Digestion

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Greetings dear reader. Over the past month we have taken a dive into GMO food and also nutrition. We have taken a look at how GMO food adversely affects our digestion and we have looked at how nutrition affects our digestion as well. Now I would like to focus on digestion specifically. Quite the photo I chose - ha ha. Though it does have a bit of shock value, I chose it more for levity than anything. Levity is in short supply lately, which is why I insert it into my life whenever and wherever I get the chance. I hope you got a chuckle. Our poop certainly is a gauge for our overall digestion and can tell us a lot about what is happening with our digestion and our health in general.

During my career as a health practitioner, I had to become very comfortable having conversations with people about their bowel movements and about digestion in general. I consider digestion to be the foundation of health. What we eat and how we digest contributes to every facet of our body, but also our state of mind and therefore our mental health. The quantity and quality of our food is important of course, and equally essential is that our digestive tract is healthy and in good working order, so that we can absorb nutrients and eliminate properly. If these two things are not happening, it is impossible to achieve optimal health, no matter what other healthy practices you engage in.

Digestion Begins in the Mouth

Major Enzymes in Saliva ( more here)

• Salivary amylase (also known as ptyalin) breaks down starches into smaller, simpler sugars.

• Salivary kallikrein helps produce a vasodilator to dilate blood vessels.

• Lingual lipase helps to break down triglycerides into fatty acids and glycerides.

The Chinese have a saying,” Drink your food and chew your liquid”. What is conveyed here, is that anything that goes into your mouth for digestion must be thoroughly saturated with saliva. That is to say, you should chew your food until it is almost liquid in substance before you swallow. It is also important when drinking something to marry it well with saliva before swallowing.

This ensures optimal digestion and nutrient absorption. Sipping rather than guzzling water, and holding it in your mouth longer allows it to carry the enzymes in your saliva to your stomach. The alkalinity of your saliva helps to neutralize the acid in your stomach. When you guzzle water that process is lost. While many people do it, drinking liquids with meals also prohibits digestion.

For optimal digestion it is best to avoid fluids for twenty minutes before and after meals as well as during meals. Drinking with meals dilutes the gastric juices in your stomach. If you can not break the habit of drinking fluids with meals, it is best to drink something warm and not much of it, maybe half a glass at most. Drinking warm water upon waking promotes peristalsis ( contraction and relaxation of the intestinal tract ).

A Word on PPIs

Proton Pump Inhibitors ( PPIs ) are one of the most widely prescribed drugs on the market: Prilosec, Prevacid and Omeprazole to name a few. When people are stressed they often hold their breath without realizing it. While stressed it is also common to contract the abdominal muscles. When these two things become habit ( usually unconsciously) the diaphragm tends to get shoved up toward the stomach and actually squishes it. When this happens, the proton pumps become overactive due to the stomach being squished. This causes excess stomach acid and leads to GERD ( gastroesophageal reflux disease).

People take PPIs in order to stop the proton pumps from pumping so much acid, but this does not solve the root problem. On the contrary, it often creates more problems and can lead to side effects and long term health complications (more here). The good news is that learning to control your stress, along with breathing exercises and professional abdominal massage, can eliminate the need for PPIs altogether. If you are looking to do this yourself, you may want to search your area for a professional Chi Nei Tsang ( Chinese abdominal massage ) professional . For breathwork you can find a breathwork coach or search the internet for calming breathwork and especially breathwork that disengages your sympathetic nervous system and engages your parasympathetic nervous system.

Gut Microbiome

What is microbiome? Hailing from it’s Greek roots microbiome literally means small ( micro) life (bios) . “The microbiome is the community of microorganisms (such as fungi, bacteria and viruses) that exists in a particular environment. In humans, the term is often used to describe the microorganisms that live in or on a particular part of the body, such as the skin or gastrointestinal tract. These groups of microorganisms are dynamic and change in response to a host of environmental factors, such as exercise, diet, medication and other exposures.”

It is very important to understand the direct connection between soil microbiome and our gut microbiome. Eating food grown in soil that has a healthy microbiome will greatly benefit your own microbiome. Modern agricultural practices used to grow conventional and genetically modified foods (especially petrochemicals) are destroying the microbiome of soil. This leaves us with less nutrient content in our food, less healthy guts and a less healthy environment. Healthy microbiome in soil can actually sequester carbon, a dead microbiome cannot.

Without a healthy gut microbiome you can not digest as well which also means less nutrient absorption. You need a healthy colony of diverse microbes in your digestive tract in order to prevent unhealthy microbes from taking over. “The health of our gut microbiome is dependent on the foods we eat. The more whole, organic foods we eat, the healthier and more diverse our gut becomes. And many of our most common neurotransmitters such as GABA, norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine, and acetylcholine are actually produced in the gut.” (1)

Our gut is connected to our immune function, digestion, cognitive function and also metabolism. Without a healthy gut lining , toxins and foreign particles can enter our gut lining and our bloodstream. This is called “ leaky gut syndrome” and can lead to chronic inflammation, blood sugar imbalance and less than optimal heart and cognitive function as well as lowered immunity..”We need a diversified microbiome and we also need cellular integrity of our intestinal walls.” ( 1)

Many people believe that probiotics are the best way to a well populated gut microbiome. What many do not realize is that humic acid and fulvates introduced to the intestines creates an environment that allows your gut to produce its own healthy bacteria without the need for probiotics. We want a diversified culture in our gut, which our body can create on it’s own when given the right substances. Probiotics contribute to a monoculture in the gut leaving us with a less diverse microbiome.

To learn more about humic extract and fulvates and how to introduce them into your body you can go to Dr. Zach Bush's website. This is a direct link that explains what they are and how they work in your body.

Fiber, Water, Movement

It may go without saying, but in order to avoid constipation and produce consistent and full evacuations (bowel movements) you need an ample amount of fiber, proper hydration ( 6 to 8 glasses of water per day - just water ) and some form of exercise ( at least 15 minutes. per day). We will discuss hydration further in next weeks blog.

The Big Picture

In summary, good digestion has many moving parts. It is connected to what we put in our body. If we put foods in our body that are toxic and nutrient poor, we are contributing to an unhealthy gut microbiome which leads to myriad health complications at the root of which is often leaky gut ( most people have one ).

" They say ‘you are what you eat’. But actually, you are what your digestive system can absorb. “ (4)

Chewing food well is a very important piece of digestion as the enzymes in our saliva are a key contributor to the breakdown of our food. The average person chews a bite around 12 times before swallowing, 30 is better, 100 is ideal. If you do not wish to count, simply chew until your food becomes liquified. Your next line of digestion are the acids in your stomach which are diluted if you are drinking water right before, during or right after a meal. Warm water is best ( if you must - and only a little ) and ice wreaks havoc on digestion.

For people who do not produce enough saliva, chewing a piece of gum ( see below) after a meal can assist you in producing more saliva which will get swallowed and mix with your stomach acids. For those who have less than ample stomach acids , one can take Betaine HCl before meals.”Betaine HCI is thought to increase the concentration of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, which is the acid that must be present in order to break down foods and use nutrients.” (2)

Fiber , water and exercise are key components of digestion and elimination. It is often recommended to walk 100 steps after a meal to promote digestion. Eating right before bed is also not recommended. Firstly because you want your body to be in rest mode, not digest mode. Secondly because your body focuses on repair and rejuvenation while sleeping, and you do not want to interrupt this cycle with digestion.

A healthy gut microbiome is quintessential for digestion and overall health. Humic and fulvic acids play a key role in ensuring integrity in your gut lining as well as a diverse culture of microbes in your microbiome ( the environment in your intestines). Your food and beverage choices as well as the way you populate your gut ( with either probiotics or their precursors ) are the foundation of your physical health and even your mental health ( gut - brain connection). To find out how aloe vera juice benefits your gut you can browse the article I shared at the bottom.

Though I was not able to go into great detail ( or any detail really) I must, must, must stress the importance of colonics and intestinal cleansing as well as parasite cleanses. Both greatly contribute to your overall health and psyche. I will be doing a parasite cleanse soon and I will leave a link below to the products I will be using. On their website you can also learn more about parasite cleansing. Below I will also leave an article about colonics.

Deeper Contemplation

It is important to give some attention to how commercial and corporate agriculture practices ( including gmo and monocropping ) are destroying the microbiome of soil and how that affects us directly - from the nutrient content of our food, to the toxins in our food and in our gut. If you really want to connect to the microbiome, get your bare feet on the ground daily. Whether it is sand or soil, grass or pine needles, the health benefits are monumental and doing so will increase your connection to nature and to yourself. It will help you to integrate the connection between the Earth’s microbiome and your own - the two are inextricably connected.

If you want to take it one step further you can begin to contemplate and connect to the immaterial component of Earth’s microbiome and your own. What does that even mean? How do you tap into and connect with it? It is an exploration from which you can glean deep insight if you are willing to take the journey. Thank you for reading, whoever you are. Connecting with my readers on a weekly basis brings me a sense of joy, gratitude and connection. I am grateful to you. We are all connected just like mycelium and microbiome. Remember, we are 5% DNA and 95% microbiome. Amazing!

Sources, Links & Information

1. Dr Zach Bush : website, blog and products

2. Dr. Axe: Betaine HCl

3. Spry Chewing gum ( xylitol)

4. The benefits of aloe vera for gut health: Read more here.

5. Parasite cleanse

6. Information on colonics.