Call for your Health

Human body is compact whole of organs of senses, brain, heart, lungs, respiratory system, urinary system, skeleton of a bony cage, blood vessels. No other organ can even function in the absence of a perfect digestive system, It is the food, rather a well-balanced and nutritious diet, that (after undergoing various metabolic changes) is required to feed the body. Let us have a close look, as to how our body’s digestive system has to undergo various processes to convert food-intake into a living force or energy to sllstain and nurture it. ‘Food’ accounts or all the edible eatables, including beverages, water, animal and sea products, meats, vegetables etc.

Food is devised to serve the body for discharging its various functions, depending on each person’s physical and work-based requirements. It is a basic principle in Ayurveda that if stomach is not in order, whole system would stand disturbed and further, if one bas got costive bowels (constipation) he will extend invitation to lot of many problems. In Nature cure also, keeping the functioning of stomach normal is a prime requisite and all efforts are directed to achieve the said end. Wrong type of diet is held mainly the cause of many ills of body. In order to rectify the wrongs done to our digestive system, people resort to taking laxatives or purgatives so that toxins are purged from the body.

Digestive Process

Our food consists of sugars, proteins, starches, fats, vitamins, oils and salts. Our system consumes and utilises only a part of the food we ingest and the rest of the useless portion thereof is expelled in the form of excreta and urine, two major excretions of the body in addition, of course, to perspiration of the body. Our teeth break the solid portion of our food into small & tiny parts when, during the course of mastication, saliva gets mixed with it, so that liquefied food is swallowed easily. The more we masticate, more the saliva mixes with the food. Saliva is an alkaline fluid which is secreted and released by salivary glands. Food, gulped down in haste, is neither masticated properly nor does it have advantage of mixing of saliva. Process of digestion of food starts from the mouth itself, from where it enters pharynx which is an expanded cavity behind mouth. Here pharynx is common to food and air passages alike. From there it slips down to the gullet which is a muscular organ and is capable of forcing the food along, as and when necessary. The usual length of gullet is around 9″ and ends up in the stomach. This ends initial stage of digestive process.

Now the food descends into the stomach which is a hollow muscular bag and is lined by a glandular mucus membrane that secrets gastric juice. Gastric juice comprises of salts, pepsin, water and hydrochloric acid. In the stomach, food is mixed and rotated, to render it in more liquefied form so as to absorb above mentioned stomach juices. Now the proteins are changed to such a form that they can pass through the wall of stomach so that it could be absorbed to nourish the system. Proteins and starches, then, get activated, even though not completely digested. Now oil and fat are also broken up to set free the oil. From the stomach the food descends to small intestine which look like a coil that measures 8.62 mtrs more than 20. Thereafter pancreatic juice, intestinal juice and bile mix up with the food which passes through the intestinal wall into lacteal and then spills over to blood.

Small intestine is divided into 3 parts viz.

Duodenam (I part of small intestines) -2.54mts Total

Jefunum (II part of small intestines) -2.43 mtrs length

Ilium (III part of small intestines) -3.65 mtrs 8.62 mtrs

Largest organ of the body is liver which weighs about 3/2 to 2 kgs. It is situated on the right side, under the diaphragm. Liver has within it, fine tubes called Bile Ducts into which bile is secreted by cells of the liver. Hepatic duct is formed by joining together of bile ducts. Now the hepatic duct carries the bile to first part of the small intestine (duodenum). Bile is yellow tinted fluid that contains bile salts and mucus. Bile acts on the fat and oil substances of the food and breaks them into small drops.

Sugar also remains stored in the liver and is gradually released into the blood stream, as and when body requires energy. In diabetes, liver is not in a position to retain sugar and quite often it releases sugar in the blood. Problem is further complicated when the pancreas also fails to release insulin. If liver has sufficient storage capacity and also releases sugar into the blood stream gradually, then the incidence of diabetes is not that grave, but is rendered graver due to insulin deficiency. In addition to insulin pancreas releases other juices that act on the proteins, fats and starches to metabolize, thus aiding further in the process of digestion.

Large intestine is a tube-shaped part, about 1.82 mtrs long and has nothing to do with the digestive process, except retaining residual part (remnants of food) of food for one or two days, after which such residue is expelled (after it hardens in the large intestine for about 24­36 hours) by way of rectum.

The whole process, from ingestion to the stage of expulsion, is carried out in such a smooth and noiseless pattern that we never know as to how faithfully and silently digestive organs of the body discharge their assigned functions in such an amazing and uniform manner. If your diet is well balanced and you neither starve nor overload your system with the food items, that are not suited to your body, you can rarely have a chance to fall ill. If, at all, you fall ill, the intensity and duration of the illness will be negligible and short-lived. On the contrary, dietary indiscreet violations, if continued for a larger period, are bound to spell disaster for you which can manifest in the form of stomach and abdomen pains, loose motions or constipation, acidity or acidic vomiting, with or without nausea/vomiting, gurgling sound, flatulence, locking of gas etc.

Remember, body has immense capacity to absorb human absurdities and irregularities, but it will surely send warning signals initially. If the initial warning signals are ignored, the results can be too horrifying to describe. So, always try to remain within confines of Nature’s laws, because nature’s kindness must never be taken for granted. Sometimes, one has to pay a very heavy price for flouting the laws ‘Of the nature with impunity. Remaining healthy should be your aim and for that your diet must measure up to your various demands on the system. It takes time to regain health. For any illness, let us search within our hearts and try to deduce and pin-point the real cause of malady and, finally, eliminating the basic cause. In most or the cases, it would often be found that the diseased state has surfaced due to wrong use of diet. Diseases relating to sensorium, heart, urinary tract, respiration arc generally attributed to our wrong life-style and ill-placed food habits, resulting in poor and sluggish digestion.