Main Idea/Concepts:
The laboratory work depends on the organs of the digestive system to assimilate and nourish the body. Mastication is the initial process of the breakdown of food, the jaw (mandible) teeth and tongue manually break down the food into smaller pieces.
- salivary glands secrete saliva to moisten/saturate the food for swallowing commencing the digestion process. Saliva also converts starchy foods into sugar. The tongue – an organ of taste is one of the first gatekeepers – making judgments about which foods are let in the body.
- lower part of the throat (gullet) performs muscular contractions, pushing the food further down the passageway to the stomach (starchy food into sugars is also completed in this step of swallowing).
- stomach performs chemical changes – vitamins and nourishment is absorbed through the stomach wall and into the blood stream. It mixed the food around by churning it back and forth into pulpy matter – using about 1 gallon of gastric juices every 24 hours! Food leaves the stomach (as chyme) through a one way door (the pyloric valve) into the small intestine.
- *Dyspepsia – a fermentation process that upsets the regular functioning of the stomach may occur with bad eating habits. Food will not be broken down properly becoming an active “yeast pot” – glands becoming clogged, half digested food passes into the sml intestine, gradually resulting in the entire system becoming poisoned and improperly nourished
- Bile (produced in liver, housed in gallbladder) is secreted into the sml intestine from the gallbladder – it assists in readying/saturating fatty foods for absorption. Villi (plush like hairs on the inside of the sml intestine) make up the velvety lining and gradually push the semi-liquid food matter keeping it in constant motion while also aiding in absorption.
New Concept:
The proper use of teeth is an important hatha yoga principle. When a person consciously chews their food properly at the beginning of the digestion process it allows every other part of the process to run smoothly. It will not leave other organs to do its work and the work of the teeth. This is why people must take time to eat, enjoy food – not rush the process, as it does not make for a good digestive/nourishment transition in the body’s laboratory.
Questions:
Where does metabolism fit in? Is this how fast the stomach grinds or intestines move?
Do people that don’t gain visible fat on their bodies still have clogged arteries? Is the fat being stored in an alternate place?
