We are What we Eat

We have all heard the saying, “we are what we eat". Before I took HCS 208 at Ashford University I never fully understood how true this saying really was. The food we eat and the human body are both made up of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and minerals; they are just arranged in different ways. Every aspect of our body uses these nutrients to function. Nutrients can be broken down into six different classes which fall under two categories; macronutrients and micronutrients.  Macronutrients include: carbohydrates, protein, fats, and water.  Micronutrients include: vitamins and minerals (Sizer, et al, 2014). 

The most often depleted nutrient is water and therefore has the highest recommended replenishment rate. Water helps out every function in the body, but like any other nutrient you are capable of consuming too much.  To learn more about proper water consumption and how to prevent over consumption visit here. 

The three nutrients that yield energy are carbohydrates, protein, and fat.  This energy is essential to allow us to live, work, and keep moving. While protein can be made available for energy, our body tends to us carbohydrates and fats first.  Protein's primary function is to assist with building material used to repair and develop working parts of body tissue (Sizer, 2014).  

Vitamins and minerals are other essential nutrients our bodies need to properly function. Vitamins and minerals can be found in the foods we eat (exception vitamin D can also come from sunlight), not just in the supplement isle of the grocery store. Supplements should only be taken if a physician has identified that you suffer from a deficiency. Vitamins and minerals assist with digestion, moving and repairing muscles, healing injuries and every other vital function of the body (Sizer, 2013). 

Our digestive tract has evolved to support our specific diet.  It was designed to breakdown and process essential nutrients and energy the human body needs to function (The Digestive System, 2014).  Human beings are omnivores and our digestion process supports this diet type, allowing it to maximize the amount of nutrient absorption our body consumes (Martin, 2006).  Our digestive tract starts with the mouth, our salivary gland coats consumed nutrients as our teeth are grind it down to portion sizes easy to swallow. Different enzymes are used that match the type of nutrients we consume, assisting with their proper breakdown. Swallowed nutrients pass through the esophagus and enter into the stomach, which is a very effective breakdown machine.  It uses acid, enzymes and fluid to mix and break down nutrients into a liquid mass. After the nutrients passes through two stomach chambers it is slowly process through the small intestine.  Here additional enzymes help digest the carbohydrates, fat and protein, while the cell lining absorbs essential nutrients into our blood. Next stop for our consumed meal is the large intestine or colon; here is where water and minerals are reabsorbed. What is left is passed through the rectum and out the anus as waste (Sizer, et al, 2014). 

Throughout this process other important parts of the body aid in the digestive process.  The liver creates bile that aids with the digestion of fats, the gallbladder then stores and moves this bile and the pancreatic duct helps to neutralize stomach acid and breakdown the energy yielding nutrients (Sizer, et al, 2014).  

References

Martin, B. (2006).  How Digestion Works. Total Health, 28(3), 44-51. Retrieved from

EBSCOhost

Sizer, F.,Whitney, E. (2013).  Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies (13th ed.).  Mason, OH:

Cengage Learning.

The Digestive System. Viewed (14 April, 2014). YouTube. Retrieved from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s06XzaKqELk