Digestion Basics

If you're one of the lucky ones who doesn't experience overt digestive issues... not so quick as this also applies to you!

When Hippocrates said, “all disease begins in the gut” he was really on the spot. Today, digestive disorders affect millions of Americans.

Here’s the thing... Even if you don’t have digestive symptoms, digestion is still a key pillar of health. It's the mama of foundations. That’s why digestion is foundational to nutritional therapy and is the first thing I address with pretty much every client I work with.

If you’ve worked with me one on one or done one of my group cleanses, you’ve no doubt heard me talk about digestion. While I know breathing and chewing are not as sexy as the promises of the latest miracle supplement, it can work wonders. And if it’s an overlooked piece in your protocol it can really hold you back.

Let's take a brief walk through digestion.

It's good to think about digestion as a north to south process. Today I'm mostly focussing on the more northern parts of digestion (think mind, mouth, and stomach vs large intestine and poop). 

Did you know that digestion actually starts with your brain? It starts when you start to think about what you’re about to eat.

Digestion is also a parasympathetic process. This means you must be in a state of calm and relaxation for digestion to work. Parasympathetic is a fancy word that means in order for us to be able to digest and absorb our food, we need to be in a state of rest, digest, and heal as opposed to being in an active stressed state or flight or fight mode in order to make that possible. 

If you’re on the run, stressed out, in an argument, you are in sympathetic mode (this is the case for many of us in the modern world we live in).  When we eat in this state of fight or flight, our body thinks it’s in danger (this is our programming from our hunter-gatherer days… it's as if we're running from the Saber Tooth Tiger) and digestion takes a back seat to other bodily processes designed to get us out of dodge.

When we eat like this often, we are setting ourselves up for trouble (hello gas, bloating, diarrhea or constipation, nutrient deficiencies) as the complex parts of digestion shut down.

Here are a few simple tips and tools you can use to help your body switch modes from “fight or flight” to “rest and digest”. If I can do them I know you can too. And remember it’s about practice, not perfection.

8 Tips to a Happy Belly

Tip 1: Sit down when you eat. It doesn't get much simpler than this. Start paying attention to how often you eat while standing, on the go, or multitasking.

Tip 2:  Take a few deep breaths before you take your first bite of food.  I personally close my eyes when I do this… it helps me relax.

Tip 3: Put your fork down between bites. Ever notice yourself loading up that next bite before you're done chewing. Putting your fork down will help slow you down!

Tip 4: Chew your food! When your food is physically broken down properly, it takes some of the pressure off of other parts of your digestive system.  The action of chewing also gets your salivary juices to start flowing. Food should actually liquefy in your mouth before you swallow.  saliva contains enzymes that start to break down carbohydrates. These enzymes also set into motion a chain of events in the rest of your digestive system to prepare for the food that is coming down the pike (they signal for the release of enzymes and hormones necessary to break down and absorb your food).

Start to pay attention to how much you normally chew. I bet most of you can add five more chews per bite!  

Tip 5: Get a meditation bell for mealtimes. When everyone is seated and before your first bite (if you have kids, they’ll love this) ring the bell. This powerful tool helps clear your mind, relax, and start your meal with ease. I challenge you to do this and hold your breath… it goes against every instinct in the body! I’m sure you’re familiar with the saying “you are what you eat”. It’s a great way to motivate us to eat healthier. However, a closer look lets us know that you are not what you eat, you are what you digest, absorb, and utilize. So no matter how perfect your diet is if your digestion isn’t working properly, not only won’t you be able to absorb all the nutrients you think you’re feeding yourself but you’ll be setting yourself up for a host of digestive problems such as heartburn, dysbiosis (the proliferation of abnormal gut flora), IBS, etc. I have news for you folks… contrary to popular belief, gas, burping, and bloating are not normal!

Tip 6. Drink a small cup of broth with your meal to aid digestion. It’s soothing to your digestive tract, is full of minerals, and helps us assimilate nutrients better. Sometimes, just the act of sipping some warm broth at the start of a meal helps me relax and get into that parasympathetic state.

Tip 7. Include fermented foods with your meals. This could be a small glass of beet kvass, kombucha or water kefir, 1-2 tablespoons of fermented vegetables, or sauerkraut to boost your ability to digest your meal. Fermenting foods makes their nutrients more bioavailable (again, this means your body doesn’t have to work so hard to make the nutrients available as the fermentation process has done some of the digestion for you). Start slow and build up your tolerance. You can also start with a teaspoon of the brine or “juice” from the kraut if you can’t yet tolerate the vegetables at first.

Tip 8. Digestive bitters can also help boost HCL (hydrochloric acid in your stomach that helps you digest proteins) levels. They also stimulate the digestive system to produce digestive enzymes and secrete bile which helps you digest fats.