Understanding Your Digestive Health
Digestion: A North to South Process
Foundations of Health:
Sleep
Digestion
Nutrient Dense Diet
Blood Sugar Regulation
Stress
Digestion is such a big topic! Many people have digestive complaints, and to be fair most health complaints, even ones that seem unrelated to digestion, can be improved just by improving our digestion. Most people think that digestion is only our bodies way of absorbing the nutrients we need to survive from the foods that we eat or drink. While this is true, it also plays many other roles in our body to keep us functioning optimally.
Other functions of our digestive system include:
70% of our immune system is housed in our gut
neurotransmitters are produced in our gut from our microbiome (impacts mental health)
synthesis of B vitamins and vitamin K occur from our mircobiome
houses our enteric nervous system, aka "second brain" & coordinates with our central nervous system for:
immune response
appetite control
energy metabolism
hormone secretions
intestinal barrier functions
blood sugar regulation
& much more!
As you can see our digestive tract/gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) does far more than just absorb the food that we eat. It is a complex process that can be impacted positively or negatively by many factors of everyday life. So let's talk a little more about the process of digestion and how it works.
Digestion is a north to south process. This means that every step of digestion has to occur properly so that the next step is effective in its function. Digestion actually starts in our brain, with the thought of being hungry, thinking about what you want to eat, starting to prepare your meal and getting all the sensory input (smells and beautiful food) from making your meal. By getting these sensory inputs it triggers your mouth to start producing more saliva and increases hydrochloric acid (HCl) in your stomach, in preparation for the food that is about to arrive. Saliva starts the breakdown process of carbohydrates, this is also when we chew our food to break it down into smaller particles. This is a critical step in digestion that is often overlooked by many, if we don't properly chew our food we can get food particles into our stomach that are bigger than they should be, putting stress on our digestive system that can lead to increased bloating, gas, poor digestion, and imbalances in our microbiome (all of the wonderful bacteria, viruses, and fungi that reside in our intestines).
*Pro-tips to improve the initial steps of digestion:
chew your food thoroughly (approximately 30 chews per bite) before swallowing
eat without distraction: no TV, no eating on the go, don't work through lunch
slow down while eating, set your fork down between bites
cooking food at home instead of getting take out
Next our food enters our stomach for digestion. In the stomach the biggest factor of digestion is having enough HCl to properly breakdown proteins and trigger release of other enzymes and cofactors needed to breakdown and absorb B12 and Iron. Both of these compounds are bound to proteins, so to be properly utilized the proteins need broken down to free up B12 and Iron to be absorbed. As you can see if you don't have enough stomach acid you could easily become deficient in both B12 and Iron, even if you are eating enough from your food. Proper HCl levels also play a role in triggering the emptying of the stomach, release of bile from the gallbladder, protection against pathogens that are ingested, and release of enzymes from the pancreas.
Without sufficient HCl you may experience:
poor digestion of proteins
poor digestion of fats (floating or greasy stools)
increased risk of food borne illness
acid reflux
dysbiosis in the gut: SIBO or candida overgrowth for example
bloating & gas
B12 & Iron deficiency
*Tips to increase HCl:
eat bitter foods with meals (dandelion greens, arugula, kale, grapefruit, olives, artichoke hearts, & cruciferous vegetables)
take digestive bitters prior to your meals
take five deep breaths before eating
have some apple cider vinegar mixed with water at the start of your meal
You may be wondering about how low stomach acid can cause reflux. This is a model that isn't discussed much in western medicine and most people are automatically prescribed an antacid or proton-pump inhibitor if they're experiencing reflux. This could actually worsen the problem long term. The majority of the time the issue isn't too much acid, but actually too little acid that is in wrong location. If there isn't enough stomach acid in the stomach the sphincter at the top of the stomach doesn't get triggered properly to close, so it remains open. This allows acid to come out of the stomach and into the esophagus, causing the typical reflux pain one gets in their chest.
I could do a whole blog post on reflux, but I will stop there for now. This is such a common problem that I see with my clients, if it's something you struggle with please reach out and we can figure out a plan together on how to get it under control.
See how complex digestion can be? Once the partially digested food has moved out of the stomach it enters the small intestines. Here there are a couple other organs that help with digestion process: gallbladder & pancreas. Let's talk about your gallbladder first. This organ is used to store bile and release it when needed, bile functions include:
properly digest fats
helps us absorb fat soluble vitamins: A, D, E, & K
eliminate toxins & metabolic waste
antimicrobial effect in the small intestine, keeping bad bacteria in check to prevent an overgrowth
promotes peristalsis in our large intestine (helps keep our stool moving through at an appropriate pace)
The gallbladder plays a very important role in digestion, and it's also a very common organ to be removed when people are having issues with it (i.e gallstones, sluggish gallbladder). There are many ways that this can be addressed to improve function without removal. That being said if it has been removed there are also many supports that can be used to address the functions needed listed above.
Symptoms you may experience if your gallbladder isn't functioning optimally:
bowel movements that float or look greasy
gray colored bowel movements
upset stomach with fatty/fried foods
pain on the right side under your ribcage or pain between your shoulder blades
foul-smelling stool
Tips to improve gallbladder function:
all the tips listed above that support HCl production and the initial steps of digestion
improve blood sugar regulation
avoid low fat diets as this can lead to impaired functioning over time
stay properly hydrated (at minimum drink half your body weight in oz of water per day, if you sweat a lot increase this amount)
ensure you're getting enough cofactors in your diet to produce enough bile: Vitamin C (citrus, bell peppers, kiwi), electrolytes, and amino acids from protein
if your gallbladder has been removed you need to supplement with ox bile to ensure you're properly digesting fats with meals.
Next our pancreas releases enzymes to help further breakdown fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. All of these enzymes and bile are utilized to breakdown food into small enough particles that they can be properly absorbed and transported into our blood stream for use throughout our body. Like stated above, for these to be released from our gallbladder and pancreas the partially digested food needs to be acidic enough to trigger their release. If you don't have enough stomach acid the partially digested food won't be acidic enough to trigger the release of bile and pancreatic enzymes, causing even more digestive dysfunction and discomfort.
Next up is our small intestines, this is the longest portion of our digestive tract measuring up to 22ft in length! Ideally we have plenty of time to properly break our food down and absorb all the nutrients we need before it gets to our large intestine.
Symptoms you may experience if digestion in the small intestine isn't functioning optimally:
bloating & gas
food intolerances
diarrhea or constipation
Tips to improve digestion in small intestine:
all tips listed above to increase stomach acid & mentally prepare for meals
supplement with digestive enzymes &/or bile supports
Lastly we have our large intestine. It surprises people how many functions our large intestine has and how important its function is for our overall health:
absorbing water & electrolytes
concentrating and transporting our waste material for elimination
producing and absorbing vitamins: Vitamin K, B1, B2, B12, and short chain fatty acids (important for the brain gut connection)
houses the majority of our gut microbiome
The most common symptoms people experience that they believe is directly related to large intestine function is constipation and diarrhea. However there is often dysfunction also occurring further north in the digestive tract that's contributing to these symptoms, it's not strictly a large intestine issue.
What may be contributing to a large intestine issues:
magnesium supplementation: can lead to diarrhea
dehydration
sluggish gallbladder/malabsorption of fats
hypothyroid linked with constipation
sedentary lifestyle correlated with constipation
stress
dysbiosis, bacterial/viral infections
Tips for supporting your large intestine (in addition to supports listed above):
eat foods containing prebiotics: garlic, artichoke, onion, asparagus, oats, leeks, bananas, green plantains
eat foods with natural probiotics: kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, kefir
caveat: this can worsen GI symptoms for some people, if they have an bacterial overgrowth, fungal issue, or leaky gut
stay hydrated: half your body weight in oz per day, increase if you're sweating from exercise or sauna
consume fiber rich foods: goal 25g/day (vegetables, fruit, avocado, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, legumes)
keep active with exercise or walking.
It's amazing how complex our digestive system is, and this is the short version! Hopefully this overview helped you understand how important digestion is and gave you some insights in how to better support your digestion. That being said all the supports listed here might not be the best for everyone. Getting a thorough evaluation of your symptoms and health concerns with a practitioner can really help you get a better picture of your digestive function and overall health. You will get tailored advice to ensure that you're addressing the correct areas of dysfunction, which can lead to quicker symptom relief.
I would love to help support your digestion and if you have any questions or would like more information please schedule a free discovery call by clicking the link below: