Advice About Diet - Guide To Food Digestion

The Human Digestive System
What Is Digestion?

The human body obtains the energy and nutrients it needs from food. However, our cells cannot absorb these nutritional benefits until the food has been "digested" - meaning, "processed and converted into a useable form". Thus digestion is the complex process of breaking down food molecules into energy and other useful components, which can then be absorbed into the bloodstream and distributed throughout the body to maintain good health. Food remnants which are not absorbed during the digestion process are expelled as waste in the form of feces.

Where Do We Digest Our Food?

The digestion of food in humans takes place in the gastrointestinal tract - a series of hollow organs (mouth, esophagus, stomach, large and small intestines) connected to form a long tube of about 24 feet in length which extends from the mouth to the anus. It is also referred to as the GI Tract, the alimentary canal, the digestive tract, or the gut. Above the large intestine, the digestive system is sometimes called the upper gastrointestinal tract, while everything below is the lower gastrointestinal tract. The tract has muscular walls that propel food along the tube (a process called peristalsis) breaking it down and mixing it with digestive juices for optimum absorption.

Further Help in Developing a Low Cholesterol Diet

If you suffer from hyperlipemia, hypercholesterolemia, or hypertriglyceridemia and you want additional help in planning a heart-healthy diet, low in saturated fat and dietary cholesterol, make an appointment with a registered dietitian or qualified nutritionist. The American Dietetic Association maintains a roster of registered dietitians. By calling the Division of Practice (312) 899-0040 you can request names of qualified dietitians in your area.

Start Lowering Your Cholesterol Today

Low Cholesterol Diet
How to Lower Your Cholesterol

Cholesterol Lowering Drugs and Cholesterol Lowering Diet

Whatever the reasons may be for your high blood cholesterol level - diet, heredity, or both - the treatment your doctor will prescribe first is a diet. If your blood cholesterol level has not decreased sufficiently after carefully following the diet for 6 months, your doctor may consider adding cholesterol-lowering medication to your dietary treatment. Remember, diet is a very essential step in the treatment of high blood cholesterol.
Cholesterol-lowering medications are more effective when combined with diet. Thus they are meant to supplement, not replace, a low-saturated fat, low-cholesterol diet. See also Inherited High Cholesterol

Summary of Diet Guidelines for Lowering High Blood Cholesterol Levels

• Eat less high-fat food (especially those high in saturated fat)
• Replace part of the saturated fat in your diet with unsaturated fat
• Eat less high-cholesterol food
• Choose foods high in complex carbohydrates (starch and fiber)
• Reduce your weight, if you are overweight