From the moment food enters your mouth to the moment it leaves your body in an altered state at the other end of your body, digestion is working.  Let’s follow your food through this process.

Mouth:  As we put bites of food in our mouth, saliva begins to lubricate it.  The digestive enzymes like amylase present in saliva, break down the food.  If the food is in a puréed form, no chewing is necessary, otherwise chewing is necessary to aid in the breaking down of the food into what is called “foodstuffs” or “bolus.”   People who like to only chew their food once or twice before swallowing are missing this first stage in digestion and keeping their body from properly breaking down the food at the onset.  Poorly chewed food greatly taxes the digestive system as it enters the next stage having not processed properly.  As the food continues from one stage of digestion to the next, each organ involved is working overtime to overcompensate for that improperly processed food that began in the mouth.  When we chew our food adequately (5-10 for soft food like peas and 20-30 for food like steak,) we allow the digestion process to continue smoothly without a hitch.  Additionally, when food is not well-chewed and the food fragments are too big to be properly broken down, incomplete digestion occurs. Not only do nutrients not get extracted from the food, but undigested food becomes home for bacteria in the colon which can lead to bacterial overgrowth, flatulence and other symptoms of indigestion.  So, slow down and chew your food! 

Esophagus:   This is the tube, located in our throat, that connects the mouth and the stomach, acting as a simple conduit to deliver the food stuffs to the next stage of digestion.

Stomach:  The stomach is where the real action begins.  The foodstuffs are met by enzymes that initiate the digestion of proteins and are then reduced to liquid form.  This would be where the foodstuffs stop looking like food.   Everything from the beginning to the stomach is commonly referred to as the upper GI.

Liver:  The digestion journey doesn’t take us into the liver, but it is the center of metabolic activity in the body.  It is located right outside the stomach and has connection to the beginning of the small intestine.  Its major role in the digestive process is to provide bile salts to the small intestine, which are critical for digestion and absorption of fats.

GallBladder: This little guy is the tiny, pear-shaped organ attached to the liver.  This is where the liver gets the bile from.  The gallbladder’s main job is to make and store bile.  Too much of the wrong kind of diet can cause this little guy to send you into excruciating pain as gall stones are formed and try to ‘pass.’  As a result, many people in that boat have had to have the gallbladder removed.  To reduce your risks of developing these painful stones:  maintain a healthy weight, eat regular, balanced meals (healthy fats, lean protein, whole grains and green leafy vegetables – limit consumption of saturated fats and bad fats,) and exercise daily or as much as possible.

Pancreas:  Same as the liver, digestion doesn’t continue through the pancreas itself.  The pancreas has important roles as both an endocrine and exocrine organ.  Located just outside the small intestine and a little lower than the liver, it provides a potent combination of digestive enzymes to the small intestine which are critical for digestion of fats, carbohydrates and protein.

Small Intestine:  So here we find ourselves back where we had just left the stomach in a liquid form.  We continue into the small intestine, which is the most exciting place to be in the entire digestive system.  This is the place where the final stages of chemical enzymatic digestion occur and where almost all nutrients are absorbed and utilized in our body.  Most people think this occurs in the stomach, but now you know.  The small intestine is also where the lower GI begins.

Large Intestine:  This is the final stage of digestion.  The large intestine, or large bowel, functions mainly to absorb water from the undigested food back into the blood. This makes the feces more solid.  It also absorbs vitamins made by the bacteria(healthy) which live in the large intestine.  Finally, it stores the feces before they are eliminated from the body.  Since this is where the feces are stored, it is easy to see how having daily bowel movements are essential in completing the digestive process.  If elimination is not occurring daily (assuming your body is not on a fast or altered diet) then, as digestion continues in all of the previous stages, the feces will back up.  This backup will be painful and uncomfortable.  And ultimately, when you do go, usually bleeding and tearing of the anus occurs, causing more pain and the possibility for infection.  Additionally, although science is divided on this point, there is the possibility of toxins in the feces absorbing through the intestinal wall and back into the body if it sits there long enough.  People who are constipated and/or irregular for some other reason do not feel well and are not in optimal health.  All in all, when you get the urge to go, go.  If you have problems with this, most of the time, increasing your intake of water during the day will do the trick.  To go or not to go . . .  If that is the question, the answer should always be to go.  Be well and go daily.

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