 |
 |
 |
           |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
What Really Happens To The Food You Eat
After we have eaten a meal -- and often we do this in a hurry, without much chewing, under a lot of stress, or in the presence of negative emotions -- we give no thought to what becomes of our food once it has been swallowed. We have been led to assume that anything put in the mouth automatically gets digested flawlessly, is efficiently absorbed into the body where it nourishes our cells, with the waste products being eliminated completely by the large intestine. This vision of efficiency may exist in the best cases but for most there is many a slip between the table and the toilet. Most bodies are not optimally efficient at performing all the required functions, especially after years of poor living habits, stress, fatigue, and aging. To the natural hygienist, most disease begins and ends with our FOOD; most of our healing efforts are focused on improving the digestion process. Digestion means chemically changing the foods we eat into substances that can pass into the blood stream and circulate through the body where nutrition is used for bodily functions. Our bodies use nutritional substances for fuel, for repair and rebuilding, and to conduct an incredibly complex biochemistry. Scientists are still busily engaged in trying to understand the chemical mysteries of our bodies. But as bewildering as the chemistry of life is, the chemistry of digestion itself is actually a relatively simple process, and one doctors have had a fairly good understanding of for many decades. Though relatively straightforward, a lot can and does go wrong resulting in digestion problems. The body breaks down foods with a series of different enzymes that are mixed with food at various points as it passes from mouth to stomach to small intestine. An enzyme is a large, complex molecule that has the ability to chemically change other large, complex molecules without being changed itself. Digestive enzymes perform relatively simple functions--breaking large molecules into smaller parts that can dissolve in water. Digestion starts in the mouth when food is mixed with ptyalin, an enzyme secreted by the salivary glands. Ptyalin converts insoluble starches into simple sugars. If the digestion of starchy foods is impaired, the body is less able to extract the energy contained in our foods, while far worse from the point of view of the genesis of diseases, undigested starches pass through the stomach and into the gut where they ferment and thereby create an additional toxic burden for the liver to process. And fermenting starches also create gas. As we chew our food it gets mixed with saliva; as we continue to chew the starches in the food are converted into sugar. There is a very simple experiment you can conduct to prove to yourself how this works. Get a plain piece of bread, no jam, no butter, plain, and without swallowing it or allowing much of it to pass down the throat, begin to chew it until it seems to literally dissolve. Ptyalin works fast in our mouths so you may be surprised at how sweet the taste gets. As important as chewing is, I have only run into about one client in a hundred that actually makes an effort to consciously chew their food... Read more at: http://www.XTherapist.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Nutrition - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The Wonderful Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet The Mediterranean Diet is now recognized as one of the healthiest in the world consisting as it does of large amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables, salads, nuts, seeds, omega-3 rich oily fish, olives, and olive oil and being comparitively low in dairy products and red meats.The people of the Mediterranean region, particuarly Greece and Spain, are very fortunate to live in an area where naturally healthy food is readily and cheaply available. Blueberries: Healthy and Easy on the Tummy After WLS All of my life I believed the best way to eat blueberries was with a muffin wrapped around them. No way could plain off-the-bush berries taste good. Unhealthy Foods: Five Sneaky Foods Revealed With the array of different diets and diet foods available to help with weight loss and health, it's sometimes hard to figure out what's healthy and what's not. Of course, part of the problem is that people have different health needs: for example, while fruit juice is often a good source of vitamins and other nutrients, some people with diabetes may find that some fruit juices have more sugar than they can tolerate. Water, The Magical Drink Glowing skin comes free of charge to you. Our simple water does it effectively. You Are What You Eat Your magnificent machine is, in fact, a symbiotic collection of diverse, yet related sub-systems, coordinated and operated by a three pound mass of wrinkled gray matter known as your brain. Yes, our bodies are a true miracle, a wonder to behold. Lawsuits on Foods and Diets The dangers of processed foods and diets Why is that the business of food processing is not strictly regulated by law so as to prevent health problems generated by an inadequate diet? Unhealthy products encourage an unhealthy diet.They appeal to the consumer by their availability and invasive advertising. Try a Slow-Carb Habit Carbohydrates - found in grains, breads, pasta, and sugar, as well as vegetables, fruit, tofu, beans, and dairy - provide the body with the most efficient fuel for energy production and brain activity. They're nutritionally essential, a principle currently downplayed by the "low-carb craze". Natural Foods Defined With so many people concerned about natural and organic foods these days, it's useful to stop and really take a look at what "natural" and "organic" foods really are. We all know that natural and organic foods are better for us than highly processed or artificial foods, but do we really know which foods are natural and organic? When you buy food that is labeled "natural," what does that really mean? What about "organic"?It turns out that the term "natural" doesn't mean all that much. Cherries - The Next Wonder Fruit Cherries?A Supercharged FruitThe little red fruit that has been enjoyed by countless millions offer more than great taste. Are cherries truly fruit for a healthy you? Recent studies have revealed that cherries offer an assortment of health benefits including the natural ability to offer relief from joint inflammation. The Crucial Role of the Salt in Our Health Salt is vital for our health. Right now, you have around 250 gr. You Are What You Eat You've no doubt heard the saying, "You are what you eat", as it typically pertains to encouraging people to be more health conscious- and really consider each food before it enters the mouth! In America in fact, a commercial for a popular brand of cereal bars actually depicted people walking out of donut shops and bakeries in costumes of the food that they ordered for breakfast, and of course, everyone stared at the donut shaped person walking into the office. The idea behind the phrase, "you are what you eat", is if you don't want to look like you eat donuts every morning for breakfast and fast food every night for dinner, you need to eat healthier. How Can Fat Be Essential? How Can Fat Be Essential? By Garry Gamber Did you know that some fats are essential to the body? Yes, there are some fats that our body cannot produce which means that we must get them from our food. Perhaps you've heard of omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids. Death, Aging, Rejuvenation (Part 1) I would like to raise a question: Is Rejuvenation possible and how to approach it? This is just my own opinion about possible procedures. I used certain techniques based on a theory. What is A Balanced Diet For Losing Weight and Good Health? The total calories that you should be consuming depend on whether you are a women or a man. It depends on your body structure and your activity level. What Would You Think if I said that You could Overdose on Water? You would probably think that I was writing a lot of old rubbish, but please stay with me, as I can assure you that it is very possible and there are many cases reported worldwide to back up my statement.A number of medical experts recommend that everyone should drink eight glasses of water per day, which is about two litres. The Joys of Being Healthy It is amazing to be able to say I am a whole, happy, healthy, loving woman. I was sick for the first 40 years of my life. Magnesium Deficiency Causes Personality Change and WLS Patients are at Risk Have you ever felt like you were completely losing your mind? Like the world was swallowing you up and little things were out of your control and unmanageable? Like you were confused, tired, out of sorts and simply wanted to collapse? Has everyday noise become intolerably loud in your head?That's how I was feeling a few months ago. I was confident I'd lost my mind and suffered a serious change of personality (for the worse, I may add). Alkalize Your Way to Better Health Today we're shifting our focus from wealth to health. First of all, I am not an expert. Sugar, America's Drug of Choice Many people use sugar as medicine. Sugar tends to change the way our metabolism uses specific amino acids to make the neurotransmitters needed for proper brain function. Green Tea and Your Health Green tea has been used as for medical remedies in China since ancient times. It was said to have many health benefits and be a remedy for many ailments.
|
 |