Enter Enzymes
How is the food broken up? Inside your body are chemicals called enzymes. There are lots of different kinds of enzymes and each kind has it's own job. Some pull the big proteins out of food. Others break those proteins down into smaller pieces. There are enzymes that can only breakdown carbohydrates and others that go after fats. Your body uses more than twelve different enzymes to digest a typical meal. It's great to have so many different enzymes in our bodies because they allow us to eat and digest different kinds of food. Enzymes are found all through your digestive system -- some in the mouth, some in the stomach, others in your intestines.

It's Saliva!
Have you ever noticed that just thinking about something yummy can make your mouth water, or that your stomach gurgles when you're hungry. Those are signs that your body is getting ready to digest the food that may soon enter through your mouth. Saliva is the watery stuff in your mouth. It's mostly water, but has a few enzymes in it as well. The saliva enzymes break down carbohydrates (foods like bread, pasta, potatoes, cereals, pancakes, tortillas, etc.). Chewing helps breakdown the food and mixes it with the saliva, starting the digestion process and making the food easier to swallow.

Bolus Abounds
Food travels from your mouth down a tube (called the esophagus) to your stomach. While the food is in the esophagus it has a special name -- bolus. So when you've taken too big a bite -- or swallow a vitamin without water and it gets caught in your throat (you know the feeling -- the pressure builds and is only relieved by taking a big swig of water -- then you feel it move down slowly towards your stomach) you can point to your neck and say "my bolus is stuck!"

Chyme Time!
Your stomach has muscles that churn the food until it becomes a creamy liquid mass called chyme (pronounced kime). The stomach has strong acids and enzymes that help break down the food. Carbohydrates pass through the stomach the fastest, followed by proteins, and then fats. That's why if you eat pancakes, which are mostly carbohydrates, for breakfast, you will likely become hungry again sooner than if you eat eggs which are protein.

Chyme passes from the stomach into the small intestine where more enzymes are released. These enzymes break the food down to its smallest size. The food is absorbed from the small intestine into the bloodstream.

Who Passed the Gas?
Whatever is left over moves into the large intestine. The large intestine soaks up most of the left over water. There are different kinds of bacteria that live in the large intestine and feed off of the remaining food the body doesn't need. Sometimes the food in the large intestines has carbohydrates left in it because the body couldn't digest them well. This usually happens when you eat something like beans, broccoli, or sometimes dairy products. While the bacteria eat up the carbohydrates, they give off methane and other gases. Those are the gases that make you fart!

And So It Ends
Whatever is left after the bacteria are finished eating, passes from your large intestine to your rectum and out of your body -- usually into a toilet. And there you have it!