| The entire digestive process |
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Not being able to ‘release’, holding back emotions can influence the release of feces. And constipation can make a person even more irritable or apathetic. This roller coaster of digestive problem – emotions can create a vicious cycle. Constipation creates irritability, irritability can create constipation.
The digestive process starts with cooking. Preparing healthy, ideally organic food with lots of vitamins and minerals is the first contribution to a healthy digestive system. Certain foods need to be cooked e.g. potatoes, broccoli, carrots etc. When we cook them it breaks down the cellulose contained within and makes them more amenable to digestion. The Chinese wok is a perfect way to prepare vegetables without losing valuable nutrients. Vegetables are not overcooked that way. When we boil veggies too long, they lose the nutrients we so desire them to have.
When we finally eat our food, proper mastication of each bite is crucial, approximately 30 times for each bite is the benchmark. By chewing and hydrating the food with saliva, it becomes easier to absorb. Saliva contains 99.4% water, amylase – starch splitting enzyme –and ptyalin -potassium, albumin, globulin, mucin, enzymes, urea, uric acid, inorganic salts and glucose in very small amounts. Saliva is psychically and physiologically activated, e.g. just the thought of a good meal can stimulate major saliva production.
Resting saliva is slightly acidic (6.4 – 6.9), active saliva is slightly alkaline (7.0 -7.3). 7.2 – 7.3 is the most active pH for saliva to work. This is due to the enzymes contained within. Hostility, anger, fright, depression, anxiety can turn saliva acidic and this can mess with our digestion. The action of saliva in the stomach may last up to 20 minutes. This timeframe depends on the saturation of the food with saliva. Ptyalin converts starch to soluble starch, it works on polysaccharides, starch, glycogen and their derivatives.
The next stage in the digestive process is the gastric digestion. HCI is produced by the parietal cells and the chief cells produce pepsin – these are the primary digestive enzymes in the stomach. Gastric lipase appears to be the fat splitting enzyme and the lysozyme protects the stomach from virus infiltration. The solvent power of gastric juice is amazing. Gastric juice is believed to be produced continuously. Its secretion is stimulated psychically - the thought process -, and can influence the gastric phase, when we actually have food in the stomach, and the intestinal phase, when food leaves the stomach into the duodenum.
Emotions have a large impact on the secretion of HCI and pepsin, a stressed individual may not secrete sufficient ptyalin and or HCI, which can cause a wide array of digestive problems. Pepsin digests protein, it splits the peptide bonds of joining aminos such as tyrosine and phenylalanine. If we could maintain a constant pH of gastric acidity, infection could never enter our system.
From the stomach, the food enters the small intestine and it is called chyme. The pancreatic ducts connects with the ampulla of vater, they are joined in the duodenum of the small intestine. Pancreatic juice and bile (produced by the liver) empty into the duodenum at the same point. Pancreatic fluid is alkaline due to a high concentration of bicarbonate ions. This is needed to neutralize the highly acidic gastric juice. Pancreatic juice is very similar to saliva, with a pH of 8. Pancreatic juice contains several powerful enzymes, most importantly trypsin, chymotrypsin, carboxypeptidase, amylase and lipase. The most powerful amylase is amylopsin.
Pancreatin is the name for the three enzymes of pancreatic juice (trypsin, amylopsin and steapsin). Trypsin is the protein splitting enzyme, amylopsin the starch splitting enzyme and steapsin the fat splitting enzyme.
Pancreas also produce the cholesterol esterase which is necessary for the production of healthy bile salts. And bile salts are used by the liver to regulate cholesterol production. So, without properly functioning pancreas, the cholesterol esterase cannot hydrolyze cholesterol esters.
The next step in the complicated, yet marvelous digestive process is the formation of intestinal juice. Intestinal juice is secreted by the glands in the lining of the small intestine.
Trypsinogen is inactive in the pancreatic juice and is only activated in the intestines due to enterokinase. Intestinal juice also contains hormones, mucus, digestive enzymes. All these are substances to neutralize hydrochloric acid from the stomach. Polypeptides are broken down into aminos and protein digestion is completed.
Next is bile production. Bile is continuously produced by the liver, passes through the hepatic ducts and then into the common bile duct. The bladder wall absorbs water from the bile and therefore concentrates the bile in the gallbladder. Gallbladder bile is slightly acidic. The secretion of hepatic bile is under nervous system control. Secretin and bile are called cholagogues, and cholagogues bring the flow of bile into the duodenum. Bile salts are effective in increasing the production of bile. Fatty foods, such as cream, egg yolk stimulate the release of bile. Hepatic bile is alkaline, but once concentrated in the bladder it turns acidic.
The liver plays an important role in the formation of gallstones. The easiest way to prevent or cure gallstones is the formation of healthy bile. Bile is the only solution powerful enough to dissolve gallstones in a matter of hours. So, when treating gallstones, treating the liver is essential. Liver health is improved with the lipotropic factors, SAMe and sylmarin. B6 and magnesium is often used to dissolve gallstones.
Back to the digestive process, most of the carbohydrates are assimilated in the duodenum, most of the proteins are assimilated in the form of aminos. The last destination in the small intestine is the ileum. From the ileum, the small intestine enters the large intestine, or the colon. Absorption is the main function of the large intestine, and storing fecal matter for expulsion. The colon is dependent on healthy bacteria – lactobacilli, vitamin K which synthesizes into lactobacilli also resides in the large intestine.
Emotions have a huge impact on ‘being regular’. Daily and healthy bowel movements are important for a healthy mind.
Not being able to ‘release’, holding back emotions can influence the release of feces. And constipation can make a person even more irritable or apathetic. This roller coaster of digestive problem – emotions can create a vicious cycle. Constipation creates irritability, irritability can create constipation.
Secretions by the large intestine are alkaline. Lastly, the feces are excreted by the anus cavity.
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