Monday, December 8, 2014

DIGESTION - PART 1

Digestion is a process that is easily misunderstood and restricted to the "stomach" alone. You ask a kid "where does digestion take place?" and the kid will immediately reply "in the stomach". All of us around the kid will not find it difficult to agree with the "cute" and "Correct" answer. But is this answer really correct?

What is obvious is that the entire digestive tract - starting from the mouth to the rectum are involved in digestion. But what is not so obvious is the fact that all our five senses are also involved in digestion.

Digestion starts with the eyes.
The moment you look at a food - the entire digestive system gets stimulated.
The nose smells the aroma (hence the insistence in tropical countries to eat "hot food" - bcos heat releases the aroma from the food.
The mind wants it.
The mouth starts to secrete saliva.
The production of saliva and the change in the mind - activates the spleen -
The stomach prepares to digest the food that the eyes sighted.
The small intestine tries to make space to receive the chyme that will come from crushing the food item.
The large intestine compresses and solidifies the existing waste matter.
The moment you touch the food - your sense of touch is activated. You feel if the food is soft or hard - hot or cold etc...
The moment you put the food in the mouth and crunch it or crush it or even lick it - the ears jump into the process.

Thus all five senses - sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch are involved in digestion.  But this is not so obvious.

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