• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Your Body / Where Does Food Go After You Eat It?

Where Does Food Go After You Eat It?

May 28, 2020 by Karen Hill

As soon as food enters your mouth, it begins a long trip through your body. This trip is called digestion.

where do hamburgers go

At each stop along the way, parts of your body receive the food and each performs its specialized job before sending the food on to its next stop in the digestion trip.

First, your teeth chew the food into small pieces so that it can be swallowed. This swallowing takes the food down your esophagus into your stomach.

Your stomach produces chemicals to break the food down still more, then sends it into a long tube, the small intestine. While the food travels on its 20-foot trip through the small intestine, it is being broken down more and more by the intestine’s digestive juices until most of it is in liquid form. This liquid is then absorbed through the small intestine’s walls into your blood stream.

Your blood stream takes the liquid to all parts of your body to feed its cells. The parts of food that your body hasn’t digested and cannot use go into a fat, coiled 5-foot-long tube called the large intestine. There, water is absorbed from that remaining food and returned to the blood stream, and the undigested food leaves your body as waste.

It takes about 48 hours for your body to completely digest the food from one meal!

Related Facts

  • Why Does the Stomach Shrink When You Eat Less and When You Eat More Does Your Stomach Expand?
  • What do Camels Eat and How Much Food does a Camel Eat in a Day?
  • Who wrote "Beans, beans, they're good for your heart. The more you eat, the more you fart." And how do beans make you Fart?
  • Why Do People In Hot Climates Eat Hot Peppers and How Does Eating Spicy Food Help You Feel Cooler?
  • What Do Your Body Cells Do with the Food You Eat?
  • How Much Food Will You Eat in Your Lifetime?
  • How to Eat Chinese Food with Chopsticks even if you have not Used them before
  • Why Does Soup Taste Bland When It's Cold and Why Does Hot Food Taste Better Than Cold Food?
  • Why Is MSG Used In Chinese Food, and How Does MSG Make Food Taste Better?
  • How Long does Food Last before it Goes Bad and How do Preservatives help Food Last Longer?
  • Why Does Microwave Cooked Food Cool Off Faster Than Food Cooked In a Conventional Oven?
  • Why Do Spoiled Cans Of Food Swell and What Causes Canned Food To Bloat When It Goes Bad?

Filed Under: Your Body

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « What Is Your Stomach Saying When It “Talks”?
Next Post: What Do Your Body Cells Do with the Food You Eat? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2021 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy