You are NOT what you eat…

You are what you:

• Eat:  If you don’t eat it, then it’s not going to do anything for you.  But there’s way more to it than that.
• Digest:  Without digestion, that apple is just going to work it’s way down the tunnel through your body (you do know that we’re all basically just a giant doughnut, right?) and pop out of the other end in exactly the same state, having achieved nothing in the process.  It needs to be digested so that it can…
• Absorb:  What’s the point of eating something if you’re not able to physically absorb it into the body?  It needs to be digested small enough so that it can pass through the membrane in the gut and into the bloodstream.  Now things are REALLY starting to move!
• Convert:  An apple isn’t much good as an apple, it needs to be broken down into it’s constituent parts (digestion) and then (once absorbed) converted into a form that the body can use.  Sometimes this step and the previous one are reversed, as the gut bacteria sometimes do the conversion for us, before we even absorb it.  Sometimes there’s a whole chain of processes needed to convert one thing into it’s usable form – if any one of these processes get’s derailed, it can bring the whole process to a grinding halt.
• Get past the cell membrane:  This whole process is a total waste of time if the constituent parts aren’t able to cross our cell membranes to work their magic.  This is where they’re needed to repair, produce energy, etc.

But even this isn’t the end of the rainbow…

Everything in the body is connected and has an influence on digestion.  What about heart health?  Without a healthy, oxygenated blood supply, nothing will be nourished and able to function optimally.  What about all of the waste products created during our bodily processes (including those described above)?  These need to be detoxified through healthy detoxification organs like the liver, kidneys, colon, etc.  How about a healthy thyroid (the accelerator pedal for the body) so that everything is working at the correct speed and in unison with each other?  I could go on…. everything is linked and it’s a truly symbiotic relationship, with each process supporting each other.  Food is only the beginning….