How the Body Works

Any soul that has a physical body should understand the basics of the body’s operation. “Why do we eat and what happens to the food we eat?” is the question to ask. When we understand the answer, we will begin to appreciate the nature of health and disease.

Food consumption is vital—most life forms on this planet need to

consume some sort of “food” to exist and maintain expression, and most people will die if they stop eating, although there have been a few exceptions to this rule. A handful of individuals have consumed only air, which consists of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen (these elements are the sugars, fats and proteins at higher  frequencies). This scenario, however, is extremely rare and one must be very spiritually connected to achieve this. Personally, I have

never met anyone who could do this, although I’ve met some extremely aware spiritual masters and teachers.

We eat for additional energy. We know that our cells are cities within themselves and are conscious entities; each cell knows its specific duties. We know that spirit—the life force, consciousness, or whatever you wish to call it —is the inner force that holds and molds life into forms and gives it awareness. Nevertheless, cells need an external source of energy to sustain themselves in activity.

Most people chew and swallow their food without thought of how or

why it is utilized within the body. We assume that if it’s edible, it’s useable by the body. This just simply isn’t so. This chapter will explore the ways that the body breaks down and uses the foods we eat, and how it eliminates the by-products of these foods.

Eating, digesting, absorbing, utilization, and elimination are ongoing and consistent processes. When one or more of these processes is impaired, the body as a whole begins to suffer. It may take many years for a major symptom to appear, but appear it will. There are always signs along the way, however, including fatigue, obesity, excessive thinness, bags under the eyes, rashes, constipation and/or diarrhea, to name just a few.

MODULE 2.1

The Four Basic Processes

DIGESTION

First, when we consume any food it must go through a “digestive” process, or a process whereby the body breaks down the structures of the food into building materials and fuels. The body requires these raw materials for energy to function and also to build and repair itself.

The breakdown of food is accomplished through enzyme action, which starts in the mouth, where carbohydrates, sugars and fats begin their alkaline digestion. The stomach also produces a digestive enzyme called pepsin; an acidic enzyme released by HCL (hydrochloric acid) for initial protein digestion. The rest of digestion takes place in the small bowel, which is alkaline in nature. When our foods are not properly broken down, either from a weak pancreas, stomach and intestinal tract, or from bad food

combinations, one will experience gas formation from fermentation and/or putrefaction. The greater the gas problems, the greater the weakness and/or bad diet choices.

The body breaks down the foods you eat into the following: Proteins are broken down into amino acids for building and repair material.

Carbohydrates (starches and complex sugars) are broken down into simple sugars for fuel. Fats are broken down into fatty acids and glycerol, for building, repair and emergency needs.

It is important to remember that we have alkaline digestive enzymes in the mouth for carbohydrate and fat digestion. We have acid (pepsin) digestive enzymes in the lower stomach for initial protein digestion. Then we have alkaline digestive enzymes in the pancreas and throughout the first part of the small intestinal tract to finish up the job for proteins, starches, sugars and fats.

It is also important to understand that most of our processes are alkaline in nature.

Digestion is the first process that must take place in a healthy body and many people fail right here. If you are very thin or lack adequate muscle tissue, it is a strong probability that your body has not been digesting (breaking down) your foods adequately.

ABSORPTION

Once foods are broken down, we must now absorb these building materials, fuels and other components, which include: tissue salts, vitamins, tannins, alkaloids, flavins, and the like. These components are now carried by the bloodstream to the cells for energy, stimulation, building and repairing, or stored for future use. Absorption is accomplished through the villi (fingerlike projections on the surface of certain membranes) and small pores all along the

mucous membranes of the small and large intestines. This absorption should be simple, but most people’s intestines become impacted with a thick rubberlike substance called “mucoid plaque.”

This thick plaque, which develops in the GI tract, is made of gluten, mucus, foreign protein, and other food byproducts that act more like

Glue than nutrition!

Refined sugars, grains, meats, and dairy products are the foods that

Are most responsible for the formation of this plaque. This “mucoid plaque” blocks the nutritional components of our foods from being adequately absorbed into the body. (I have seen patients who have eliminated buckets of this “black” plaque from their intestines.)

Most of us fail in the second stage of food utilization to some extent

because of this congestive mucoid plaque. Again, if you are thin,

malnourished or lack adequate muscle tissue, a malabsorption issue must be considered.

UTILIZATION

We must get nutrition to and into our cells. The blood system and its

highways (the vascular system) are the transport system. Most of the

absorbed nutrition must first pass inspection by the liver, which can create further chemical changes, store nutrients, or pass them on unchanged to the rest of the body for utilization. The number of processes the liver can carry out is miraculous. It can create its own amino acids, change sugars to fats, and vice versa. It can create or destroy.

Now a little secret. This is where the importance of acid and alkaline

comes in. If our body (including our blood) becomes more acidic, our nutrition becomes anionic (coagulating). In other words, our building materials (fats, fuels, minerals, and other compounds) start sticking or clumping together. Most of the foods commonly eaten by humans are acid forming. Acidity, which is heat-producing, causes inflammation in the walls of the vascular highway and throughout the body. Lipids (fats) begin sticking to the walls of the vessels in hopes of buffering this inflammation. But lipid bonding also causes lipid stones, such as gallbladder and liver stones.

Cholesterol is the most common anti-inflammatory lipid that the body uses to fight this inflammation. When the tissues become acidic and thus inflamed, the liver will produce more cholesterol to fight it. But that means that blood cholesterol levels begin to elevate. Minerals too start bonding and form “rock-type” stones, which show up as kidney stones, bone spurs, and the like. Cell membrane walls have tiny portholes that will not allow this “clumped” nutrition to be absorbed. When red blood cells start clumping together, blocking proper oxygen transport, or utilization, this creates cellular starvation, which causes hypo-active conditions of glands and organs, loss of systemic energy, loss of muscle tissue, and finally death. Many glands supply hormones, steroids, and the like, to assist utilization.

As these glands become hypo- or underactive as described above, the utilization of calcium and other constituents is affected, creating many disease symptoms. For example, one of the jobs of calcium is to help transport nutrients across cell membrane walls. When the thyroid gland becomes hypoactive this slows or stops calcium utilization, which has a domino effect, causing cellular starvation. This, of course, makes tissue even weaker and the cycle just gets worse and worse until death. Most people fail in the utilization

of their nutrition to some degree.

ELIMINATION

What goes in must, for the most part, come out. If it comes out looking the same way it went in, that’s a problem. (You should not see undigested foods, except corn, in your stools.) When the elements in food are broken down into their simplest forms for utilization by the cells, there are many by-products from this process—including gases, acids, cellular wastes, undigested

proteins, and unused material like vitamins and minerals —that need to leave the body.

The body is always trying to eliminate in ways that we often do not

understand. An example would be cold and flu-like symptoms, where sneezing, coughing, sweating, aching, fevers, and diarrhea are experienced. These symptoms are elimination processes used by the body to purge itself of mucus, parasites, toxins, and the like. If we do not eliminate our wastes, we build congestion interstitially

(around cells) and intracellularly (inside cells), causing further cellular decay and death. Good elimination means moving our bowels three times a day,

urinating adequately, sweating, and breathing properly. All of us fail in this category to some extent or another. By correcting digestion, absorption, utilization, and elimination we can regain our energy, build vitality and vibrancy, and live a disease-free life.