How Digestion Works

 

When we eat, our stomachs make hydrochloric acid (HCL).  This stomach acid, as it is often called, has a pH of around 0.8.  The pH scale goes from zero to fourteen.  Zero means acidity to the max.  Fourteen means alkalinity to the max.

 

When contents of the stomach (what we eat and drink) are mixed with this stomach acid, that combination will ideally have a pH between 2.0 and 3.0, which is still very acidic.  The acidic product created by mixing stomach acid with the food you eat then goes into the duodenum (first ten inches of the small intestine).  The other half of the digestive process comes from the bile that is produced by your liver.  (I say “half” loosely because there are other factors that contribute to digestion that are not important for this explanation.  But for the most part, the main factors in digestion are the acid created in the stomach and the bile produced by the liver.)  Between meals, bile is stored in the gallbladder where it is concentrated up to 18 times.  When acid product from the stomach moves into the duodenum, bile from the gallbladder is dropped onto this acid product.  In the same way that HCL is acidic, bile is alkaline (which is the opposite of acidic).

 

Bile meeting stomach acid is like dropping baking soda onto vinegar, just like at least one sixth grader does every year when he makes his version of a volcano for his science fair project.  In fact, you should try that now.  You don’t need to build the whole volcano, but you can put a little bowl in your kitchen sink, put a couple teaspoons of baking soda in the bowl, and then slowly pour in a little vinegar.  You’ll hear a sizzle and see it start to foam up.  C’mon, really do it!  All the cool kids are doing it.  It’s a great visualization of what can happen when two substances with opposite pHs meet.

 

This is the magic of digestion.  When the body drops bile onto the contents that come from the stomach, you get a sizzle, and this is what you’re living on.  This is what makes everything that was in the food break apart and become available for your body to use.  Without this sizzle, foods you eat can’t be assimilated.  Nutrients and minerals can’t be properly extracted and utilized by your body if this action is missing.  That’s why you hear so many people say, “Health is like a science fair project.”  Okay, I’ve never heard anyone say that; but if you don’t have that sizzle in your digestion, you might as well be that 12-year-old holding the volcano with an “F” on it because the damn lava didn’t come out.  You’ve got to have the sizzle.

 

If there isn’t enough stomach acid, there won’t be that sizzle.  If there isn’t enough bile to drop down onto the food that was mixed with the stomach acid, there won’t be that sizzle.  In order for digestion to work properly, every step of that process has to be active.  Otherwise, instead of a sizzle, you get more of a fizzle; and you may break down just a very small portion of your food, or your food will partially break down by processes of rotting and fermenting.  This rotting and fermenting creates chemical reactions and gases that can cause bloating, burping, nausea, bad breath, upset stomach, and all kinds of other non-fun stuff.  Have you ever been around someone who had breath that smelled like a garbage can?  Most people look at bad breath as a dental hygiene issue, and it can be; but more often than not it’s a situation of, “I have food rotting in my stomach and intestines and the stench it creates is coming out of my mouth.”  Yes, I know you’ve met that guy.

 

This repulsive rotting of last night’s dinner can also be the reason you don’t feel like eating the next morning.  Many of you who always skip breakfast truly have no appetite when you wake up.  Some people are even nauseous because last night’s dinner still hasn’t fully digested.  Their bodies are telling them, “Look, I haven’t finished dealing with this garbage you sent down here last night, please don’t dump anything else on top of it.”  By improving digestion, your morning appetite can also improve.