While the saliva in your mouth, the mastication of your food before swallowing, and the proteases in your stomach begin the nutritional or alimentary process, most aliment occurs in your intestine, which anatomically is the segment of your alimentary canal that extends from your stomach to your anus.
Your intestine comprises:
Your small intestine
Your large intestine
Your small intestine:
Degrades proteins and peptides into amino acids
Degrrades lipids (fats) into glycerol and fatty acids
Degrades some carbohydrates into simple sugars (monosaccharides) -- such as glucose
Absorbs iron in the duodenum (the first section of the small intestine)
Absorbs most nutrients in the jejunum (the middle section of the small intestine)
Absorbs bile salts and vitamin B12 in the ileum (the third and final section of the small intestine)
Absorbs lipids and water throughout its entire length by passive diffusion
Absorbs sodium by active transport and by glucose and amino-acid co-transport
Absorbs fructose by facilitated transport (passive transport facilitated by transport proteins)
Your large intestine:
Absorbs, under regulation by the hypothalamus, water from digested material
Hosts bacteria that break down molecules that your body otherwise cannot break down (but that also produce the gases that are released as flatulence through the anus)
Reabsorbs sodium
Reabsorbs any nutrients that have escaped primary digestion in the ileum
So your intestine is vital to your intake of food and drink for energy and hydration. Given that running -- and especially endurance running -- makes high demands for energy and hydration, you can see that proper functioning of your intestine is essential to your life as a runner.
Here, then, is a question for you: Do you support your intestine so that it can support your running?
You are more likely to answer with a "Yes" if you have a persistently strong sense of gratitude for your intestine.
A way to build and maintain this strong sense of gratitude is as simple as 1-2-3:
Make a list of statements of gratitude for your intestine as it relates to supporting your running.
Make a daily or weekly appointment with yourself to read that list.
Read the statements on that list at each appointed date, taking a few moments after reading each statement to reflect on the positive emotions that you tie to that statement.
Completing step #1 is as easy as taking what you know about your intestine and turning it into gratitude statements for its support of your running. Here is a relatively general statement as an example:
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I am truly grateful that my small and large intestines work in tandem to handle most of the nutritional process that I especially need as a runner.
Exercise: Augment this general statement of gratitude by writing as many specific statements as possible before proceeding to step #2.
Author Resource:-
Dr. Kirk Mahoney loves to walk and run, and his SpryFeet.com website provides practical research for runners and walkers. By going to the Books section of his website, you can learn more about the books that he has written for runners and walkers, including the book Mental Tricks for Endurance Runners and Walkersand the book 123 Cellphone Tips for Runners and Walkers.
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