You may have heard the old addage "you are what you eat", I know I was told this many times by my parents in an attempt to make me a little more conscious of my food choices. The thing is this saying never really connected with me, I never really understood or felt the truth behind it. We are what we eat, the nutrients from the food we eat is what creates every one of our cells, all of our tissues that allows our body and our mind to function. Every thing that makes are physical self comes from the food we eat... its important stuff. But how does the transformation from food to you take place? The process of digestion, which takes place through our gut and digestive system.
The Journey of Digestion
So what exactly is our gut? The gut is another name for gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) or digestive system. It is made up of various parts from your mouth to your rear and is mainly used for the digestion, absorption, and elimination of food and waste. There are six main components that make up what we comonly think of as our digestive system, these are: your mouth, esophagus, the stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and the rectum or anus. Lets explore the journey the food we eat takes to eventually become part of us.
Mouth
The adventure starts in your mouth. When you take a bite the mouth is designed to mechanically break down the food you eat through the process of chewing, this allows your food to be more easily digestible (this is why your parents may have told you at the dinner table to slow down and chew your food!). Your mouth also produces saliva which softens and moistens the food so it moves down your esophagus smoothly.
Esophagus
When you swallow, your food enters the esophagus. Here it enters into a process called peristalsis, which is the contraction and relaxation of organ walls. This moves the food and liquid through the different parts of your GI.
Stomach
The partially digested food is then dropped into your stomach. The stomach is lined with glads that produce stomach acid and enzymes that break down food. The muscles of your stomach mix the food with digestive juices and releases this mixture into the small intestine.
Small Intestine
In the small intestine food is further mixed with digestive juices from the pancreas, liver, and intestine. This is also the location where a majority of your ~gut microbiome~ resides. The lining or walls of the small intestine absorb the digested nutrients and water into your bloodstream through the intestinal mucosal barrier. The continuation of peristalis pushes the waste products of the digestive process into the large intestine.
Large Intestine
Here waste products (including undigested parts of food, fluid, and even older cells from the lining of the GI tract) from the digestive process that occurred in the small intestine is turned into stool using water to help the transformation process. Peristalsis continues to move the stool along into the next phase of the digestion process: elimination.
Rectum
The rectum is located at the lower end of your large intestine. This is where the stool is stored until peristalisis runs its course and pushes it out of your anus during a bowel movement.
Thus conludes the journey of digestion. Now you have a better understanding of the transformative power of your body which is able to take food and liquid and create every cell and tissue of your physical being. You really are what you eat and absorb.
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