What happens to my food ?
I swallow my food. It passes from my mouth down a tube called the
esophagus. By the time I count to eight, the food enters my stomach. Now
it is on its way to being changed so my body can use it.
My stomach goes on with the job my teeth began. It squeezes and mixes
and mashes the food. It breaks the food down into even smaller pieces.
And it adds more juices to the food. These juices help to make the food
soft.
After about two to five hours, the food moves down into my small
intestine. Here, other juices, called enzymes, are added to the food.
This changes the food so that my cells can use it.
Soon, the food is no longer hamburger, beans, or apple. It has been
broken down, or digested, into very tiny bits called molecules. These
molecules are so small they can pass through the walls of my intestine
and into my blood. My blood then carries them to my cells.
Food my body can’t use passes from my small intestine into another long
tube called the large intestine. At the end of the large intestine is
the rectum. From there, solid food waste leaves my body.
