The Journey of Food Through the Body Have you ever wondered how your body miraculously transforms your food into nutrients and energy that your body can use? Here is the step by step process on how our human body digests or transforms food into useful nutrients that our body could use. Stage 1: Oral digestion takes place right after your first bite of food. Chewing breaks up food to aid the digestion process. The food then mixes with saliva to help move down the esophagus and break down the food. Step 2: The Esophagus The esophagus is a tube that connects your throat to your stomach. When food enters the esophagus, the salivary glands release saliva to help the food pass through. It uses contractions, called peristalsis, to transport food to your stomach. High pressure exists at the stomach connection. This helps prevent food from flowing back into your esophagus. Step 3: The StomachThe stomach is used to hold the food and at the same time mixes and grinds the food you have eaten. The walls of the stomach are muscular and contract to further break down food. The st...