Food for Thought

We all have different preferences when it comes to food.  Some have a sweet tooth while others prefer savoury.  Whatever your likes, dislikes or allergies, I think it is true to say that we all enjoy good food.



A Cake Time event I did last year in aid of the charity Shelter.



When we take in food, the human body begins to show what a remarkable creation it is.  The whole digestive system is quite complicated.  Once the food reaches the stomach, it is then reduced to small amounts that can be passed on through the digestive system.  The stomach juices contain hydrochloric acid!  Who would have thought that our bodies contain such a corrosive substance and yet it doesn’t harm us but is used for our benefit.  When the food is passed on to the liver, bile is produced which then neutralises the acid before the food continues its journey.

                                           

I won’t go into any more detail about the scientific stuff (that can be found on the internet in abundance – if you’re interested) but there comes a point in the process when the ingested and digested food is absorbed into the blood stream and is converted into energy for the body’s survival.  In a very real sense the saying is true – you are what you eat!  We take in food but that substance isn’t just added to the body mass we already have.  It is rather converted until it becomes not just an extra bit of us but an integral part of our make up.  It becomes who we are.  

I guess that in every sense, what I take in is what I become.