Digestion - it just happens, right?
Have you ever had a reaction after eating, like a stomachache, belching, heartburn, or nausea? Do you often have food comas after eating, or just feel tired and run down even after adequate sleep? How about seasonal allergies, frequent sinus congestion, or an autoimmune disease?
Did you know all of these are symptoms of digestive problems? Take a quick look through the list below and see how many of them apply to you or your loved ones.
Digestion is a process that many of us accidentally sabotage, leading to negative downstream effects. I used to think the food coma after lunch was perfectly normal.
The good news is that we can resolve the underlying problems causing many of these outward symptoms ourselves. Let’s start by learning a little bit about digestion. Who are the players and what do they do?
BRAIN
Digestion is a north-to-south process that begins in the brain. The sight, smell, and even the thought of food signal your mouth to begin watering and your stomach to start up the acid engine. You sit down at the table, take a couple of deep breaths to relax and perhaps express gratitude then take your first bite.
MOUTH
Because you set the stage properly, the enzymes in your saliva begin digesting carbohydrates immediately as you chew. Yes, I said chew…and not just two or three times before gulping – you know who you are. Chewing softens the food, gives time for the enzymes to work, and prepares it for travel to the stomach. Like the turtle in the picture. Slow and steady definitely wins this race.
SYMPTOMS OF DIGESTIVE ISSUES
Belching or gas
Heartburn or acid reflux
Bloating
Sleepy after meals
Stomach pains or cramps
Sense of excess fullness after meals
Diarrhea
Nausea
Constipation
Less than 1 bowel movement per day
Sinus congestion
Seasonal allergies
Food allergies or sensitivities
Asthma
Fatigue or brain fog
Autoimmune disease
Chemical sensitivity (perfumes, smoke, cleaning agents, etc.)
STOMACH
You swallow the food, and it travels down into the stomach. Your stomach secretes hydrochloric acid that kills off any uninvited guests—pathogens like bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms—while chemically breaking down the food particles. At the same time, the muscles churn and squeeze the food to break it down mechanically.
SMALL INTESTINE
Once the food has been broken down and the acid level has killed off the baddies, the opening at the bottom of the stomach gives the all-clear to begin moving small portions at a time into the duodenum. This chamber at the beginning of the small intestine is where the rest of your digestion occurs.
If your meal included fats, your body signals the gallbladder to release bile to help digest them. Digestive enzymes from your pancreas break down the food further and neutralize the pH, so it’s ready to make the rest of its journey through the intestines.
Pro Tip: Eating healthy fats with every meal induces bile release, stimulating peristalsis to effectively move substances through the bowels. You should actually be pooping at least once, if not 2-3 times, per day.
Once we’ve digested the food, we can start the absorption party. As food particles travel along, the lining of the small intestine absorbs their nutrients and sends them into the rest of the body as fuel.
LARGE INTESTINE
The remaining portion moves into the large intestine where water, saliva, extra enzymes, and bile are extracted and sent to the liver for recycling. Yes, we’re all phenomenal recyclers!
Probiotics, the helpful microorganisms in your large intestine, consume the fiber and other remnants. In return, they produce vitamins we can use throughout the body and fatty acids to heal and nourish the large intestine. Anything left over moves out of your body.
Whew, that’s a lot going on, isn’t it? Now, what can go wrong in this process? I bet you can already guess some of those obstacles, but others will surprise you.
DIGESTIVE DYSFUNCTION
We’ve covered the way digestion should work optimally. Now, let’s get down to brass tacks and discuss what can, and often does, go wrong throughout this process.
The first thing that often inhibits our digestion is the state of our autonomic nervous system. It’s not just all about stuffing food down our gullets. We can only digest food properly while we’re in a parasympathetic state which means calm and relaxed or, as I like to think of it, the ‘rest and digest’ mode.
Why? In its sympathetic state, our body is busy doing all sorts of things—thinking, walking, driving, or even worse, getting agitated and stressed. It’s a case of priorities. When normal on-going activities are underway, digestion only gets partial attention. When stressful activities are occurring, our ‘fight or flight’ mechanism totally sidelines digestion—who wants to spend energy on that when your body thinks it’s figuratively running away from a saber-toothed tiger?
It’s not hard, either. All you need to do is sit down to eat and take three slow, deep breaths and clear your mind before digging in. That’s all it takes for your body to switch from sympathetic to parasympathetic states.
Next, and I want you to hear your parents say it in your head - CHEW YOUR FOOD! The chemical and mechanical breakdown helps your food digest faster once it reaches the stomach. Shoot for 25-30 chews on each mouthful and, if you need help, put your fork down in between bites.
Three gross things happen in your stomach when you ingest food but don’t digest it in a timely manner. Proteins putrify, fats rancidify, and carbohydrates ferment. Ewww.
Once in your stomach, the acid goes to work breaking down your proteins. Sadly, many of us don’t produce enough stomach acid to get the job done. Without enough, food doesn’t get broken down quickly and reach the right pH levels to pass through into the duodenum, so it builds up and sometimes pops open the cardiac sphincter, allowing small amounts of acid back up into the unprotected esophagus. There’s a big source of your heartburn and reflux.
Eventually, the contents make their way down into the duodenum. Here’s where multiple things can go wrong.
Because of the low fat and poor fat diets many of us are eating these days, our gallbladders can get out of shape (think ‘use or lose it’). This causes “sludgification” of the normally watery bile and weakness in the gallbladder itself preventing it from squeezing out what we need. Without bile, we can’t break down our fats properly, nor can we stimulate motility to move things down the line, so to speak.
Many of us also consume too much sugar—much of it hidden within processed foods—which puts a strain on the pancreas. If the pancreas can’t produce and release enough digestive enzymes, we can’t break down our food.
OK, so what happens now? The partially digested food starts going through the intestines. Since the particles aren’t broken down completely, they start banging around the walls of the intestines and damage the lining. Remember the villi and microvilli from 8th grade biology class? They’re not bulletproof, so constant abuse can eventually wear them down to nothing. Since they are the parts that absorb nutrients, you stop getting nutritional benefit from your food.
Even worse, the damage can extend to breaking open the tight junctions between cells lining the intestines and allow larger particles to pass through into the bloodstream. This is called ‘leaky gut syndrome’. Your body sees those and sounds the alarm. Your immune system goes into overdrive to protect you from these ‘invaders’, too often resulting in the onset of autoimmune diseases.
Finally, many of us overuse antibiotics and anti-bacterial products, not realizing that they kill off the good bacteria along with the bad. Your large intestine should be home to trillions of good bacteria that live in a symbiotic relationship with you. This is your microbiome. A weak or non-existent microbiome leads to vitamin deficiencies, bad bacterial overgrowth, and colon damage.
Sounds kind of scary, doesn’t it? Don’t be overwhelmed. Luckily, we can control many of these dysfunctional scenarios through our dietary and lifestyle choices. That’s where your friendly, neighborhood nutritionist comes in.