YOU ON A DETOX: Digestive Anatomy Made Simple. By Lucas Rockwood
As you begin to eat more and more plant foods and less and less animal products and processed, man-made foods, it is very helpful to gain an understanding of our specific digestive anatomy. The more we understand what is actually happening in our bodies, the more obvious it becomes that raw, organic plant food is the only thing we should be swallowing.
What is Digestion?
Digestion is the process our bodies’ undergo in order to break down the food we eat into useable nutrients. Proteins are broken down into amino acids, starches into simple sugars, and fats into fatty acids. Digestion is really a simplification process in which large molecules are broken down into a size and form that we can quickly assimilate.
The gastrointestinal tract is divided into four distinct parts which are separated by sphincter muscles; these four regions have distinctly different functions to perform and different patterns of motility (contractions).
- Esophagus: carries food to the stomach
- Stomach: mixes food with digestive enzymes and grinds it down into a more-or-less
liquid form - Small Intestine: absorbs nutrients
- Colon: reabsorbs water and eliminates indigestible food residues
From the Plate to Your Mouth
As soon as food is placed in your mouth, digestion begins. Chewing quickly and effectively breaks apart foods that are then mixed with saliva that is rich in ptyalin, an enzyme that breaks down starches.
Swallowing
After you swallow your food, the voluntary aspect of digestion ends and the involuntary process of peristalsis begins. From here, the esophagus kneads or milks the food along its journey to the stomach.
The Stomach
The stomach is the widest stop along the digestive journey located just behind the lower ribs (not in the lower abdomen as is usually believed. It is a flexible bag enclosed by muscles that constantly move and change form. Nutritionally speaking, very little is absorbed through the stomach wall (alcohol and some drugs are some exceptions), and most meals are in the stomach for 1-5 hours. Watery foods, such as soups and most fruit and vegetables leave the stomach very rapidly, whereas cooked foods and fats always slow down digestion time.
The rate of digestion is usually determined by the slowest digesting foods you eat. In other words, if you eat an apple and a steak together, the apple usually has to wait in the stomach for the steak to digest before it moves on to the small intestine. In this way, a partially raw food diet (when mixed with cooked foods) can cause digestive discomfort. Raw foods want to move through your system quickly, and when they are held up by cooked foods, they often putrefy and ferment in your body creating gas and releasing toxins into your system.
The stomach has three types of contractions: (1) There are rhythmic, 3 per minute, synchronized contractions in the lower part of the stomach which create waves of food particles and juice which splash against a closed sphincter muscle (the pyloric sphincter) to grind the food down into small particles. (2) The upper part of the stomach shows slow relaxations lasting a minute or more that follow each swallow and that allow the food to enter the stomach; at other times the upper part of the stomach shows slow contractions which help to empty the stomach. (3) Between meals, after all the digestible food has left the stomach, there are occasional bursts of very strong, synchronized contractions that are accompanied by opening of the pyloric sphincter muscle. These are sometimes called “housekeeper waves” because their function is to sweep any indigestible particles out of the stomach.
In the stomach, food is stored and mixed with as much as a liter or more of digestive juices including hydrochloric acid and pepsin (protein splitting enzyme). The mucosa coating the stomach prevents the stomach acids from digesting the stomach itself, and after food has been sufficiently broken down and liquefied, it is passed on to the small intestine.
The Small Intestine
This 22-foot tube is where virtually all of the nutrients from foods are absorbed. It is an alkaline environment where our partially digested foods are mixed with bile, pancreatic juice, and secretions from the intestinal wall. It is also believed that food enzymes present are “re-activated” once food reaches the alkaline environment of the small intestine. These food enzymes are thought to speed up food digestion and lighten the load of the pancreas.
The first stop is the duodenum that begins at the stomach outlet. The next stop is the jejunum (approx. 10 feet in length), and finally our food moves through the ileum (10-12 food in length). The semi-liquid contents of the small intestine are moved along once again the by the peristaltic action of the intestine, and this is when we often hear our “stomach” growling or rumbling. The noise thought to be originating in our stomach is actually our small intestine further digesting and moving food along our digestive tract. The peristaltic contractions occur in regular, spaced out intervals, so the first part of your meal may make its way to your large intestine very quickly while the last thing you eat could take hours longer to reach the colon.
As digestion continues and foods are further broken down, the nutrients are absorbed through the intestinal wall leaving behind dead cell matter, fiber, and undigested food which then moves toward the colon. Ideally, the small intestine is extremely efficient and most nutrients are absorbed in the first few feet, and food generally passes the entire length of the small intestine in 4 hours or less. Cooked food, toxins, enzyme-deficient foods, and a generally poor diet compromise our digestive efficiency and therefore slow digestion and tax our bodies.
The Large Intestine
This 5-foot long organ’s primary function is to store and dehydrate waste matter. Waste enters the colon in a semi-liquid state and slowly becomes semi-solid as the water is absorbed. Unlike the stomach, both the small and large intestine are lavishly populated with bacteria called intestinal flora. These bacteria constitute a large portion of most feces (often 50% or more) along with cellulose (indigestible plant fiber), indigestible items, and cellular waste products.
The last stretch of the digestive journey is usually the longest with food often remaining in the colon for 30 - 48 hours or more. Someone with very healthy intestinal flora and a very powerful digestive system from eating a raw, vegan diet can cut the colon transit time dramatically. Each day, up to 5 gallons of water is passed through the colon, so in order to keep us hydrated, the colon must quickly absorb the liquid. For this reason, the majority of colonic movements are non-peristaltic, meaning unsynchronized. Waste and water are simply sloshed back and forth, back and forth, again and again.
Many people don’t realize that 50% or more of fecal matter can be made up of bacteria from the large and small intestines—depending on your diet. Healthy people will also experience 6-8 high-amplitude, long-sweeping contractions each day that move fecal matter all the way from the entrance to the colon to the rectum, often provoking a bowel movement.
Along with the mouth, stomach, and intestines, a number of other organs are vital to the digestion and absorption of the food we eat.
LIVER
Some claim that the liver is the most vital organ in the body—even more than the heart. It is a vital storage area for fat-soluble vitamins like D and A, and it also stores gycogen (digested carbohydrates) that are released to control blood sugar levels in the body. At four pounds, the liver is certainly the largest organ and is truly an incomparable “chemical plant” for the body.
Enzymes are one of the many chemicals produced by the liver, and as we know, enzymes aid in every metabolic process in the body whether its digestion or tissue regeneration. The liver also manufactures cholesterol, proteins, vitamin A (from carotene), and blood coagulation factors. Another important “product” from the liver is bile. Bile contains salts that promote the efficient digestion of fats by emulsifying fatty materials. In this way, a healthy liver promotes healthy enzyme and bile production which are both huge digestive aids. A healthy liver also helps us assimilate and store fat-soluble vitamins that we are eating.
By eating toxic foods, our liver is one organ that often pays the price, and the result of poor diet can be impaired liver functioning which leads to a whole host of complications ranging from weakened digestion to skin problems to liver disease. The liver is a powerful detoxifying organ that breaks down toxic molecules making them harmless to the body. In other words, the more toxic material we eat, the harder it has to work.
GALLBLADDER
The gallbladder is a storage organ that is about 3 inches long. It holds bile produced by the liver, modifying it chemically, and then concentrating it tenfold. The taste or sometimes even the sight of food may be sufficient stimulus to empty the gallbladder of its bile.
GALL STONES
No one knows for sure why gallstones form, but many people have various hypothesis—eating a diet high in cholesterol is a popular theory. Although the exact cause is unknown, the health complications associated with impaired gallbladder functioning are usually very obvious. People with impaired gallbladder functioning tend to have an extremely difficult time digesting fats. Upset stomach, cramps, and indigestion are all common symptoms when fatty foods are eaten, and especially when extremely greasy foods like French fries or potato chips are eaten.
Bile itself is a yellow or greenish fluid containing what are called bile salts, and when the gallbladder absorbs the moisture from the bile (to concentrate it), the residual tends to consist of un-metabolized cholesterol and variously pigmented bile salts. About 80% of stones are made of cholesterol and the rest are generally residues of bile.
GALLBLADDER FLUSHES
Gallbladder removal is a very common practice for people suffering from gallbladder “disease.” This is not something you should ever consider. Removing a vital organ because it is not functioning properly isn’t going to solve the original problem and will clearly have a great impact your overall, long-term health. A much more practical option is to clean up your diet, your lifestyle, and possibly consider a gallbladder flush.
There are a number of different gallbladder flush programs available and many holistic health practitioners available who guide patients through flushes. Here is the basic program:
- 3-5 days juice fasting (no fat, low sugar juices)
- On the last night of the fast, drink 12 ounces of cold-pressed olive oil with lemon juice and lay down for the night
- You should expect to make many trips to the bathroom over the course of the night, and if all goes well, you should see visible “stones” in your stools
PANCREAS
This six-inch long glad is nestled into the curve of the duodenum. Its cell clusters secrete insulin (into the blood, not the digestive tract) that accelerates the burning of sugar in our body. The larger part of the pancreas manufactures and secretes pancreatic juice which contains some of the body’s most important digestive enzymes—lipase, protease, and amylase.
Tags: Detox, Digestion, digestive anatomy, lucas rockwood
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