How Our Digestive System WorksHow do we break down our food, so that our body gets all the nutrients and building blocks it needs? The answer is our digestive system.The Big PictureThe American Medical Association atlas of the digestive system outlines the different parts of the body in this system.ReviewAn informative site on the Digestive System is "Pathophysiology of the Digestive System", maintained by the Colorado State University.
They have also included a section on
"self evaluations"
that you can use to test your knowledge on the digestive system.
What Can We Do to Help Our Digestive System?Did you notice that digestion starts in the "oral cavity" or our mouth. To begin with, most of us need to chew our food longer (I know this is a hard one with everyone's busy schedule).Picture, for a moment, a vat of acid, and you have an object you want to dissolve in it. Do you think a large object or a small object of the same material would dissolve more easily? Yes, of course, the smaller would be easier, taking less time and energy. Picture your food. The longer you chew it, the more saliva you get into your food and the smaller the pieces become. This makes smaller pieces for your stomach acid to break down. Your stomach will thank you. Another factor is enzymes. What are they? They help break down specific types of food, and occur naturally in raw fruits and vegetables. Have you seen them in action? Have you seen a banana ripen? Enzymes occur naturally in the food we eat, until we cook them. Then the enzymes are destroyed, and our body takes over and makes and uses enzymes to break down our food. The Enzyme University website gives more infomation on the role of enzymes and what our digestive system needs to function. It also talks about "probiotics". What are probiotics? They are the healthy bacteria or bugs you need in your digestive system to break down food. I know there is an "anti-bacterial" mentality in every thing we see around us, but don't worry, these little fellows are our friends. If you've taking antibiotics, you've probably destroyed all the bad and good bacteria in your body, so reintroducing the good ones would be helpful. One way is eating yogurt with active bacteria. Read the label, since not all yogurt is active. The health food section is more likely to have it. Yogurt is one way; however, we have more than one kind of good bacteria in our digestive system, so you may want to consider consuming a broader range of these little guys. Although yogurt may be one way to reintroduce our little friends, it might not be the best way for you, if you have a problem digesting dairy products like so many of us do. I grew up in dairy land, so I had a hard time understanding how milk could possibly be bad for some people (especially myself - since I loved milk, cheese and ice cream). I discovered, however, that after milk is pasteurized, many valuable enzymes are destroyed, such as lactase. You need lactase to break down lactose (milk sugar). For more information on raw milk, check out: the Enzyme University website, under dairy, and the Real Milk website. Take note of this - If you are not breaking down your dairy products, you're getting your calcium from it, and you'll need to find other sources of it. It is possible to supplement enzymes and probiotics to help you break down your food. Taking a broad spectrum of plant enzymes was the first health thing I did to notice a difference in my level of wellness and energy. Since I had food allergies, I would get incredibly tired after I ate something my body couldn't digest. But, when I've had my enzymes, I don't get more tired after eating then I was before the meal.
If you get more tired or bloated after eating, take a look at helping your body digest your food more thoroughly with enzymes and probiotics.
Site NavigationNext - Endocrine SystemBack to - How Our Body Works |