Digestion.

Everyone eats. So everyone does a really cool process called digestion. Question #1, Where do you think the majority of digestion happens? I bet 95% of you just said "The Stomach of course!" WRONG. 1 word for you. Duodenum. This little guy is your best friend. He is doing nearly ALL the work. He's located in the upper section of your small intestine, right after the tumtum. Your stomach is really, well, it's like a fondue pot of hydrochloric acid! The esophagus allows the food to move down into the stomach, by peristalsis and then the main function of the stomach is to just kill any pathogens that may have been left on the food. The good ol' Pancreas then comes into action and squirts out all its lipases and proteases and amylases and any other digestive aids that it stores in the form of chemicals. The pancreas may not be where all these great helpers are made, but they are all sent there to live and wait to be put into action. This chyme (gooey mess that once resembled food) moves on through the small intestine where it must be neutralized with sodium bicarbonate, yes the same thing that you use in baking, Bicarb Soda! This is because when the chyme comes from the stomach, the stomach has a pH of 1-2, HIGHLY ACIDIC. The bicarb soda brings that to a 5, neutral, so the chyme doesn't burn holes through the walls of the small intestine. As the food moves through the small intestine it is digested and the nutrients from the food is absorbed into the blood stream. What's left is a slushy icky mess that then needs to have all the liquids removed from it and you are then left with two forms of lovely excretory waste. Enjoy the way I worded that? Fantastic if you ask me! Enjoy your next meal! :)