Digestion

Take time to digest this show. They say that your food is no more inside you than a pencil is inside a donut, when it's poked through the hole. Instead of the food going in you, food goes through you. But, all the energy you get to live and grow comes from your food. All the chemicals that become your body and brain as you get bigger, come from your food. You get these vital chemicals through a process called ""digestion."" Your body breaks food down and grabs all the nutrients you need from it. Then, your body gets rid of what's left over. Digestion starts in your mouth. You begin breaking food down by breaking it into pieces with your teeth and jaw muscles. Your saliva (your spit) is full of chemicals that react with the chemicals in food and make them break apart. Then you swallow. Your food goes down a tube (your esophagus) to your stomach, where powerful hydrochloric acid breaks it down further into a mushy mash we call chime (kime). From there, the chime goes in

Aired: 1993-10-22