About the GI Tract

The large, hollow organs of the GI tract contain a layer of muscle that enables their walls to move. The movement
of organ walls—called peristalsis—propels food and liquid through the GI tract and mixes the contents within each
organ. Peristalsis looks like an ocean wave traveling through the muscle as it contracts and relaxes.
Esophagus. When a person swallows, food pushes into the esophagus, the muscular tube that carries food and
liquids from the mouth to the stomach. Once swallowing begins, it becomes involuntary and proceeds under the
control of the esophagus and brain. The lower esophageal sphincter, a ringlike muscle at the junction of the
esophagus and stomach, controls the passage of food and liquid between the esophagus and stomach. As food
approaches the closed sphincter, the muscle relaxes and lets food pass through to the stomach.
Stomach. The stomach stores swallowed food and liquid, mixes the food and liquid with digestive juice it produces,
and slowly empties its contents, called chyme, into the small intestine. The muscle of the upper part of the
stomach relaxes to accept large volumes of swallowed material from the esophagus. The muscle of the lower part
of the stomach mixes the food and liquid with digestive juice.
Small intestine. The muscles of the small intestine mix food with digestive juices from the pancreas, liver, and
intestine and push the mixture forward to help with further digestion. The walls of the small intestine absorb the
digested nutrients into the bloodstream. The blood delivers the nutrients to the rest of the body.
Large intestine. The waste products of the digestive process include undigested parts of food and older cells from
the GI tract lining. Muscles push these waste products into the large intestine. The large intestine absorbs water
and any remaining nutrients and changes the waste from liquid into stool. The rectum stores stool until it pushes
stool out of the body during a bowel movement...
NIH - National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Your digestive system is uniquely designed to turn the food you eat into nutrients, which the body uses for energy,
growth and cell repair. Here's how it works.
Mouth The mouth is the beginning of the digestive tract. In fact, digestion starts here as soon as you take the first
bite of a meal. Chewing breaks the food into pieces that are more easily digested, while salivamixes with food to
begin the process of breaking it down into a form your body can absorb and use.
Throat Also called the pharynx, the throat is the next destination for food you've eaten. From here, food travels to
theesophagus or swallowing tube.
Esophagus The esophagus is a muscular tube extending from the pharynx to the stomach. By means of a series
of contractions, called peristalsis, the esophagus delivers food to the stomach. Just before the connection to the
stomach there is a "zone of high pressure," called the lower esophageal sphincter; this is a "valve" meant to keep
food from passing backwards into the esophagus.
Stomach The stomach is a sac-like organ with strong muscular walls. In addition to holding the food, it's also a
mixer and grinder. The stomach secretes acid and powerful enzymes that continue the process of breaking down
the food. When it leaves the stomach, food is the consistency of a liquid or paste. From there the food moves to
the small intestine.
Small Intestine Made up of three segments, the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum, the small intestine is a long tube
loosely coiled in the abdomen (spread out, it would be more than 20 feet long). The small intestine continues the
process of breaking down food by using enzymes released by the pancreas and bile from the liver. Bile is a
compound that aids in the digestion of fat and eliminates waste products from the blood. Peristalsis (contractions)
is also at work in this organ, moving food through and mixing it up with digestive secretions. The duodenum is
largely responsible for continuing the process of breaking down food, with the jejunum and ileum being mainly
responsible for the absorption of nutrients into the bloodstream.

The Basic Stages of the Digestive Process

1. Ingestion
Ingestion is the process by which food is taken into the alimentary canal.
It includes the processes that take place while the food is in the mouth (mouth = "buccal cavity"), such as chewing
and grinding using the teeth, the lubrication and chemical effects of saliva released from the salivary glands, and
swallowing of the food - which sends it onwards down the digestive tract.
2. Digestion
Digestion is the process by which ingested (food) material is broken down in the earlier stages of the alimentary
canal into a form that can then be absorbed and assimilated into the tissues of the body.
Digestion includes two types of processes -
Mechanical (e.g. chewing, grinding, churning, mixing), and
Chemical (e.g. action of digestive enzymes, bile, acids, etc.).
The mechanical processes include the chewing and grinding of food by the teeth and also the churning and mixing
of the contents of the stomach.
Chemical processes that contribute to digestion also begin in the mouth with action of saliva on food. However,
most of the chemical digestive processes occur in the stomach and small intestine - where the partly-digested
materials are subjected to gastric juices, pancreatic juice, succus entericus and so on.
3. Absorption / Assimilation
Absorption is the uptake of fluids or other substances by the tissues of the body.
Digested "food" (which is referred to by other terms depending on its stage of passage through the digestive
system - see transit through the alimentary canal) is absorbed into the bodily fluids blood and lymph from the
alimentary canal. Most of the absorption part of the digestive process occurs in the jejunum and the ileum of
the small intestine, though alcohol is readily absorbed through the stomach. The small intestine is lined with
minute finger-like processes (called "villi", a single example being a "villus"), that greatly increase its surface area,
and hence the rate at which absorption can take place.
Assimilation is the process by which components/chemicals from food (incl. liquid refreshments such as milk
drinks, fruit juices etc.) are taken into the cells of the body - after the food/beverage has been digested and
absorbed.
4. Elimination
Elimination is the final stage of this 4-stage summary of digestion.
In physiology more generally the term "elimination" can apply to the entire process of excretion of metabolic
waste products, incl. from the blood via the kidneys and urinary tract (as described in the section about the Renal
System).