“All disease begins in the gut”.
These words were uttered some 2500 years ago by Hippocrates, the Greek Physician who is widely considered to be the Godfather of modern medicine.
In today’s high tech medical world we might consider a statement like “all disease begins in the gut” to be a bit simplistic.
Time after time however I am drawn back to a client’s digestive system as a key driver in symptoms that on the face of it may appear to be unrelated to their gut.
Perhaps their symptoms are skin, hormonal, fatigue or mood related….but often supporting gut health is what makes the biggest difference over time. So while the gut may not explain every single ill it does not mean that it is not worth trying to get our digestive fundamentals right so as to give us the best chance of optimising our nutrition and in turn our health status.
We all know that putting bad food into our body on an ongoing basis will eventually lead to health problems. All too often however the actual condition of the digestive system itself is overlooked and it is assumed that whatever is eaten is actually absorbed.
We have all likely heard the phrase “you are what you eat”. Really that should be re-phrased as “you are what you absorb", and hopefully this post will help you understand why.
What do I mean when I say you are what you absorb? I mean that a number of factors influence the quality of your actual digestive process and in turn the quantity and quality of nutrients extracted from the food you eat.
Taking it from the top, this principle starts with whether we chew our food slowly and mindfully, or whether we eat our food fast and in a disconnected way because perhaps we are rushing somewhere, trying to work while eating, refereeing a fight at the dinner table or scrolling on our device while we eat.
Carbohydrate digestion begins in the mouth, then is mostly inactive in the stomach, then starts off again in the small intestine. Not chewing our food properly increases the chance of bloating and digestive distress, particularly for those people already prone, as the first stage of the digestive process that is supposed to commence in the mouth is totally bypassed.
How do we overcome this? One suggestion is to chew each mouthful of food 20-30 times before swallowing until it has a paste like consistency. This one change alone can make a significant impact for some people who experience regular digestive distress.
We also need to look at water and other liquids and whether or not we consume them with our meals. We rely on powerful stomach acid, and digestive enzymes to digest our food. The more liquids we consume with meals the more diluted these digestive juices become and the less effective our digestive process will be.
We can help ourselves here by limiting consumption of liquids to a half a small glass of liquid with each meal only if absolutely needed. Ideally we should keep the bulk of our fluid intake to either 15 minutes before or 90 minutes after meals. A pint of water with or straight after a meal is never a good idea. Neither is tea or coffee for the reason that these drinks can prevent the absorption of minerals from our food…but more on that in a later post.
Another point relates to the composition of good and bad bugs in our large intestine. We all have bacteria, viruses, fungi and yeast in our intestine that in an ideal environment will live side by side with each other in relative harmony and keep the levels of each other in check.
The problem arises when the composition of this collection of bugs goes out of balance. This can happen after a round of antibiotics, during a period of sustained stress or when our diet is high in refined sugars and carbohydrates. We need to look after our gut bacteria in order to have healthy digestion. These good gut bacteria do much more than help digest our food however. They help regulate our immune function, help balance our brain chemicals and mood, and help our body to manufacture its own vitamins...and that is only scratching the surface.
How can we support healthy levels of these gut bugs?
Include more foods in our diet that are rich in beneficial bacteria. This would include things like naturally fermented sauerkraut (not the pasteurised type you tend to find in the supermarket), kimchi, kefir or natural yoghurt. These are called probiotic foods and will help to repopulate these beneficial bacteria in our intestine.
Then we have prebiotic foods which are foods that feed these good bacteria and help them to multiply. The most obvious of these foods is fibre and that’s one of the many reasons it’s so important. Other foods would be things like garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, artichokes and chicory. So try to get as much of those foods into your diet as possible.
Also, less sugar….possibly easier said than done but the first step is often just to be aware….look at labels closely for added sugars and consume as little liquid sugar as possible.
Another key factor is stress….reducing stress is easier said than done and we will cover that another time….but putting down the phone and taking our time to eat at least one meal a day mindfully if possible is a good start.
Stress contracts tissues along the digestive system and interferes with our production of stomach acid and digestive enzymes and has wide ranging implications for our health far beyond digestion.
I hope that you found this article useful. If you have any questions or comments or would like personalised support on any of the topics mentioned above, please feel free to get in touch for a free introductory call.
Paul Kinsella,
Registered Nutritional Therapist
BANT Registered Nutritionist
Copyright, 2022.
www.optimal-health.ie
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