Your Body: Basic Users Manual – The Digestive System

Every car, appliance, and just about anything you purchase these days comes with a user’s manual. Unfortunately, we are never given a manual for our most important and precious tool, our bodies. This blog is intended to begin to acquaint you with your body and what it’s designed to do. I’m going to start by talking very basically about the digestive system and periodically add other organ systems & physiological functions.

The Digestive System

One of the keys to physical health is our often abused digestive systems. To begin this journey I’d like you to picture your body as a bagel: the opening at the top is the mouth, the opening at the bottom is the anus, the hole itself is the digestive tract. Using this analogy the “inside” of digestive tract is continuous with the outside of the body so the hole is just that and can be filled with whatever you like.

For food to actually be absorbed into the body’s cells and be usable it has to a) be broken down until the particles are small enough to pass through the “skin” of digestive lining and b) those tiny particles have to basically be identical to what is already a part of the body in order to be useful, otherwise the body sees the particles as potentially harmful and passes them back out.

Most of the food that we ingest is in forms that are completely unsuitable for use by the body’s cells and therefore must be transformed to smaller and simpler usable forms. We utilize two digestive processes to accomplish this, mechanical and chemical digestion.

Upper Digestive System & Stomach

The system begins at the mouth which secretes saliva (beginning the chemical process) and the teeth (beginning the mechanical process). The longer that food remains in the mouth the greater chance we have of absorbing nutrients. The saying that is often used as a reminder is “drink your food and eat your drink”.

The esophagus and pharynx then carry the food to the stomach. Your stomach is an enlarged area of the tube which sits mostly tucked up under the lower left ribs and stretches to accommodate the food we eat. The stomach stores the food while it attempts to break it down through vigorous churning (much like a washing machine) and by secreting mucus, acid, and enzymes. No absorption of any significance happens in the stomach.

There is so much to be said right here about the unrealistic demands we, as a culture, make on our digestive systems. Suffice it to say that for the most part our bodies cannot do what we ask of it and much of what we eat goes un-utilized and ends up eliminated or worse, poisoning our bodies.

Lower Digestive System

When the food is sufficiently broken down it is released in intervals into the small intestine. If you spread your hand over your navel you will mostly cover this roughly 20 feet of winding tube. Juices from the liver, pancreas, and small intestine help further break down the food. Most of the absorption from food happens in the small intestine.

Proteins break down into amino acids and carbohydrates into simple sugars; both of which get absorbed into the blood vessels. Fats are broken into fatty acids and glycerol, absorbed in the lymph vessels which in turn carry it to the veins. The veins deliver the absorbed food to the liver; from there the nutrients move, via the bloodstream, to the heart which pumps it to rest of the body. The liver (among its many functions) has the all important task of filtering absorbed food substances before they reach general circulation.

Unsaturated oils like extra virgin olive oil, nut oils and flax seed oil aid digestion and the proper functioning of the liver. Saturated fats like animal fats, processed and heated oils have large sticky molecules which can clog the liver. When overtaxed, the liver cannot adequately filter the blood going to the heart. Saturated fats can then pass through to clog the heart and arteries.

Finally, the large intestine or colon is where the waste products accumulate, dehydrate and are prepared for excretion. In the colon, water, salts, minerals, and some vitamins are absorbed into the body from this food-mix before the final waste is expelled.

Ideally, food should move through the body on a 24-hour cycle. This means that this evening’s dinner should stimulate the evacuation of yesterday’s dinner, and so on for each meal. Most people are on a slower cycle, many up to several days. The longer food remains in the digestive tract the more apt it is to go rotten. Picture what your dinner would look like if you left it on the counter top for several days.

3-Keys to Improve Digestion

There are many simple things you can do to keep your digestive system running properly. Here are my top 3 recommendation.

1. Drink more fluids! Most of us are dehydrated to some degree. Since we are more than 70% water and water facilitates proper organ functioning, carrying a bottle of good quality drinking water around and drinking it throughout the day is a simple, effective tool for health. The next upgrade to this is adding a lemon wedge to the water. Think of how lemon is used in cleaning products to break up oils/greases and carry them away, it does the same thing internally.
   Notes: a) minimize or eliminate liquids with meals as they dilute the body’s natural juices; b) cold drinks reduce the temperature of the stomach making it work harder. Room temperature is best; c) the minimum amount of water to simply hydrate your body is 1/2 your body weight in ounces. That means if you weight 100lbs. you should drink 50-ounces of water daily or five 10-ounce glasses. If you are dealing with specific health issues bump that up to 100% of our your body weight in ounces or 100-ounces for a 100lb. person. d) add a pinch of sea salt to the water to add minerals and make it more absorbable.
2. Add fresh fruits and vegetables to your daily diet! Everybody says the same thing with good reason—here’s some of my reasons: a) fiber, vital for a regular digestive cycle; b) vitamins and minerals; c) food enzymes; d) life energy. Food enzymes—our bodies have a finite amount of natural digestive enzymes to break down food, when we use these up it becomes harder for the system to break down what we eat, especially if the foods we eat lack food enzymes. Cooking kills these natural enzymes (as does irradiation). Without food or digestive enzymes the body will begin to borrow from its metabolic enzymes, accelerating the aging process.
3. Eat consciously! Make conscious choices about your food and eat in settings that are enjoyable where you can focus your attention on what you are eating. The body needs to be in a restful state to secrete digestive juices and stimulate the digestive organs to function properly. When we are on the go or under stress the digestive system is basically in the “off” position. Also, if you are eating things you “shouldn’t” and agonizing over your choices, then you are not able to take in any of good things the food does have to offer. Give up the guilt and fully enjoy whatever it is you’re eating!

References included: Anatomy Coloring Book, Kapit & Elson; Structure & Function of the Body, Thibodeau & Patton; Colon Health, Dr. Norman Walker; Rare Earths: Forbidden Cures, Dr. Joel Wallach.

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Disclaimer:

The information featured on this site is provided for information and education purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice of your doctor or health care provider on medical and/or health-related issues.

You should not use the information on this site for diagnosis or treatment of any health problem or as a substitute for medication or other treatment prescribed by your physician or health care provider.