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Food’s Journey
The journey of food is how we get fuel for the body from the foods that we eat. The journey
is outlined in five steps in the illustration below.
The journey takes about 18-30 hours to complete. The digestive system, also called the
gastrointestinal tract, is made up of hollow organs that serve as a passage way and
processor changing the foods we eat into nutrients we use as energy.
When we consume foods, the gastrointestinal tract performs three functions as a unit:
1) It prepares food for absorption (chewing, breaking down and liquefying food).
2) It absorbs nutrients.
3) It prepares and eliminates any left over unused particles as waste.
The brain directs activity. Messages
are transmitted between the brain
and the gut by nerve endings
in the walls of the gastrointestinal
tract. Color the brain gray.
1. The food goes in
here where it is
chewed into small
bits. Saliva helps to
soften the food for
swallowing. Color
the tongue pink.
Muscles surround the
entire G.I. Tract. They
contract and relax in a
wavelike motion to
move things along.
Color the
esophogus
pink.
2. Food goes down
this tube known as
the esophogus.
Color the
liver brown
4. The small intestine
consists of about 25
feet of coiled tubing.
The remaining nutrients
are removed here and
absorbed by the body
while what is left of the
chyme makes its way
down to the colon.
Color the small
intestine gray.
5. The remaining chyme (which now consists of water,
bacteria, fiber, dead cells, and anything our bodies cannot
absorb), is passed along to the five foot long colon to be
prepared for elimination. It is The Job of the colon to extract
water from the chyme so that a stool can be formed and
eliminated. Color the colon pink.
Mucus is released
throughout to ease
food’s passage.
3. The food is held in the
stomach until the stomach
churns it (aided by muscles
and enzymes) into a liquid
called chyme (“kime”).
Some nutrients are then
absorbed by the stomach.
The stomach slowly drips
the chyme into the small
intestine where it is met
by additional enzymes
that further break down
the chyme. Color the
stomach yellow.
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Food’s Journey
P. 2 Text Questions & Answers
What is the journey of food?
What does the stomach do?
□ The journey is how we get fuel for the
□
□
body from the foods that we eat.
□ Food goes into the mouth.
□ Food travels down the esophagus.
□ Food is turned into liquid in the stomach.
□ Food, now chyme, is absorbed in the
It holds the foods we eat.
It churns food (aided by muscles and
enzymes) into a liquid called chyme.
□
□
Some nutrients are absorbed.
It slowly drips chyme into the small
intestine.
small intestine.
□
□
What does the small intestine do?
Left over particles of food, now waste,
are formed into stools by the colon and
eliminated.
□
All of the above are part of the journey.
What does the gastrointestinal tract do?
□ It is a passage way and processor
changing the foods we eat into nutrients
we use as energy.
□ It prepares food for absorption (chewing,
breaking down and liquefying food).
□ It absorbs nutrients.
□ It prepares and eliminates any left over
unused particles as waste matter.
□
All of the above make up the activity of
the gastrointestinal tract.
What does the mouth and tongue do?
□
□
□
Tastes food.
Food is chewed into small bits.
Saliva helps to soften the food for
swallowing.
□
All of the above.
Text Questions & Answers by Carole Engel
Director of Outreach,
© 2004 Fruit-Eze™, Inc. / www.fruiteze.com
Educators: Exact reprint for children and parents is
permitted if credit to Fruit-Eze, Inc. is retained.
The stomach does all of the above.
□
It permits additional enzymes to further
break down the chyme.
□
It removes nutrients so that they can be
absorbed by the body.
□
It sends left over particles (now waste)
to the colon (also known as the bowel).
□
The small intestine does all of the above.
What does the colon do?
□ It extracts water from the liquid waste.
□ It forms stools
□ It eliminates stools.
□ All of the above.
What directs food’s journey and how is
it helped along the way?
□ The brain directs activity. Messages are
transmitted between the brain and the gut
by nerves.
□ Muscles that surround the entire G.I. tract
contract and relax to move things along.
□ Throughout the inside of the G.I. Tract,
mucus is released to ease the passage of
food.
□
All of the above help food along its
journey.