- Digestion starts in the brain with the sight and smell of food. This signals the body to start producing salivary amylase (digestive enzyme found in the mouth that starts the breakdown of carbohydrates).
- It then continues in the mouth where the mechanical and chemical breakdown occurs. The mechanical breakdown is the teeth chewing your food into smaller parts. The chemical part is the salivary glands moisten the food to help with swallowing.
- When you swallow, bolus enters the esophagus for passage into the stomach. The cardiac sphincter at the bottom of esophagus opens to allow bolus to pass into the stomach.
- The stomach continues the mechanical breakdown of food by churning and massaging the bolus along with a number of chemical activities. Bolus mixes with hydrochloric acid to disinfect any food that possibly had any pathogens that could have gotten in via food. When the bolus reaches its specific pH it becomes chyme and leaves the stomach via the pyloric valve.
- The chyme enters the duodenum of the small intestine. If you'v eaten fat the gallbladder will release bile into the duodenum. The pancreas will release bicarbonate to alkalinize the chyme and will also release digestive enzymes to further breakdown food. The chyme is now ready to move to a different part of the small intestine, the jejunum and the ilium where it will be absorbed into the blood stream.
- Whatever is not absorbed into the blood will to through the illiocecal valve into the large intestine. In the first portion of the large intestine bile and saliva will by recycled in the ascending colon. Stools and feces will form in transverse colon into sigmoid colon where it will then be excreted from the body.
What happens when digestion doesn't work properly:
- As a culture we are tend to be in a stressed out state when we consume food. In order to properly digest food you have to be in a relaxed state also known as a parasympathetic state. When you are eating on the run or while you are in the middle of work you are not in a relaxed state, also known as a sympathetic state. When you are eating in a sympathetic state you do not produce enough stomach acid. Stomach acid is crucial do digestion in the small intestine.
- When people eat then tend to be rushed or extremely hungry and do not take the time to thoroughly chew their food. When food is not chewed all the way through, the amount of saliva produced is hindered. When the proper amount of saliva is not produced, salvatory amalyse is not produced which starts the breakdown of carbohydrates in your body.
- Factors such as stress, refined carbohydrates, nutrient deficiencies, allergies, and excess alcohol consumption can all inhibit hydrochloric acid production. In order for food to continue with digestion, the pH of the stomach should be between 1.5-3.0. If the chyme is to alkaline, it stays in the stomach longer and begins to degenerate, pancreatic juices are not released and intestinal problems start to occur.
- In the gallbladder when poor quality fats or no fat is consumed the gallbladder fills up with bile and can cause gallstones.
- The large intestine deals with the leftover food that is not fully digested, food full of parasites, microorganisms, and undigested fats. Maldigested food causes dysbiosis and disrupts healthy flora. Without healthy flora butric acid is not produces which weakens the health of the colon. This leaves the colon subject to inflammation, diverticula, and loss of tone which can then lead to issues such as IBS, Crohns disease, colitis, and celiac disease .
To avoid any of these issues from occurring, you want to make sure you are properly digesting your food by always eating in a relaxed state, chewing your food all the way through, avoid refined carbohydrates, limit your alcohol intake, and manage your stress.
