The Important Truth About Digestion
Think of digestion as the root to your tree of life—the system that takes hold of all the nutrients from soil, sun, water, and air; breaks them down; and makes them available for use by the rest of your body. When your digestive system malfunctions, you open the door to nutritional deficiencies, food and environmental allergies, parasites, increased absorption of toxins, poor immune function, inflammation, fatigue, and all manner of chronic, degenerative diseases.
I Have This Gut Feeling…
Digestion—the process of separating the pure from the impure and absorbing life's necessities—is so important that it's been said that life and death often starts in your colon. The digestive system contains an integral network of nerves, blood vessels, and even some of the same neuro-transmitters found in your brain.
Healthy digestion and absorption begin with attention to how, when, and what you eat. You think about food, and saliva begins to form. As you chew your food, a digestive enzyme is secreted and begins to break it down. These factors set the stage for how your body will digest the food you eat.
Digestive enzymes are complex proteins that orchestrate the chemical breakdown reactions necessary for proper digestion. While these enzymes are essential, many people don't get them from their diets.
There are three main enzyme groups involved in the digestive process:
- Amylases initiate the digestion of starches (carbohydrates) and are found throughout the digestive process, starting with the salivary glands. Like other enzyme groups, amylases set off a chain reaction of enzymatic activity that eventually supports energy production.
- Proteases break down proteins in the stomach. Proteins are further broken down by pancreatic enzymes in the small intestine, with a majority becoming amino acids and peptides, the building blocks of life.
- Lipases break down fat. Along with bile salts, they also help the absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins, such as A, D, E, and K, and essential fatty acids.
Without these main enzyme groups, digestion doesn't happen.
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Bacteria—It's Not All Bad
There are millions of friendly organisms growing in the intestines. These good bacteria (or microflora) help neutralize toxins and inhibit the growth of bad bacteria, both of which can damage the gut and intestinal lining and weaken your immunity.
The two most common types of gut flora are Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacteria bifidus. Lactobacilli are concentrated in the small intestine and produce lactase, an enzyme that breaks down milk sugars. Bifidobacteria reside in the large intestine and manufacture many of the B-complex vitamins. Both help protect the intestines from foreign invaders by supporting the proper pH of your internal environment.
Beneficial microflora are damaged by the use of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals, stress, refined foods, and too much alcohol. They also tend to decrease with age, which can lead to skin and joint problems, allergies, impaired digestive function, and a weakened immune system.
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Drugs That Endanger Digestion
According to the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NDDIC), a number of medicines, though often safe when taken as directed, can have an adverse effect on the digestive system. Reactions range from mild to severe and include inhibiting the growth of friendly bacteria, interfering with stomach acid production, increasing the likelihood of reflux, increasing constipation, inducing diarrhea, inflaming the stomach lining, and causing ulcers. Click here for a list of culprits.
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Drug-Free Solutions for Better Digestion
Try these safe, natural, and effective therapies that support optimum digestive health. They can make all the difference in how you feel.
- Drink water. Water dilutes toxins in food and provides a medium for elimination. Sip a glass of water with your meals but drink most of your water between meals throughout the day. Too much water at mealtime or if served too cold can hinder digestion. This becomes increasingly more important as you grow older, and your enzyme production can decrease.
- Test for food allergies. Start with the most common culprits: wheat, eggs, and dairy. Eliminate these foods one at a time, avoiding each for about three weeks. Then reintroduce the food at one meal, and see how you feel over the next few days. If you identify a food as an allergy trigger, avoid it for a few months to give your body time to heal. Then reintroduce it slowly (once or twice a week, with two to three days in between).
- Don't overeat. Digesting large amounts of food burdens your body unnecessarily. Portions of any one food should be the size of your closed fist.
- Chew your food well and eat smaller portions of nutrient-dense, calorie-light foods.
- Eat regularly. The more regular your eating habits, the easier it is for your body to perform digestion, absorption, assimilation, and elimination. Limit late night eating.
- Avoid refined or processed foods, additives, and trans fats. Consume a variety of whole, natural, complex carbohydrates, proteins, and fats—preferably organic. If you constantly eat the same few foods, you could be weakening your body systems by not keeping all your nutrient stores complete.
- Eat protein. Legumes, eggs, and any meats are great sources of protein. If you eat meat, look for grass-fed, hormone-free, or wild selections. They'll taste better, provide you with a broader spectrum of benefits, and won't overload your digestive system with foreign hormones and toxins.
- Get plenty of fiber. Fiber absorbs impurities and water, gets rid of poisons, cleanses and stimulates your bowels, and helps speed waste through your body. A healthy diet contains soluble fibers from vegetables and fruits (pectins) and insoluble fiber from grains and seeds (bran).
- Breathe deeply and relax at meal times.
Gastric Relief
If you suffer from digestive upset, complete with gas and burping, try carminatives. They increase the secretion of stomach acids to help digestion, relax intestines, relieve trapped air, and allow gas to be passed.
- Fennel seeds help reduce gas and prevent bloating after a rich meal. Chew on two or three seeds immediately after your meal.
- Peppermint tea stimulates bile flow and promotes stomach secretions. Drink a cup of peppermint tea 30 minutes before your meal.
- German chamomile flowers reduce inflammation and stomach spasms. Try a cup of chamomile tea between meals.
- Ginger root is often used to soothe nausea. Fresh ginger root is tasty in cooking, ginger tea and candied ginger are other good options.
- Herbal bitters are a European secret to a more pleasant dining experience. In most European restaurants (and in many in the U.S.), you can get a small glass of herbal bitters to help digestion or relieve digestive distress.
Supplement with Enzymes
- For good digestion, optimal nutrient availability, and exposure to potential antigens, take plant enzymes (one or two capsules with a snack or two to four with your meal, depending on your needs).
- Increase your good bacteria (microflora). Try eating foods that contain these bacteria, like yogurt and kefir, or supplement with probiotics. Probiotics should be taken 30 minutes before or two hours after a meal for best results.
| This article was adapted from my Special Report, Better Digestion, Better Health, which goes into greater detail, gives additional suggestions, and provides the names of specific high quality products for the recommendations above. To order the full report, please call 800.264.4871. If you'd like to know more about natural solutions for other conditions, consider subscribing to Naturally Well Today, my monthly newsletter on healing with nature's medicine. |
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Screening to Save Your Life
The March issue of Naturally Well Today addresses the topic of colorectal cancer. This condition is often the result of constant exposure to toxins in your gut, so your most effective plan is to keep your digestive tract clean and clear. See the March Naturally Well Today for the details of a program that promotes overall digestive health.
Colorectal cancer is a serious condition, and one that you should not try to treat yourself. If you suspect that you may have developed cancer, see your physician for confirmation. With that said, it’s smart to keep regular track of the health of your colon.
Half the 80 million people over the age of 50 have never been screened for colon cancer. There’s a high price to pay for ignorance here, though. Nearly two-thirds of people diagnosed with colorectal cancer have cancer that extends completely through the wall of the colon or rectum into the lymph nodes or has already spread to distant organs such as the liver or lungs. In 37 percent of cases, the cancer is confined to superficial cell layers—the best-case scenario—or extends through the intestinal wall but has not reached the lymph nodes. The survival rate after early detection is 90 percent; if the cancer has spread the survival rate is just 5 percent. Preventive screening pays, but you can make the best choice if you know the fine points of screening.
There are a variety of screening tests for colorectal cancer. The simplest one is a smear test in which a tiny amount of stool is smeared on a small card. A reagent on the card will turn color if there’s any blood in the stool—one of the classic signs of colorectal cancer. This test is something your doctor can perform at your annual physical exam, with little additional time, cost, or discomfort.
The next step up is a home-use kit that also tests for hidden blood in the stool. With this one you simply drop a biodegradable test paper into the toilet bowl after a bowel movement, and wait for two minutes. That’s it. If there is blood in the stool, a cross on the test tissue will turn blue-green to let you know.
The test, called EZ Detect, is affordable—and you don’t need a prescription for it. You can order directly from www.ezdetect.com or by calling 800-854-3002. When ordered off this Web site, the price is $7.99 per test kit, plus $3.65 shipping in the U.S.
The Best Test for Your Peace of Mind
The gold standard of colon cancer screening is still colonoscopy. During this procedure, you are pleasantly sedated and only mildly aware of any goings-on. The doctor guides a thin, flexible tube with a tiny camera through the colon to check for—and in some cases, even remove—abnormalities, including cancerous and precancerous growths. On average, it takes seven minutes for a doctor to guide the colonoscopy device to the top of the colon and another six minutes to withdraw it as he evaluates the inside of the colon. Pausing to remove an abnormal growth takes four extra minutes, on average.
When you’re looking for a doctor to perform your exam, ask candidates how long it takes them to withdraw the scope. A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that physicians who routinely took more than the six-minute average to complete the examination flagged up to four times as many abnormal growths compared to those who rushed through a colonoscopy. The findings come from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Rockford, Ill.
If you’re unwilling or unable to undergo a colonoscopy, consider PreGen-Plus, a new home test. It provides a safe, simple, albeit somewhat pricey ($575) alternative that actually analyzes the DNA in your stool to determine whether you have incurred genetic mutations that occur in all cancer cells. When a cancer grows in the colon, it sheds cells into the stool. PreGen-Plus tests a stool sample for 23 DNA markers associated with colorectal cancer and pre-cancerous polyps. For more information, see www.dnadirect.com/tests/colon_cancer_pregen/what.jsp.
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