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How is the Food Digested?

来源:中国数字科技馆

How;is;the;Food;Digested?

Source of pictures: pixabay.com

In the morning, Daniel's mother came back with a bag of stuff. A sweet smell greeted his nose. He curiously asked what she has bought. His mother put the bag on the kitchen table, and took out a paper bag. "Newly-baked sweet potatoes. Have a try!" she handed it to him. Daniel took the still-warm baked sweet potatoes happily. He sniffed it with closed eyes and said, 'It smells so nice!"

Mom hurried to deal with food materials, and reminded him not to eat too much in case of bloating.

"Ok." Daniel nodded his head and sat on the chair. Peeling, blowing, he slowly bit the sweet potato. They are softer than cakes. He felt they were getting more and more delicious. After finishing all the work, his mother walked to him. She also wanted to have one, only finding there were only two left. She was surprised, and then looked at Daniel and asked, "You have eaten three at a sitting, is your stomach feeling alright?"

Daniel rubbed his swollen belly and said, "It's so yummy."

Mom didn't allow him to eat any more. She was worried that he would not have lunch after eating so many baked sweet potatoes.

Daniel could only watch his mother enjoying the meal. He was too full to eat anything. He loved the feeling of having delicious and soft sweet potatoes stuffed into his mouth.

At lunch time, Daniel stared at the delicious dishes on the table. However, he was unable to eat anything. He felt repentant for eating too many sweet potatoes. Mom gave him digestion tablets as David felt uncomfortable for bloating. He didn't feel hungry even in the evening and still didn't want to eat anything. Then his mother asked him to eat a few of tablets before going to bed.

When Daniel woke up the next day, he felt that his stomach is empty. Finally, he felt hungry. He got out of bed and went to the kitchen quickly. His appetite returned at the sight of soybean milk and steamed stuffed buns prepared by his mother. He took a bite of the steamed stuffed bun and felt it tasted better than ever. He looked like a greedy cat. His mother grinned at him and said, "I didn't expect three baked sweet potatoes could make you feel full for a whole day. Now you are hungry, so everything is delicious to you."

Daniel was sipping his soybean milk. He nodded vigorously and said that he would never eat so many baked sweet potatoes at a time again.

 "The amount of cellulose in the sweet potato is relatively high." His mother explained, "Although you eat the same weight of sweet potatoes and rice, you don't feel the same. The sweet potatoes make you feel full easily, and the cellulose stays in the stomach longer. Normally, food can take 4 to 5 hours to empty out of the stomach, but the sweet potatoes take more time."

Daniel asked in curiosity, “How many things can our stomach hold? Yesterday, my stomach was filled with three baked sweet potatoes. I couldn't eat anything else at all."

His mother replied, "Your stomach is like a balloon. When you are hungry, your stomach is very small. And you can eat 1.5 liters of food at most. However, if you eat too much, you will get bloated and uncomfortable."

"Is digestion totally done by stomach?"

"Of course not. Digestion isn't an easy job. There are two processes for digestion. One is mechanical digestion and the other is chemical digestion. Mechanical digestion is to break food into small pieces to make them move more smoothly in digestive tract, by chewing with teeth and peristalsis of stomach and intestines. The whole process is like making juice with juice extractor. Chemical digestion is to break down the macromolecule in food into micro-molecules with digestive enzyme, which is secreted by the digestive tract. For example, when you eat sweet potatoes, the digestive enzyme will break down the starch in them into glucose for your body to absorb easily. Many digestion processes are mainly carried out in the stomach and small intestine."

Daniel didn't expect digestion is so complicated. He decided not to eat food at will anymore 

Author: Huang Jing

本文来自:中国数字科技馆
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