The body digests food through several steps. First, food is chewed in the mouth and mixed with saliva, beginning carbohydrate breakdown. The chewed food travels down the esophagus to the stomach, where it’s mixed with gastric juices, turning it into a semi-liquid called chyme. This chyme moves to the small intestine, where enzymes and bile continue breaking it down, and nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. The remaining waste then enters the large intestine, where water is absorbed, and the leftover material is formed into solid waste. Finally, this waste is expelled from the body as poop. Credit: Dandelion medical animation (YouTube)