Digestion: The Key to A Healthier You

Dr. Virginia — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 20:01:45 +0000

If someone were to ask you about your digestion, chances are you would jump to the conclusion that they were asking about the quality and quantity of your bathroom visits, right? But it is so much more than that! We are going to explore exactly what it means to have great digestion and how important it really is.

Digestion, as we know it in the functional nutrition world, begins with our foods journey entering the mouth, where chewing initiates the production of saliva. It then continues on through to the stomach where protein is digested, we call this Upper Digestion or Phase 1. In the next step it dumps into the small intestine where liver and pancreatic enzymes join the party and at this point it no longer resembles the hamburger or salad that you ate; think of this as Phase 2. Enzymes and good bacteria do a majority of the digesting of fats and carbohydrates here. Vitamins, amino acids, and fatty acids are moved from the intestine through the gut wall to the blood stream. Once the food has completed its journey through the small intestine it moves on to the large intestine; Phase 3. The large intestine is where more of our nutrients and water are reabsorbed back into the blood stream leaving only the trash to be eliminated.

Whew! That’s a lot of changes just to get lunch to turn into ATP (the energy a cell needs to function).

What does it look like if our digestive system isn’t working right?

Indigestion
IBS – Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Heartburn
Diarrhea
Reflux/GERD
Constipation
Weight Gain
Floating stools
Bloating/Gas
Colitis
Burping after meals
Hemorrhoids
Bad breath
Ulcers
Thin/Cracking nails
Thinning hair

Some of these symptoms are pretty serious, and it’s important to treat the root cause of the problem, not just the symptoms.

But what ARE the causes of digestive issues?

These and more can lead to a disrupted digestive system. I have patients who have been on prescription medications for years that are intended to be used for a maximum of 6 weeks, while others have had to have sections of their bowel removed due to chronic inflammation, as in Chrohn’s or colitis. If we don’t fix the underlying issue when our symptoms begin, often times the body will adapt and continue to deteriorate. It is always a good idea to look for the underlying condition so that we can resume a homeostatic or balanced gut function as soon as possible.

This problem is HUGE!!

In 2014 Americans spent approximately $2,000,000,000 (billion) on antacid tablets and liquids such as: Omeprazole, Tums, Prilosec, Rolaids, Zantac, Pepto Bismol, etc. I would say that digestion is a pretty big problem, and sadly none of these actually fix the underlying problem.

To begin to address the underlying cause, we need to talk about physiology for a minute. The normal pH of the stomach is very acidic, between 1 and 2, (like battery acid) so that we can absorb our minerals and digest our protein. Antacids change the pH of the stomach to anywhere between 5 and 11 which is very alkaline, and it can lead to reduced symptoms, however we no longer digest our protein or absorb our minerals very well. This type of fix is like the oil light flashing on your car dashboard and you removing the light-bulb! Not a good long term fix right??

Like the low oil in your car signaling the light to come on, low levels of digestive enzymes can trigger heartburn, indigestion and slow stomach emptying. Oftentimes what we need is an up-regulation of the quality or quantity of digestive enzymes to make protein digestion in the stomach more efficient and promote the emptying of the stomach contents into the small intestine. When this happens, it sets up a chain reaction for the rest of the digestive system to function more effectively! Its a win-win!

So what are some things we can do at home?

Chew our food really well
Try not to drink too much liquid during mealtime so that we don’t dilute our acid. If you’re over 50, you may need to consider a digestive enzyme since you make less stomach acid
Avoid alkaline water unless you have a specific condition that warrants it
Don’t eat and watch TV or eat and drive, or eat and play on your phone. Eating is part of the parasympathetic nervous system, which is rest and digest, so just eat for best results
Avoid high sugar foods
Eat organic when possible to reduce your pesticide and herbicide exposure

If those aren’t enough, it may be necessary to get some whole food supplement or herbal digestive support from your local functional nutritionist or holistic healthcare provider

When digestion is working well, we are converting food into energy, we have less cravings, we optimize our fuel efficiency, we are providing our body with the needed nutrients to make repairs and build muscle and bones.

In summary, as we optimize digestion, we improve the breakdown of our food, we eliminate more efficiently, and we glean more energy and nutrients from our food allowing us to eat less and store less. What do you need to do to improve your digestion? Let us help you figure out which component needs support.

Sources: www.statista.com/statistics/194538/leading-us-antacid-tablet-vendors-in-2013-based-on-sales/

CONTACT:

Dr. Virginia S. Irby D.C.,DABCO, ACN

Cascade Chiropractic

2371 Iron Point Rd. Ste. 130

Folsom, CA 95630

916-844-2800

Just Right

Dr. Virginia — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 17:51:20 +0000

Imagine you’re the digestive system for a few minutes. It’s nearly dinnertime, and the aroma of your favorite meal fills the house, your mouth begins to water (that’s one of the first steps of digestion, you know) while the stomach prepares for the work ahead. Imagine, if you will, a little person in the stomach with his yellow acid-proof suit, hard hat, and heavy duty rubber boots. His job is to keep the acid and enzyme levels just right, so he sends information to the brain about what’s for dinner and waits for messages from the brain to tell him which levers to pull. The purpose of the enzymes and acid is to break up the food (he really prefers chewed up food) so that the nutrients can be absorbed in the intestines. Without the proper balance of enzymes and acids the food can’t get broken down and the little buy in the yellow rubber suit has to work overtime. He hates overtime! How does this delicate balance get messed up? Here’s one way – see if this example applies to any other aspects of your health.

Let’s call our little rubber-suited person Ace (ase) since many of the enzymes are lipase, protease, cholinesterase, etc. So Ace is getting all the stuff in order when the guy who owns the body decides to listen to one of those silly commercials he heard on T.V. You know the ones; two guys sitting in a car, one guy says to the other, “Hey, Joe let’s have a chili dog.” Joe says, “Oh, I’d love to but I forgot to take my Pepcid AC.” The other guy says, “Don’t worry about it, take some of mine it works right away.” So he takes an antacid. Ace seeing it land says to himself, “Hey what’s going on? My mixture is all wrong, that pill is messing with the acid balance.” Ace quickly sends a message to the brain. The brain responds, “Send more acid!” Ace jumps into action and pulls more levers. Here we have a situation where the body has to over perform, do double duty, to get a basic task done. The problem extends far beyond that meal however, because eventually the glands responsible for producing enzymes and acids have done the work of two lifetimes and they get tired of working overtime. They go on strike and refuse to work! Pretty soon, even if there is no Nexium, Prilosec, Prevacid, or Tums there just isn’t enough energy left in those glands to get the easiest food digested.

What leads up to a body requiring a drug? What causes enough interference in the communication system to produce too much acid, too little insulin, estrogen, thyroxine? One reason is dietary and lifestyle choices that create an unfavorable condition in the digestive system. The standard American diet of sugar-laden and highly-acidic processed foods, consumed in rushed conditions can lead to indigestion, heartburn, acid reflux, and ulcers. These types of issues are so common that acid blocking drugs are among the most highly prescribed drugs on the planet. Acid blockers were prescribed at 270 million hospital trips made by ambulance from 2006-2010 and account for $10 billion dollars annually.

In addition, more and more newborns and infants are receiving a diagnosis of reflux and GERD. An analysis of health records of more than 792,000 children born between 2001 and 2013 uncovered that 8% of children were prescribed antacids and antibiotics in their first 6 months of life. We need to ask ourselves, is it possible that these infants lack the proper gut flora to digest their food due to poor gut health of the mother (which passes to the baby in the birth canal)? Could this lead to additional health and digestion issues as the child grows into adulthood? The answer to these questions is most certainly yes. The answer to the problem however, is not an antacid, it lies in the restoration of normal digestive function and a return to health!

Guyton, A. (1976) Medical Physiology. Zed Books.

Chetley, A. (April 26, 2002) “Problem Drugs.” IMS Reports. Fairfield, CT: IMS Health.

GreenMedInfo Research Group (January 16, 2018) “Top 5 Reasons NEVER to Take a Proton Pump Inhibitor.” Retrieved from http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/top-5-reasons-never-take-proton-pump-inhibitor