Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1922-03-01
THE DIGESTIVE PROCESS

Digestion begins in the mouth.
There the food is crushed and It's
fbers separated by the teeth, 1t IS
moistened by the saliva and suostan-
ces in the saliva begin chemical ace,
ion upon the starch. Chewing shou!u
be sufficient to reduce the food to a
soft mass well moistened with saliva.
Slow eating is desirable but the en-
phasis should be placed on thorough
chewing. For instance, long inter
walls between bites are of no special
benefit If mouthfuls of food are flashed
down by swallows Of water.
After it has been swallowed tae
food passes into the stomach and re-.
mains there for variable length o.
time while it undergoes further pre-
tiveparation for absorption. Some d.
gestlon of proteids goes on in the stom-
and a little absorption through the
walls, but the most important part OF
digestion takes place in the small IN
tcstine into which the food IS discharg-
ed little by little from the stomach
and where it is acted upon and chang
ed by the various digestive hulds,
Absorption from the small lntestiheo
takes place when the food has been SO
changed that it can soak through the
intestinal walls into the blood ana
lymph vessels which carry the digest
ed food substances may be stored as
fat or expelled from the BODY.
AS the blood and lymph go through
IL al trn Thorn
fuge, or the part that remains after
the fuel substances have been con-
sumed. Shis refuse from the tissues
may be likened to the ashes from a
furnace; it is finally eliminated from
from the body through the kidneys
and lungs, and to some extent through
the skin and bowels. The part OF me
food that is not digested OF course
never soaks through the Intestinal
walls but is expelled through the bow
els.
It must be remembered that the DO
DIV is not nourished merely by sWai-
lowing food; in order to nourlsh the
BODY must also be digested, absorbed
and made to use Of by the tissues
Many, factors may operate botn IN
health and in sickness to render toou
indigestable. 1t may be originally I'M
suited to the human digestive appara-
tus or spoiled or poor in quality OF
badly cooked. But even when whole
some in itself, it may be i'll adapted
to particular time. Moreover per.
sons own idiosyncrasy or manner OF
living or fatigue or illness may rem
der it especially indigestible for him.
Experiments have shown that, fear,
worry and other unpleasant emotions
actually stop the action Of the dlges-
tive juices and check muscular con-
fractions of the small intestines. Fur
thermore, even the absence Of pleasant
anticipation of food has been known to
delay digestion for hours. Thus scl"n-
tific knowledge confirms our common
experience that such mental states
seriously interfere with dlgestlrn.
The converse is also true. Agreeable
taste in food, pleasant orod or erc:l
the pleasurable thought Of it, start
the secretion of the digestive fluids.
1t is a. common saying that the mouth
waters at the prospect of inviting fooG,
but it is less we'll known that apre-
tizing food does actually start the
stomach juices also. e person who
understands the physiological effecs
that the emotions have upon digestion
is in far better frame of mind to
cope successfully with the difficulties
of feeding the sick than one who con-
siders tick persons likes and dlslikcs
and entirely irrational.