Why do I get hungry?

Quite often, our stomach gurgles out loud for the need for food. Well, to feel hungry is a natural human response in order to satisfy the sufficient needs of the body to keep it in working condition.

But why do we actually feel hungry?

Hunger

One needs to eat food so as to give the body the requisite energy for playing, thinking, and growing; simply everything one needs to do. When the stomach is empty, a chemical inside it sends a sensory signal to the brain, reminding it that it’s time to eat.

Digestion

Only intake of food is not enough for the body to meet its functional requirements. The food we eat will be of no use until the body is able to digest it.

Digestion, in simple words, is the process where the nutrients of the food eaten get absorbed inside the body to release energy for its complete functioning.

Let us learn the various stages of digestion:

1. Pulpy Mash

This step happens inside our mouth when we use our teeth and tongue to mash food into a pulp. The tongue then pushes the pulp to the back of the throat, and we are then able to swallow it.

2. Slimy Saliva

Up next, the salivary glands present in our throats produce saliva (or spit). Saliva makes food wetter, which softens the food and makes it easier for us to swallow it further down.

3. Down the Tube

After the food is swallowed down, it reaches down towards the stomach through a long tube called the oesophagus. This tube connects the throat to the stomach directly.
It takes about 10 seconds, for the food to reach the stomach in this manner.

4.Churning Food

After reaching the stomach, the strong muscles in the stomach begin to churn the food into a creamy liquid. This makes it easier for the body to digest and absorb only the goodness of the food.

5. Food Factory

Up next is placed the liver, which begins to act like a food factory/ It makes sure that the different parts
of the food go to the right places of the body.

6. Breaking Down Fat

Fats in food are complex structures that are difficult to break down and release necessary nutrients to the body.  Hence, the gall bladder stores and releases a chemical substance called bile, that helps to break down the fat in food into tiny droplets.

7. Juice Maker

The pancreas releases digestive juice. This comprises strong chemicals that help to break down the overall food.

8. Only the goodness

The small intestine is an important site in the process, wherein is where most of the actual digestion takes place. Here, the food is broken down so that only the best and essential nutrients in food can be extracted out of it and sent around the body.

9. Waste

The large intestine then absorbs all the water from the food, leaving behind the waste food the body doesn’t need. These are called faeces.

10. Journey’s End

The faeces travels outside of the body and is excreted through a tube called the rectum,

Fun Facts

• The stomach can stretch to 20 times its size after you eat.
• The stomach is just like a bag made of muscle.

Related Questions:

1. What happens when we suffer from indigestion?
2. What is the acid released by the stomach, which causes acidity?
3. How do the nutrients of food reach the bloodstream?

Objective Questions:

• ________ is the last place where the process of digestion takes place.
• The body only absorbs ______of the food.
• Bile is stored in the _______.
• The __________ is the largest organ in the digestive system.
• Preliminary stage of digestion begins in the _______.

True Or False:

1.  The stomach is the organ responsible for releasing waste from the body: ______
2. The pancreas helps break down the complete food: ______
3. Oesophagus helps to churn the food: _______
4. Fats are broken down by bile: ______
5. Salivary glands are present in the intestine: ________