Last week I took you through a brief overview of your digestive system (click here if you missed it). This week I want to look at a few common places where we can have problems and talk a little about how it affects our digestion and our health.
Some of the most common issues that come from our gut are:
- Low stomach acid
- Imbalance (Dysbiosis) of gut microbes
- Slow transit time or increased transit time (time from input to output)
- Food sensitivity reactions
Even one of these can lead to symptoms such as gas, bloating, fatigue, pain, constipation or diarrhea. This is part of the reason why having digestive concerns can be a hard thing to pin point. Finding the source of the dysfunction in the body is the best way you can start making positive changes and bring healing back to the body.
Low stomach acid is something I’m constantly talking to people about at my other job. (Supplements section of a health food store) I can’t even count how many times I start helping someone, and we start talking about why they are looking for the product they came for. Before you know it we are talking about food, and they share with me that after eating they feel as though they have a ‘brick’ in their stomach. This is such a common concern that I hear about, but not many that I speak to understand why it’s happening. I usually ask more, and before I know it, we are finding a number of different signs for low stomach acid and I’m sending them home with either a digestive enzyme with acid in it, or just a supplement of Betaine Hydrochloric Acid, which helps give the stomach more acidity.
Stomach acid is such an important component of digestion. If you don’t have enough, some of your food will not break down and leave you feeling heavy after a meal and later you may experience gas and bloating. One of the most important jobs of stomach acid is to denature proteins. This means it takes super tangled bundles of proteins, and untangles them. This allows for the enzymes to break it apart to use as building materials in the body. Since our body is made up of 17% protein, and proteins and amino acids are needed to keep the body’s chemical reactions going, it is important that we get enough in our diet, but more importantly that we are absorbing it too.
Low stomach acid is typically the cause of acid reflux. Contrary to popular advertising, 95% of cases of acid reflux are usually caused by too little stomach acid. Reason being, when the stomach receives food, and mixes it with the proper amount of acid, this triggers the brain to shut the valve above the stomach (esophageal sphincter) off. Not enough acid, means this valve stays open, and as the stomach tries hard to churn the food with a smaller amount of liquid, some will inevitably be pushed up. Thus, heart burn.
Dysbiosis, is a super fun word to say. When using it in regards to your gut, it’s referring to an improper balance of good and bad bacteria that live in your gut. I hope most people have heard of these little helpers. When they are in a poor balance, you can deal with food cravings, such as sugary foods, excess gas and bloating, poor bowel movements, pain while food moves through your digestive system, poor immunity and skin issues such as eczema. As long as this list seems, I’m sure I am forgetting a few things.
When our gut bacteria doesn’t have enough balance, it leaves us in a state of poor health. What can we do to help it? First, changing your diet to eating whole foods, low sugar and lots of fibre will help. You may also need some extra support by using a probiotic. These are full of the healthy bacteria that our guts want to keep. They thrive on a diet that is rich in plant based foods, since the fibre supplied from these foods is used as food for the bacteria to keep them happy and healthy. Happy gut, happy body!
Transit time! As a nutritionist, I talk about poop, a lot! It is one of the best ways to know how your body is doing. No fancy tests, just observation and knowing how to interpret what comes out. Today I will just talk about how fast or slow it comes. Normal transit time from the moment it enters the mouth to the moment it leaves our bowels should be about 30-40 hours. This allows the food to move through the body, letting it absorb what is needed and then eliminate the rest. If you are longer than 40 hours that signals that you may be constipated. Those suffering often find it not only takes them a long time to move the food through, but it tends to be harder to pass as well. On the flip side, if you are having things going out before 30 hours, this does not allow the body time to absorb the food, and often indicates that the body was unhappy with the food put in, or the digestive system itself it unhealthy (sick or damaged). This is more of a diarrhea, and will come out quick and not so well formed.
Two common things with constipation is a lack of water, and/or a lack of fibre. Water is needed to keep our elimination moist for moving through the colon, and without it, it becomes very dry and hard to move. Fibre is great at drawing moisture into the colon to keep things moving, it’s an important source of nutrients for our gut bacteria and gives bulk to our waste. Downside to fibre, if you have too much of it, and not enough water, you will end up constipated. It’s a fine balance that we want to strive for.
Food sensitivity reactions, these are often the last thought of in the chain of digestive issues. Many times, customers come ask me about probiotics to help with digestive upset. We then start discussing symptoms they are experiencing in their digestion and I ask about their diet. I will often suggest cutting out highly reactive food groups such as wheat (gluten), dairy, excess sugar and nuts. Even if there isn’t an allergy, the body can still have a negative reaction to some food groups. I know this first hand, and continue to experience it through my son. Food sensitivities can take days to show up, so it can be hard to identify quickly. Symptoms can be as simple as feeling digestive upset after a meal or in the next few days, to things like headaches, fatigue, skin conditions, mood swings, diarrhea or constipation and mucous production. There are a number of different reasons why the body would react this way. Lack of a specific enzyme is one of them. A prime example is people that are lactose intolerant. They lack enough of the lactase enzyme to break down this sugar, so it travels through the digestive tract, becomes a fermentable product lower down and causes gas and bloating that can lead to pain and cramping. Another would be leaky gut. This is when the walls of your digestive tract have become some inflamed, they open the spaces between the cells and undigested food particles dive straight into the blood stream. The body recognizes these as foreign invaders and tells the body to get rid of them.
Removing offending foods can drastically change the health of your digestive system and body. Luckily, if we can get to the root cause, you can re-introduce foods. Some people, like myself, still have to limit certain food groups to make sure my digestive system stays happy.
All in all, the digestive system is a complex and important system of our body. It’s important to nourish it well, pay attention to any signs its sending and care for it.
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