Let’s Start At The Beginning…
Did you know that digestion begins in the mouth?
The action of chewing does so much more than just break down big food pieces into smaller ones.
In our mouths there are three large salivary glands and numerous smaller ones.
The largest of these glands is the Parotid Gland that is located in our upper cheek area near our ears with the ducts opening near our molars.
The submandibular glands are under the jaws and open behind our lower front teeth.
The sublingual glands are beneath our tongue and open into the floor of our mouth.
There are actually hundreds of smaller salivary glands interspersed around our mouth, lips, inner cheeks, sinuses, and throat all producing and releasing saliva.
The salivary glands produce not just saliva but mucous as well.
Saliva is a clear fluid made up of water and proteins that also includes the digestive enzyme amylase.
The mucous is a thicker slimier liquid.
Saliva has different roles from keeping the mucous membranes in the mouth from drying out, to moistening our food for chewing and swallowing, to mixing the enzyme amylase in with the masticated food.
The saliva also protects our teeth from decay.
The mucous from the submandibular and sublingual glands helps to lubricate the foods we ingest as well as to bind the foods as we chew them. The mucous holds the chewed food into a slippery mass coating it as to make it easier to pass down the esophagus on its journey to the stomach without harming the esophagus.
Not only does the saliva mix in the enzyme amylase which begins digestion of starches breaking them down into a sugar called maltose, it also makes dry food more soluble so that our taste buds can detect the flavors.
There is one more process that begins in the mouth and that is the process of elimination.
As we chew we are stimulating the peristaltic movement of the large intestines. A message is being sent that more food is coming in so make room and dump the waste that is ready to be evacuated.
There are so many things that can get in the way of nature’s digestive process from eating too fast to not chewing well enough.
I remember an old saying: “Chew your Drink and Drink your food!”
For anyone with a sensitive digestive system the foods we combine in a meal can make a huge difference.
Mixing protein, starches, and fruits in one meal can create havoc in this digestive process.
Drinking with our meals washes down food particles that have not yet been chewed sufficiently and mixed with enough of the saliva/mucous combination.
It also cools the digestive fires in the stomach needed for the digestive process.
Understanding how our bodies’ work is so helpful in knowing how to care for ourselves with such basic and daily tasks as eating a meal.
Together Our Hands Are Joined To Heal One Another…
Alexander Gardener
The Lymph Guy
thelymphguy.com
thelymphguy@gmail.com
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