The digestive system starts with the saliva in your mouth. The salivary glands recognize the sight and smell of food. The saliva contains the enzyme salivary amylase which begins the chemical digestion of food. The food you eat is moistened, chewed up by your teeth and then is transferred into a bolus. Once the bolus leaves the mouth, it moves into your pharynx, where it is then swallowed. Once the bolus reaches the stomach, it is mixed with different acids and from there it is transformed into a chyme. Most people think that the food is digested in the stomach, but the food that we eat is only partially digested in our stomachs. Chemical digestion in the stomach is caused by gastric juice which is a mixture of water, mucus, hydrochloric acid and pepsin (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006, pg. 73). Our liver, gallbladder and pancreas are located near our stomach and they aid in the digestive process once the chyme has reached the small intestine. The liver and gallbladder help with the digestion of fat. When the chyme is in the process of leaving the stomach, there are signals by the small intestine. The signals are sent from the brain, small intestine or the stomach. The small intestine is about 20 feet long. The small intestine is also the primary site for absorption or water, vitamins and minerals (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006, pg. 75). A large amount of the digestion process takes place in the…