I think most people love to eat. I mean, food is good. Personally, I find a lot of joy in eating delicious things. And I try to avoid those foods that seem mediocre.
What we put into our mouths doesn’t magically disappear just because we have chewed it beyond all recognition and swallowed it down the old hatch.
No, instead, our magical bodies go through a process. A very intricate process, to be sure. And from the time we put the food in to the time that same food makes its escape, a lot can happen to a bon-bon or a jalapeño popper.
First and foremost. It mixes with our saliva. The spittle. Dribble, drool, slaver, slobber, sputum. They need better words for saliva. They all sound so terrible as they gather in a pool on our pillows.
But here is the thing. The average person produces 2 pints of saliva every day. That comes to 32 ounces or two cans of soda. Of spit. I bet you didn’t know you had it in you.
Then, there is the part of our bodies that take the food from our chompers and transports it to our stomach. These are the muscles in our esophagus. Just like when we go to the stadium to watch sports, those muscles act like a giant wave. Like squeezy, relax, squeezy, relax, squeezy, relax. Involuntarily.
Most of us know we have enzymes in our bodies. The enzymes in our digestive systems are what separate food into the different nutrients that we need. Like chiseling out the Vitamin C from an orange. Or sucking the Vitamin A out of spinach.
We’ve all heard those commercials about laundry detergents having enzymes to remove stains. Some of those enzymes are the same as those found in our digestive system. Getting the potassium right out of those lima beans.
Okay, let’s skip to the fun fact. It has to do with the second part of our small intestine. The thing is called the jejunum. That’s just fun to say. juh·joo·nuhm
(If you want to hear it over and over again, you can use any pronounce video on youtube. I just like to hear it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rrx5wUPDGM. ). Jejunum.
Here’s the other thing about the small intestine. They got it all wrong. The small intestine is about 22-23 feet long, while the large intestine is only about 5 feet long. Seems like it should be the other way.
Also, there is something inside of us called “the gut-brain.” The gut-brain axis is the neat-o bond that exists between the digestive system and our brains. Scientists have found that emotions, including stress, affect how we digest food. But I imagine that gut-brain inside of us like a scene from one of those alien movies, where the person opens their shirt, and the little creature pops out, showing it has been the one running the show the entire time. Oh, our little gut-brain.
Finally, some random thoughts. Our bodies can move our food through the digestive system even while we are standing on our heads. Now, I wouldn’t go out and eat a bucket of chicken and then try this at home. But. Digestion is not connected to gravity because it works with muscles. So they say. I’d think that food would come back up on me.
Speaking of which. You know that feeling right before we throw up? Those few moments when we get all hot, and our mouths totally fill with saliva? The amount of saliva we produce increases to protect our teeth from the acid in our stomachs. Right before it comes up. Try that one as a conversation ice-breaker at a party.
But. If you want to know how much we can eat, I will not disappoint. The stomach has the ability to stretch and hold up to 4 pounds of food at one time. Not mine. I would die.
And. You should also know. Platypuses do not have stomachs. Just because.
So, maybe we could think about this as we eat today: We should be thankful that our bodies work as they do. And we are lucky to have the food prove it.
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“Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.”
― Mark Twain
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“You can’t just eat good food. You’ve got to talk about it too. And you’ve got to talk about it to somebody who understands that kind of food.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Jailbird
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“Whoever thought a tiny candy bar should be called fun size was a moron.”
― Glenn Beck
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What we eat and how it goes. The ins and outs.
