It’s a Gut Feeling…
I know by now you’ve heard it all before, your gut health is the key to overall good health, but let’s dive into this a bit.
Ever had a “gut feeling”? There is a two way communication channel between our brain and our digestive system. Do you ever get feelings of “butterflies” in your stomach when you are nervous about something, or eat when you are sad? These are both examples of how the two communicate with one another. They say our gut is our second brain and it’s because there is a gut-brain axis, via the vagus nerve, through which our nervous system sends signals between the two. The gut sends messages to the brain, and the brain sends messages to the gut.
For optimal gut health you first need to understand how exactly your digestion works. When you eat something, that food goes into your stomach where it is acidified through the production of HCL. The food then moves down into your duodenum (first 10-12 inches of your small intestine) and that triggers the gallbladder to release bile, which is alkaline and neutralizes those acids. If the acids are not neutralized, then the acidic food continues to move down the intestinal tract. These acids help us to break down protein. If there is no bile then the protein in your food is not breaking down and that acidic product will continue moving down into your intestinal tract (which is made of protein). and it will eat the protein lining, which is never a good thing.
Also, if there is no bile and this acidic product continues to move down, your body then sends water to cool down these acids and tries to stop it from eating the protein in your lining. This can cause diarrhea.
Bile is also needed to help us to emulsify and break down our fats, so the body can have access to them. If this process (this sizzle from the bile and acid colliding) is not happening, then you will not be getting these fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, & K. It is very common for many people to not make enough stomach acid (especially the older we get) and for someone’s bile to not flow correctly due to it being too thick and sticky.
The reaction of bile and acid meeting also triggers the pancreas to release bicarbonate, which also helps us neutralize those acids, along with digestive enzymes which help us to break down our food even more.
The acid meeting with the alkaline bile and those opposite ph’s colliding are what create the sizzle that helps break your food apart. Everyone really needs both sides of digestion (acid/bile) to be working properly.
Lastly, the stomach acid is necessary to kill off the bad bacteria that comes in from the food we ingest. They should die in an acid bath, but if you are not making enough stomach acid, then those bad bacteria can thrive and replicate in this alkaline environment. The waste of some of these bacteria are also alkaline; further alkalizing your stomach to a greater extent, turning off your ability to digest your food even more! Then these bacteria move into your small intestine, where they should not be (should be in the large intestine) and can create a small intestinal bacterial overgrowth or SIBO.
Some symptoms of your digestion not functioning optimally could be burping, bloating, gas, nausea, undigested food in stool, pale stool and so much more. You can see why it is so important to have both sides working properly.
If you want to figure out which side of your digestion is not working properly, I can help you with that. In my experience I have seen that for most of us, digestion is not optimal. We need to fix it.
Let me discuss a relatively common problem now in most people, whether they know it or not, it is leaky gut. Leaky gut is when the mucous lining of your intestines is damaged and allows substances like food and bacteria to pass through that barrier that shouldn’t. I recently have learned that along with leaky gut syndrome, many of those same people also can be suffering from leaky brain. Leaky brain is no different. Our brains have a blood-brain barrier that protects us and filters out toxic substances from reaching it.
Inflammation is the hallmark of most diseases and leaky gut syndrome is one of the major factors in nearly every inflammation condition. It’s hard to say which came first, did the autoimmune disease cause the leaky gut or did the leaky gut cause the autoimmune disease? Either way, decreasing this inflammation can help us have a better gut and a better brain.
Dr. Tom O’Bryan discusses in his book “You can fix your brain.” that gluten is showing to increase this leaky brain and leaky gut syndrome.
He mentions factors that can also cause tears in the blood-brain barrier like parasites, autoimmune diseases and even charred meats! Usually this barrier heals quickly, but if you continue to introduce these certain triggers over and over again, it can continue to penetrate to the brain creating damage. I hope now you can see why taking care of your gut is so important, because it is also taking care of your brain.
As I have mentioned in other posts, over 70% of our immune system resides in our gut. When your gut is working optimally and you are feeding it correctly, digestion is efficient and almost seamless. But if you have a leaky gut, some of that food will pass through the gut lining and then your immune system recognizes these so-called harmless foods as invaders and will start to make antibodies to the foods that should be good for you, thus creating a sensitivity to your favorite food. Identifying these foods and then removing them from your diet for a bit can help while trying to heal your leaky gut. It’s a great idea to keep a food journal if you suspect you have a leaky gut or any digestive issues. Write down your meals and pay close attention to any reactions. If you see a common thread, remove that food for a few weeks and then see if your digestive problems resolve.
There are certain foods I would recommend staying away from if you suspect a leaky gut. Some of those are:
Processed foods
Refined carbohydrates,like pasta, white bread, cereal, etc.
Gluten
Sugar
GMO foods
Refined oils, like canola, safflower and vegetable
Conventional dairy products
Alcohol
Some nuts like almonds, peanuts, cashews
This is a temporary “diet” and you will just be abstaining from these foods while you heal your gut. Once symptoms decrease, you can slowly add back in certain foods and some hopefully you will never add back in.
Foods to aid in a healthy gut:
Coconut oil
Apple Cider Vinegar
Beef fed collagen
Ginger-always use fresh
Peppermint
Fermented foods with no sugar
Pumpkin seeds
If inflammation is at the forefront of many diseases, then we should learn how to keep it at bay. One very inflammatory food for your gut and general health is refined sugar. There are no health benefits to refined sugar. Sugar is hidden in almost every boxed or bottled food. Even foods that are labeled “organic” or “natural” can have many sugars in them. The very famous “orange sports drink” has 34 grams of sugar in it, that's almost 3 tablespoons!!! That is by no means what an athlete needs. You must get into the habit of reading food labels. Look for all the sneaky names for sugar, like high fructose corn syrup, fructose, dextrose, maltose and more. Also check the amount of sugar in what you are eating. The American Heart Association recommends that adult women should consume no more than 6 teaspoons/24 grams of added sugar per day. For men no more than 9 teaspoons/ 36 grams. For many people that’s just their morning coffee!
On the other hand there are sweeteners that do have benefits and won’t raise blood sugar levels. My favorite is monk sugar which actually isn’t even sugar! There is no sugar in the monk fruit extract. It is safe for diabetics, it can aid in weight loss and it has anti-inflammatory properties. Why continue to choose ingredients that harm you, when you can use ones that can actually aid in healthy living.
Another way we can help our gut is decreasing stress in our lives. Stress increases sensitivity to pain, inflammation and can alter the harmony of the good bacteria in your gut. It has an impact on our digestion, hence the stomach aches or diarrhea when you get nervous. Stress triggers our sympathetic nervous system, which signals to the body there is a problem and responds with a “fight or flight” response, gearing the body up for imminent danger. Thus, it turns off digestion which is not needed in a time of crisis. This can then result in indigestion, nauseas, stomach aches and heartburn. However as the stomach slows itself down the stress causes an increase in the motor function of the large intestine, causing diarrhea.
Most people think that stress can in no way be related to the health issues they are having. I recently heard that autoimmune diseases are surpassing heart diseases. I personally was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease (an autoimmune disease) last year. They say that most Hashimoto cases are brought on by a traumatic event. What do traumatic events cause? The answer is stress. This was exactly the case with myself.
My family and I were moving back from overseas in the midst of the world shutting down from Covid. My mother was in a nursing home in Europe at the time and we were trying to get her back to the States. Everything seemed to be working against us, no job, no home, worldwide panic and I had a very difficult time coping with all this. Then my mother passed away and a few months later I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s. I can confidently say that stress has a huge impact on our health.
I try to teach people how to cope with stress and find new healthy solutions to bring the body back to a calm and relaxed state. One way is through breathing exercises. This can help to lower blood pressure, reduce the levels of stress hormones, balance your oxygen to carbon dioxide ratio, improve circulation and even increase energy. That is a lot of benefits. So, if you are having a stressful day, take a few minutes and try some of these very beneficial breathing exercises.
One last symptom to mention is low blood pressure which can also be connected to poor digestion. When the digestion process is not working properly, food is not being broken down correctly and the minerals and vitamins are not being absorbed. Not having enough minerals could be the reason for your low blood pressure.
In conclusion, I hope you have gained some insight as to how your gut works and how you can start to make better decisions to have a healthy gut, which is your second brain.
If you are having any issues with digestion, I would love to work with you to get things balanced.
Call for a free discovery call today.
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The information provided here is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
