife, and if you work two hours or more (like I can), you get a free lunch which comes with a scoop of rice with kombu on top, freshly pickled veggies, green beans stir fried in soysauce and sesame seeds, a salad with a light miso dressing (plus a piece of fruit) and either tofu or chicken. It's amazing, and I wish I could eat that every day, but sadly I only work friday mornings.

[TWills32]

It sounds like your digestive system is craving good food, and all the deep fried stuff is irritating it. If you absolutely can't eat better food, drink water instead of pop. It is recommended that we drink eight 8 ounce glasses of water a day. Your college doesn't offer healthy alternatives at all?

[Cheyenne]

I agree with everyone else. If you can't eat fresh food every day, and instead have to eat greasy, old, rotted food, you may have colon problems. When my aunt was in collage, she had the same problem. When she ate the school's food, she got really sick.
Are you allowed to buy food off-campous? If you can, go to the store and buy some frozen or fresh fruits and veggies. I know it costs more, but ig you go to an organic place, they're stuff is a lot healtheir and fresh. If you buy to much, just freeze it or make smoothies. Also, cook meals in your spare time and freeze and thaw it on a day where you don't want to eat campus food. Just don't leave in the freezer for months at a tome, cause it will go bad.
Buy some "Naked Fruit Drinks". I don't know the name of them, but get a small bottle of it, and if you like it, just but a big one, and fill a water bottle up of it, and drink that. Or, but some Crystal-Light drink packets, and mix it into your water. What I do is, I have a big water bottle that you can buy at Walmart or something, and I fill it up with almost 8glasses of water, and that lasts me all day.
Are you allowed to drink water and stuff and class?