What Happens To Food After You Eat It?

An easy to understand overview of the digestive process.

Regardless of how healthy a food may be without being properly digested, it can be quite harmful to your body.

Food in its undigested form is not recognized by your body. It’s the broken-down nutrients within that our bodies need. This is why your digestive system, even though inside you, is designed to be sealed and self-contained in order to protect you from:

• possible parasites.
• powerful chemicals and acids required to digest food.
• undigested food that if leaked into your body will cause issues.

So, what the heck happens between the time you swallow food and when it’s converted into tiny molecules for your body to safely use as energy? Here is a short overview of what happens to food after you eat it throughout the process of digestion. By the way, this can take up to 2 days…

Stage 1 | Brain And Mouth, Soak And Grind

Average Duration: chew time + roughly 6 seconds to slide down the esophagus.

As soon as you smell, think about, or see food. Your brain primes the body for digestion by preparing the organs to do their jobs in transforming food into nutrients. Once food enters the mouth the act of chewing helps to:

• chop food and make it’s nutrients accessible throughout further digestion.
• soak food in saliva and enzymes to pre-digest and slide down to the stomach.
• remove oxygen from food… Possibly eliminating the need to burp later?

Once the art of chewing has been completed and you swallow your food. There is a “trap door” called the epiglottis that automatically closes to allow food to safely enter the esophagus and not your windpipes. I have had mine fail before…

Another thing worth mentioning here is as you swallow, your tonsils scan the incoming food for foreign bacteria. If they discover something potentially harmful coming down, they will alert your immune system to arm up its defences. Basically, your tonsils are like a private detective for your immune system.

Fun Fact: The muscles in your esophagus that squeeze food down to the stomach are so strong that they can push food downwards even if you somehow happen to be upside down!

Stage 2 | The Stomach, Defending and Digesting

Average Duration: 3 - 5 hours to empty through small portions.

Although the stomach is the first location of the digestive system that gets loaded with food, it doesn’t actually absorb any nutrients from it. Its job is to purely break down (digest) what you ate, before sending the remaining liquid into the small intestines below for absorption.

Once food enters the stomach from the esophagus, a valve on the top called the lower esophageal sphincter will close off to seal it inside. The stomach then begins to liquefy the food into a substance called chyme through lots of squeezing and chemical warfare. Also, due to the highly acidic environment of your stomach, any unwanted bacteria that enters along with food should be destroyed here…. Hopefully.

Although the stomach is mainly for breaking down and not absorbing food, a few exceptions can leak through into the bloodstream quickly. Such as salts, waters, simple sugars, and alcohol. Makes sense, as it has never taken me a few hours to get tipsy. If it did, this could be a disaster…

Fun Fact: Inside the stomach is so acidic that it requires a thick coating of mucus to ensure that it does not digest itself… Ouch!

Stage 3 | The Small Intestines, Absorption

Average Duration: 2 - 6 hours.

Imagine traveling through a long tunnel with walls made from countless fingers gripping at you, sounds scary, doesn’t it? Welcome to the small intestines, a 20-ish foot-long pipe that surprisingly fits inside your midsection. This is where your body finally begins to absorb nutrients from food. However, it doesn’t work alone!

With the assistance of chemicals and enzymes provided by the gallbladder and pancreas, the small intestines continue to further break down and transport liquified food from the stomach. Allowing those finger-like grips called villi to grab as many nutrients as they can along the way. Leaving any indigestible leftovers to pass on further into the large intestine.

How The Small Intestines Absorb Nutrients

Nutrients such as carbohydrates (now simple sugars) and proteins (now amino acids). Once absorbed by the intestinal walls, are sent to the liver for toxic cleanup. Fats on the other hand, first travel through the lymphatic system up to the heart before being pumped back into the liver. This is why it’s crucial to avoid toxic fats as much as possible, including:

• vegetable oils.
• oil that is overheated and oxidized.
• and re-used oils…

Once these bad fats enter the heart and bloodstream, they cause all sorts of damage along the way. However, do not fear eating healthy fats, as these are extremely beneficial for your brain, heart, and even metabolism! A few examples of good fats would be:

• extra virgin olive oil.
• fatty fish (omega 3s).
• avocados…

Fun Fact: the surface area of the small intestines is the equivalent of a tennis court.

Stage 4 | The Large Intestine, Bacteria and Waste

Average Duration: 16 - 40 hours.

The large intestine is the last key step in this journey throughout the digestive system. This is where the indigestible leftovers are either prepared for elimination or further digested with the help of some very special workers living inside you known as the gut flora.

The gut flora, a colony of microorganisms living inside the gut, have the unique ability to digest what our own human enzymes cannot! Cool right!? A healthy balance of this good bacteria helps to support digestion and even strengthen the immune system. 70% of which lives in the gut, the remaining 30% is located in your bloodstream.

After your large intestine has finished digestion, it’s time to grab a book and get comfortable, as we all know what happens next…

Fun Fact: the large intestine helps to balance your body’s hydration by reabsorbing water, salt, and electrolytes that where needed throughout digestion from what passes through.

Stage 5 | The Poop Reflex, Trapdoor Effect

Average Duration: depends on the book you’re reading…

The subject of poop is rather sensitive for some. However, I find the fact that it is sealed inside you behind two trap doors rather fascinating! Here’s how it works.

When waste is ready to exit the body, it knocks against trapdoor one called the internal sphincter. At this point, if it chooses to open up and allow this lovely guest through. The waste then proceeds to knock on the second trapdoor called the external sphincter. Luckily you can control when this one opens or when to leave it closed.

Throughout all of this “door knocking”, a natural reflex within the body called the defecation reflex is triggered. Sending a message up to your brain allowing you to make the conscious decision to either relax and clear out, or remain closed off as the timing may not be quite convenient…

Fun Fact: aside from what you ate, your poop consists of roughly 50% dead cells and bacteria scraped from the intestinal walls!

HOW DIGESTION WORKS — REVIEW

As you can see, what happens to food after you eat it involves much more beyond simply chewing and swallowing. However, each stage is crucial for the safe absorption of nutrients into your cells for energy and repair.

Here‘s a quick list to review what happens to food after you eat it.

1. Brain and Mouth : activate the digestive system and begin to break apart food.
2. The Stomach: eliminate parasites and liquify food for easier absorption.
3. Small Intestines: the main area of nutrient absorption.
4. Large Intestines: digest the leftovers and prepare food for exit.
5. Poop: the best time to read a good book. Or another article?

Now that you understand what happens to food after you eat it and how the digestive system works. If you wish to improve your digestion easily at your next meal, you should check out my post on 7 easy tips to improve digestion.