This is not a subject which is usually discussed in public.
Because it is so elementary [and alimentary], it is often
overlooked, yet it can be the cause of many learning and
emotional disturbances.
The alimentary canal starts at the mouth and terminates at
the anus. Its main function is to process food to enable
nutrients in the food to be accessed by the body. It also
provides an environment for healthy bacteria which produce
important dietary supplements.
The digestive path is about nine meters (30 feet) long. Food
enters the mouth, where it is chopped by the front teeth,
ground up by the back teeth, mixed by the tongue with saliva
and then swallowed. The food passes down the esophagus,
through the cardiac sphincter muscle to the stomach where it
is ground and mixed with digestive juices until it becomes a
liquid mass. Then it passes through the pyloric sphincter
muscle to the duodenum, jejunum and the ileum (the small
intestine -- about 7 meters 21 feet long and about 2.5 one
inch wide), where the food is mixed with more digestive
juices and where nutrients in the food are absorbed.
One of the glands which empties into the alimentary canal is
the bile duct. Bile originally comes from the liver and is
both a waste material and a digestive juice which helps the
digestion of fats.
Finally, the remainder of the food, with bacteria and dead
cells sloughed off from the lining of the alimentary canal,
passes to the rectum where it is stored until it is
eliminated from the body through the anus.
If the waste material is not eliminated, it causes the
digestive system to start becoming clogged, which hinders the
digestion of freshly-eaten food. Furthermore, the
uneliminated waste material starts to putrefy, which produces
poisons and gases. Another consequence is that bile is not
released into the alimentary canal, which prevents the liver
from efficiently performing many of its important
functions.
The net result is that the person loses his appetite, feels
lethargic, cannot think clearly; he might get a headache and
he might even fall into a depression.
Some might regard eliminating waste material from the body as
a waste of time which should be delayed as long as possible.
However, Chazal stress that it should be an important part of
a person's daily regime which should preferably be performed
every morning, even before tefilla.
