Question

What steps can you take to help your GI tract function at its best?

Answer 1

Some ideas are below:

Explanation:

The GI tract is an abbreviation for the Gastro-Intestinal Tract, which is the fancy name for the Digestive System. What steps can be taken to help it function at its best?

• The digestive process starts with the teeth and saliva. The teeth break down food into smaller bits (so that the stomach has less work to do in turning it into a slurry) and saliva, apart from being a lubricant to help get food down the oesophagus and into the stomach, is also full of an enzyme that starts the process of breaking down starches into simpler sugars.

• Help by chewing your food fully

• The stomach takes the chewed up food and applies both mechanical action (through churning) and chemical action (hydrochloric acid, among other chemicals) to turn the food into a slurry (essentially a liquid) that can then be processed in the intestines.

• Help by avoiding drinking acidic drinks (such as sodas), especially on an empty stomach

• The slurry from the stomach passes through the duodenum, where it is subjected to enzymes from the pancreas (to change the pH from acidic to basic - which is where the intestines work best) and the liver (in the form of bile, which begins the process of digesting fats), among other enzymes, and then enters the small intestine.

• Inside the small intestine, a vast array of microorganisms (sometimes called the "gut flora") process the slurry. Amino acids (the building blocks of proteins), vitamins, and minerals are absorbed through gaps in the cell walls.

• Help the gut flora by providing it food in the form of dietary fibre from fruits and vegetables

• Similar processes occur in the large intestine but focus on reclamation of bile and other enzymes and absorption of water. Everything not absorbed is then excreted.

• And of course, the cells of the entire system is fed nutrients via the Circulatory System and wastes removed via the Lymphatic System.

• Help by eating healthy food, drinking water, and breathing clean air.