Eating like a Horse

As our trip to Siena comes to a close, Arthur, Ankush, and I decided to partake in a final ritual of manhood: eating. Now we are no Joey Chestnut or Takeru Kobayashi, two men who just ate 60+ hot dogs at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. We are not even Daniel Oyon, Santoh Reddy, or Yoav Karpenshif, who took down the powerful Matthew Weinschenk by eating a dozen Krispy Kremes. No, we were much gutsier. We three geniuses of gastronomia ate a one kilogram steak each. If you are trying to do the calculation in your head, 1 kilo is about 2.2 pounds and 2.2 pounds is about 35 ounces of pure meaty goodness. As Arthur and I said, that steak was “the best worst decision of our lives,” as are still digesting it. While we tried to cut through the three inches of mammal, with gallons of sweat streaming down our faces, I naturally thought about chemistry and how my stomach would break down eating the equivalent of a puppy. I was really thinking about it 24 hours later when I felt like a cow had overtaken my body. Thus, I would like to talk about the fine art of digesting protein, as we had enough protein for a family of five. (Just for your information, in 100 grams of a t-bone steak there is approximately 24 grams of protein. That means we ate about 240 grams. The recommended daily allowance of protein is about 50 grams. Eat your heart out Arnold Schwarzenegger.)
Digesting protein is really quite simple. Protein is made up of long amino acid chains that we know helps aid in muscle formation. The environment in the stomach is mostly made of pepsin, hydrochloric acid with a pH from 2-5. This acid is secreted by parietal cells at a pH of about 0.8, but after mixing with other stomach liquids it reaches a pH from 2-3. The long chains of protein are broken down into smaller chains by these strong acids as the food passes into your small intestine. Then, enzymes from the pancreas (such as trypsin and chymotrypsin) break down the proteins further. Now, the small amino chains are absorbed into the body.
Many enzymes are required in this process because each amino acid chain breaks down differently. If food is broken down appropriately and not eaten to excess (*cough* Arthur, Ankush and I) almost 100% of protein is made into individual amino acids.
I would like to end this last blog post, much like Imran, by thanking everyone involved in this trip. From the Unisi students and faculty, to Natalie, to our tremendous professors in Dr. Soria and Dr. Norton, to eighteen incredible kids, I have never had more fun or enjoyed living so much as on this trip. To the Unisi people, thanks for your warm hospitality, pleasing dinners, and accepting us as your own. To our professors, thank you for putting up with all of our loud mouths while still allowing us to have fun. Oh, and thanks for going to that ridiculous carnival with us. Finally, thanks to eighteen of the most intelligent, entertaining, and legendary kids at Emory University. I am glad to hold the record for the largest party at the Refugio: 10-15 people playing cards in the common room. The stories I have are uncountable and I look forward to telling them for years to come. Siena will never be the same.

p.s. Sameer does not eat pork.

References
http://tuberose.com/Digestion.html

http://www.netrition.com/rdi_page.html

http://www.highproteinfoods.net/beef-and-veal/1576