In America, a balanced dinner usually includes ordering pizza at the local pizzeria, chips sitting on the store shelf for too long, a carbonated drink, and finally, a wonderful dessert chocolate like brownies or chocolate chips. While it may taste very good, it is not good for the body. Throughout my childhood, my mother always prepared home-cooked meals consisting of a healthy diet. For example, she would prepare an assortment of chicken recipes and provide a side dish with artichokes or steamed broccoli. Some other types of meals she would prepare included salmon with sweet potatoes and sautéed spinach, steak with homemade mashed potatoes, and orzo salad. These meals fall on the healthier end of the food spectrum, however there are always exceptions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay My favorite meal consists of baked salmon, steamed sweet potatoes with butter and sugar, and sautéed spinach with garlic. Salmon, being the main course, would be considered fat and protein. Steamed sweet potato, topped with butter and sugar, would be considered a vegetable and would be made up of carbohydrates and sugars. Also, sautéed spinach with garlic would be a vegetable. This meal is made up of fats, carbohydrates, sugars, proteins and vegetables, making it a healthy meal. Salmon, sweet potatoes, and spinach will first enter the alimentary canal, a long tube that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus. When the mouth receives salmon, sweet potato or spinach, they will be tasted and broken down by the teeth, as well as lubricated by saliva and swallowed. Salmon will be broken down by the enzyme protease, which breaks down proteins into amino acids. The sweet potato will be broken down by the enzyme amylase, which breaks down starches and carbohydrates into sugars. Sautéed spinach and garlic (due to the oils from the pan) will be broken down into lipase, which breaks down lipids into glycerol and fatty acids. Teeth break down food by chewing and grinding, known as mastication. Additionally, the tongue is a muscular organ that allows a person to taste the difference between sweet, salty, sour, and bitter sensations. The salmon and sweet potato will taste sweet while the spinach will taste savory. The tongue also helps in the process of chewing food. The three pairs of salivary glands, parotid, sublingual and submandibular, produce saliva, allowing the lubrication of the mouth and facilitating swallowing of food. Additionally, saliva contains an enzyme called salivary amylase. This allows the breakdown of carbohydrates or starches into sugars that will be beneficial to the body. After the food has been chewed and lubricated, it will enter the pharynx. The pharynx is a tube made up of both air and food. However, my dinner will travel down the esophagus, the food pipe. The esophagus will transport the food mixture to the stomach. However, for my dinner to get to my stomach, the esophagus must rely on the involuntary movement of its muscles called peristalsis. Once the salmon, sweet potato and spinach have entered the stomach, they will remain there for two to four hours. . During this period, the food will turn into a semi-fluid material thanks to the gastric juices produced by the stomach glands that contain enzymes and hydrochloric acid. Hydrochloric acid kills bacteria and activates an enzyme called pepsin. Enzymes in juices also include lipase, which breaks down fats, and pepsin, which aids in the digestion of proteins. After the semi-fluid salmon, sweet potato and spinach leave the stomach, they will enter the small intestine. The small intestine is made up of three sections:.