Hello! My name is Mrs. Carrot and YOU are going to follow me on this amazing journey through the digestive system! First, as you see here, I enter through the mouth and I am chewed up by the teeth. after the salivary glands start pumping out saliva (spit) before the food reaches your mouth...maybe that's why before eating good food you start to drool! as you eat, the saliva mixes with me to create a lump of soft food
with the help of the tongue, I am swallowed and go down this tube called the pharynx and the epiglottis closes off the windpipe so food is not accidentally inhaled. from there, the food slides down the esophagus into the stomach- our next destination.
Once in the stomach, hormones tell the stomach walls to release acid that breaks down the lump of food into a liquid called chyme. The hormones also alert the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas to start creating bile.
Once I am there, I enter the small intestine the liver sends bile to the gallbladder, which holds it until I arrive. Tiny projections called villi will absorb my molecules and the leftover fiber, water and cells enter the large intestine
Then I go through the large intestine or the colon. The colon drains out most of the fluid through the intestinal walls. this leaves a soft mass called stool.
The large intestines deposits me in a small pouch where I am held called the rectum until I leave the body through the anus. this is the long process that the body goes through over and over when you eat. this process takes about 30-40 hours. Well, that's all for today! see you next time for another adventure!