COPD & Emphysema Support Group
COPD is a progressive disease characterized by airflow obstruction or limitation. Emphysema is characterized by loss of elasticity of the lung tissue, destruction of structures supporting the alveoli and of capillaries feeding the alveoli. Both have symptoms that include shortness of breath, among other respiratory troubles. If you are a COPD or Emphysema sufferer, join...
Process of Digestion and Utilization of Food
The digestive tract is a continuous tube that runs through your body from the mouth to the anus, with a number of separate, specialized sections. Its purpose is to take in and process water and foodstuffs, and to extract from them the nutrients needed for life and health. For its entire length, the inside of this tube is coated with a mucous membrane (to protect and lubricate it) and contains a generous supply of minute blood vessels that carry away the nutrients and water, to organs and tissues that await their delivery.
Humans are omnivores, meaning they are equipped to eat a variety of foods, including meats, grains, and fibers. Each part of our digestive tract, from our lips and teeth to our colons, is designed to accommodate and process a varied diet. But the stuff we eat must be digested before it can be utilized. That means it must be reduced to a water-soluble state in order to pass through the wall of the "tube" into the blood stream. The stuff we cannot digest (make water-soluble) is excreted as feces.
Digestion begins in the mouth, when food comes in contact with saliva. As you chew (to reduce the food to more-quickly-digestible bits) enzymes in the saliva begin the process of converting starch to sugar, and breaking down other complex molecules. Once swallowed, the food goes to the stomach, where it gets an acid bath and a thorough churning and soaking, further reducing the physical size of the bits and simplifying their chemical complexity before handing the mixture off to the small intestine.
Most digestion occurs in the small intestine: started by enzymes and stomach acids, the process is continued by friendly "micro flora" bacteria that convert fats, proteins, and some portions of fibers or bones, to water-soluble molecules. These molecules can then pass through the walls of the blood vessels and enter the blood stream. Once in the blood stream, these nutrients are available to every organ and muscle in the body, where they can be used for a variety of purposes.
Some "foodstuffs," such as sugar, table salt, alcohol, and caffeine, are readily soluble in water and require little digestion before entering the blood stream. In fact you can often feel the effect of ingesting them within a minute or 2 or swallowing. Fats, proteins, and fibers are chemically and physically more complex and take longer to digest.
Its a wonderful system, able to accept all manner of foods and extract from them the stuff the body needs to survive and to thrive. But that is childs play, compared to the system that delivers and uses those nutrients.
Your body needs nutrients to support the daily activity of living, and to repair the normal wear and tear to the structure and the machinery, and to feed the systems that defend it from infections and things that would damage it. Some of these organs will use the stuff to remanufacture proteins, fats, fibers, and other non-soluble compounds needed to maintain your health; excess nutrients will be converted to fat and stored.
Sound like a waste of energy? It is, but its necessary. If it were different, the body would lose its ability to move its resources around quickly and to use them where they are most urgently needed: fats couldn't be burned for energy, nor could they be stored as reserves, and vegetable proteins couldn't be substituted for animal protein when the hunter returned empty-handed. Believe me, it works better this way, even though you have little control over it.
And you have precious little control. Your brain, with its auto pilots, senses your bodys needs and sets the priorities. Your brain, heart, lungs, and the regulatory glands get first crack at everything. If you are in danger, emergency supplies may be rushed to the legs and arms, and the digestive system will be told to shut down. Under normal circumstances, the repair of bone and muscle goes on, twenty-four hours a day, but during long periods of stress, (such as a major illness) there may be a shortage of some building materials, or fuels, and maintenance is deferred, causing you to incur atrophy and erosion.
But, you do have some control, and you must use it, if you are to best manage your disease. You can regulate your diet to optimize your bodys supply of essential nutrients, and you can exercise regularly to help maintain a balance in its utilization of those nutrients.
This is long so I am breaking it up into several posts.
The second part will talk about Special Dietary Needs of COPD Patients.
Love and Hugs, to all,
Holly
The digestive tract is a continuous tube that runs through your body from the mouth to the anus, with a number of separate, specialized sections. Its purpose is to take in and process water and foodstuffs, and to extract from them the nutrients needed for life and health. For its entire length, the inside of this tube is coated with a mucous membrane (to protect and lubricate it) and contains a generous supply of minute blood vessels that carry away the nutrients and water, to organs and tissues that await their delivery.
Humans are omnivores, meaning they are equipped to eat a variety of foods, including meats, grains, and fibers. Each part of our digestive tract, from our lips and teeth to our colons, is designed to accommodate and process a varied diet. But the stuff we eat must be digested before it can be utilized. That means it must be reduced to a water-soluble state in order to pass through the wall of the "tube" into the blood stream. The stuff we cannot digest (make water-soluble) is excreted as feces.
Digestion begins in the mouth, when food comes in contact with saliva. As you chew (to reduce the food to more-quickly-digestible bits) enzymes in the saliva begin the process of converting starch to sugar, and breaking down other complex molecules. Once swallowed, the food goes to the stomach, where it gets an acid bath and a thorough churning and soaking, further reducing the physical size of the bits and simplifying their chemical complexity before handing the mixture off to the small intestine.
Most digestion occurs in the small intestine: started by enzymes and stomach acids, the process is continued by friendly "micro flora" bacteria that convert fats, proteins, and some portions of fibers or bones, to water-soluble molecules. These molecules can then pass through the walls of the blood vessels and enter the blood stream. Once in the blood stream, these nutrients are available to every organ and muscle in the body, where they can be used for a variety of purposes.
Some "foodstuffs," such as sugar, table salt, alcohol, and caffeine, are readily soluble in water and require little digestion before entering the blood stream. In fact you can often feel the effect of ingesting them within a minute or 2 or swallowing. Fats, proteins, and fibers are chemically and physically more complex and take longer to digest.
Its a wonderful system, able to accept all manner of foods and extract from them the stuff the body needs to survive and to thrive. But that is childs play, compared to the system that delivers and uses those nutrients.
Your body needs nutrients to support the daily activity of living, and to repair the normal wear and tear to the structure and the machinery, and to feed the systems that defend it from infections and things that would damage it. Some of these organs will use the stuff to remanufacture proteins, fats, fibers, and other non-soluble compounds needed to maintain your health; excess nutrients will be converted to fat and stored.
Sound like a waste of energy? It is, but its necessary. If it were different, the body would lose its ability to move its resources around quickly and to use them where they are most urgently needed: fats couldn't be burned for energy, nor could they be stored as reserves, and vegetable proteins couldn't be substituted for animal protein when the hunter returned empty-handed. Believe me, it works better this way, even though you have little control over it.
And you have precious little control. Your brain, with its auto pilots, senses your bodys needs and sets the priorities. Your brain, heart, lungs, and the regulatory glands get first crack at everything. If you are in danger, emergency supplies may be rushed to the legs and arms, and the digestive system will be told to shut down. Under normal circumstances, the repair of bone and muscle goes on, twenty-four hours a day, but during long periods of stress, (such as a major illness) there may be a shortage of some building materials, or fuels, and maintenance is deferred, causing you to incur atrophy and erosion.
But, you do have some control, and you must use it, if you are to best manage your disease. You can regulate your diet to optimize your bodys supply of essential nutrients, and you can exercise regularly to help maintain a balance in its utilization of those nutrients.
This is long so I am breaking it up into several posts.
The second part will talk about Special Dietary Needs of COPD Patients.
Love and Hugs, to all,
Holly
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