Health Watch; Let's talk about digestion

Let’s talk about digestion. The old adage ‘you are what you eat’ should, in my opinion, be expanded on to include the idea that we are also how we digest. Digestion, after taking into consideration the foundation that is our dietary choices, is the first pillar of overall health and wellness; dysfunction at the beginning of the digestive process only leads to further dysfunction and disease down the line.

If foods are not chewed well and there isn’t sufficient hydrochloric acid (HCl) present in the stomach, proteins that are ingested may be allowed to transit into the gut either partially digested or undigested altogether. These proteins move into the small intestine where they damage the lining of the gut, causing a disorder aptly called leaky gut. Undigested protein molecules are then able to pass through the weakened gut wall into the bloodstream, where they are recognized as foreign. This triggers an immune response from the body and, from then on, memory cells attack the substance each time it is ingested; in addition, these memory cells also attack anything that resembles the invading substance. This leads to autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, celiac disease and others; these conditions cause the body to devastate its own tissues.

To illustrate, there is a certain sequence of peptides (protein derivatives) in milk that are identical to a sequence of peptides in the beta cells of the pancreas. If milk is consumed and the proteins are able to pass into a weakened gut without being properly digested an immune response will take place. Once the body has eradicated the ingested proteins it will continue seeking out anything that resembles them, leading to a deadly attack on the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. The destruction of the beta cells of the pancreas causes the autoimmune disease known as type 1 diabetes.

To avoid these scenarios, we should begin by making sure that we are consuming meals that contain high quality, whole food ingredients. Secondly, we should intentionally support our body’s ability to produce stomach acid; this can be done by eating our food in a relaxed and focused state (stress turns off our digestive mechanisms) and by chewing our food well (really, really well!), which will remove some of the burden from the stomach itself; after all, if carbohydrates are not mostly broken down by the saliva and grinding action within the mouth they will not be much further broken down in the stomach, leaving them free to irritate the lining of the intestines. Finally, try any one of these simple, whole-food options thirty minutes before eating to aid digestion and, therefore, overall health:

• Apple Cider Vinegar - 2 teaspoons of raw, organic ACV in 4 ounces of filtered water can help stimulate HCl production.

• Bitters - Dandelion Root can help enhance bile production and flow for proper fat emulsification; try it as a tea.

• Lemon Water - Warm or room temperature lemon water can help acidify the stomach and promote the production of hydrochloric acid.

Editors note: Toni A. Harvey, daughter of Shawn and LaWanna Harvey of the Bear Paw Motel, is currently a student of the Nutritional Therapy Association and will graduate in June as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. * This article satisfies the student community outreach project required by the NTA.*