Gut Health Matters And You Haven’t a Clue
It has come to my attention that many are not fully aware of how their gut functions. Understanding this is crucial for making wise and healthy choices in food and drink. Why? Because your body’s mechanisms are designed to ensure the safe and efficient passage of food, playing a crucial role in keeping you happy and alive. Among these, the skin, lungs, and gut stand out as the three processes directly in contact with the external world.
These three components tirelessly work to keep you alive and safe. While the skin and lungs play vital roles in fending off external threats, the gut, unfortunately, tends to be more compromised. Here’s why:
Your Digestive System
IMPORTANCE OF BACTERIA
Feeling out of balance is a common signal that something might be wrong with your digestive system. As you age, the foods that served you well in childhood may no longer be as beneficial, and changes in your eating habits and lifestyle could contribute to this imbalance. Taking control of your choices is essential for a long and happy life.
Let’s consider breakfast scenarios. A leisurely breakfast, thoroughly enjoyed, involves chewing your food and relishing its taste and texture. On the other hand, skipping breakfast due to lack of sleep or a hectic schedule can be detrimental to your gut, which has waited all night for nourishment.
Your gut is not just your stomach; it includes your entire digestive tract, which is technically outside your body until the food completes its journey. Approximately 36 hours later, the food transforms into blood, nourishing your body and leaving as waste.
Digestion is a multistep process. As you chew, the ptyalin enzyme begins digesting starch, and your immune system works to ensure harmful substances are kept at bay. The stomach, not a solid wall but composed of tiny cells, plays a crucial role. If these cells become compromised, undigested food may escape, leading to various issues like IBS, GALT, Crohn’s disease, Dysbiosis, and more.
Incomplete digestion, especially of starches and proteins, can cause a simmering soup of problems, slowing digestion and potentially overwhelming the immune system. This can lead to diseases over decades of indiscriminate eating.
Awareness is crucial. The gut-associated lymphatic tissue (GALT) is a significant part of your immune system, fighting toxins and bad bacteria. Thoroughly chewing your food helps the GALT system by breaking it down into small pieces for efficient processing. Avoiding water half an hour before and after meals allows the digestive processes to work undiluted.
The Nervous System
AND STILL MORE BACTERIA
Throughout the digestive system, the nervous system plays a vital role. Often referred to as the “gut brain,” it reacts to emotions, sending signals to keep the system in motion. Discomfort or unusual bowel movements can be signals that something is amiss.
Everyone is affected similarly; the degree of suffering and specific impacts may vary. Overindulgence, regardless of differences in diet, amounts, and types of food, is detrimental to health. Balance is key in maintaining a healthy digestive system. Ultimately, if all goes well, your daily bowel movements should be a testament to digestive health.
Bacteria rides on the food and drink you have as meals. It is behind your health. There is good and bad bacteria. The bad is what does the damage and the good is weaked by the onslaught of not only the food but also the lifestyle, stress, environment, air you breath and more. IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU PUT INTO YOUR BODY. AWARENESS IS KEY.
Learn more in the book, Clean Gut by Alejandro Junger, MD. You can find it on Amazon. I have no link so that you know I am offering information without making money.
Feel free to make further adjustments based on your preferences an