Digestive System Health
EVERYTHING that goes into
your mouth goes through a process of being broken down or digested, the
good separated from the bad through the miracle of the digestive
system. Organs involved include your mouth, stomach, pancreas, and liver. The intestinal system will be covered separately.
|
The saliva in your mouth contains enzymes that begin digesting food. You can prove this by doing your own experiment...take a couple of containers of yogurt, apple sauce, or jello for example.
Take a scoop full from one container with a CLEAN spoon, and eat the spoonful if you like, then put the same USED spoon, which will now have some of your saliva on it, into the other container and eat the same amount. Put on the lids, and put in the refrigerator. The next day open the containers, and you'll see that the one you tainted with the USED spoon is beginning to break down, or liquify...be digested...by the enzymes that are in your saliva.
The food goes to the stomach where it is "churned" by the muscles in the stomach and receives more enzymes from the pancreas & liver, depending upon the foods you are eating. Then the liquefied "food" makes it's way into the small intestine where all the nutrients are absorbed to be used by the body. And that's where we'll stop the process, to be picked up sometime when we look at the intestinal system.
As we age, the production of enzymes slows down, and we eat the same as we always have and are surprised because the digestive system just doesn't seem to work the same as it used to. When it comes to digestive enzymes, supplementation is often helpful. It is important to break down the food so that as much nutritional benefit as possible can be drawn from the food as it passes through the small intestine.
Some herbal foods the benefit the digestive system are as follows, please contact me using the form below if you would like FACT SHEETS about any of these:
RETURN TO HOME PAGE FOR MORE PAGES LIKE THIS ONE
Updated 11/8/11