So you think you are what you eat ! read on…..you are what you absorb

The Digestive System and How it can affect every body system and organ, eventually……

We are constantly being told that this or that food it not good for us. This information changes by the week, month or year. It is never explained to us why, some foods and fluids are essential to life, others are not. So much information is available, how valid is the latest information or is it just another fad. There are numerous differing opinions, all potentially valid, scientifically substantiated, yet so contradicatory. Very confusing for most people.

There is no real reason for any snippet of information to be incorrect but it still leaves most people wondering if they are doing right or wrong, particularly if they are not feeling well, overweight, underweight or with some symptom such as IBS, CVD, PMT, Menopause, eczema, asthma and so on.

When a change of diet is required because of illness or just to improve overall wellbeing, it is really important that there is a belief in what you are trying to achieve, combined with correct information. To become motivated to change you need to be positive about what you are doing and the possible outcome that is likely. i.e will I have lost weight, rid myself of eczema etc.

As a nutritionist I believe that everything that is healthy or unhealthy about someone has begun in the digestive system, so much is affected in the rest of the body if this system does not work efficiently. This may be due to poor diet, stress etc.

Immunity concerned with digestion.

You will hear that the body digests food matter, this is not correct, it is the micro organisms contained within the body that do the job. The good bacteria and some of the bad guys too.

The body is an environmental package for bacteria to proliferate. The food we consume will determine the kind of bacteria that will grow or be destroyed. A balance of the correct foods, water and heat will keep the acid and alkaline situation balanced so that the digestive system works efficiently without giving its host any problems. The good and bad guys are aided by the body’s own chemicals, fat disolvers and digestive enzymes which they cannot produce, but they are very good in the job they do in there. These microforms are called the friendly bacteria, they multiply through digestion of nutrients. These guys help, along with our enzymes, to breakdown the foods we eat into vitamins, minerals, amino acids (proteins), carbohydrates, fatty acids, etc., this is why when there is poor digestion or gut dysbiosis, this cannot happen, therefore malnutrition and all the symptoms of ill health mentioned earlier would be present.

But what about the bad guys, the unfriendly bacteria, they like the same environment as the good guys but when these unfriendly bacteria breed they cause fermentation or putrefaction which gives off a different chemical composition causing toxins to be present, the bi-product of the bad guys. This is when you get a bloated abdomen and other symptoms such as foggy thinking, spacey heads, headaches, nausea and so on, which will lead on to the other health issues mentioned earlier.

There should be a massive 80% of good bacteria to a 20% of bad for the digestive system to work efficiently. Most people have spent a long time eating the foods which love to increase the bad guys ending up with the balance the other way round.

Which foods cause us to increase the good bacteria ? fresh raw vegetables, fruits in the correct combination, if you refer to my “hunter/gatherer idea then you will see that our complex digestive system was designed to work with these foods.

Foods that are high in what is termed as simple sugars or fast release carbohydrates which means taken up in the body very quickly i.e. white sugar, honey maltose, lactose etc will encourage fermentation, even some fruits such as melon and bananas and dried fruits will cause fermentation, particularly where there is already a problem with too many of the bad guys (bacteria) The high protein foods such as meat etc will encourage putrefaction. The organisation of food types, if kept simple will assist digestion, the more complex food combining will lead to a massive fight inside the body causing in-digestion. Certain chemical/enzymatic changes take place in the process of digestion, under normal circumstances. Each part of the digestive tract has a job to do, see below in order for delivery of the correct nutrients in their broken down state to be delivered to the necessary systems, if this does not happen you end up with a toxic system due to the bi-products of the waste/purtrefication.

There are, as I have said, several stages of digestion in order to break down the foods to be taken up by the body in their various forms.

The first stage of this process begins in the mouth itself, the saliva secreted into the mouth through the mucous membranes contains the necessary enzyme Ptyalin to break down starches. Ptyalin production is severely disabled if the diet consists of sugars and/or acids. These two food products need other enzymes to work on them.

Sight and smell as well as taste can cause the release of the various enzymes and HCA in the stomach what we call gastric juices, I use the analogy of chewing gum, this is taking place in the mouth which is causing the stomach to prepare for “what might be” continued use of this will cause problems in the gut such as over production of acid. Think about that you people who chew gum – that is probably why you chew it because your stomach is overactive and causing a bad taste in you rmouth !

The stomach digests or breaks down protein (meat etc) due to its high acidic environment (hydrochloric acid) and the enzyme pepsin together with heat. Even hormones play their part here where the hormone gastrin stimulates the gastric glands to produce gastric juice. The stomach is where proteins are broken down into polypeptides for the small intestine to pick up and convert to amino acids

Proteins take the longest to digest, next to fat, but as protein is usually meat this will have fat within it. It causes the most in energy and water usage.

Foods can remain in the stomach for minutes or hours depending on the type of food. If the balance of the stomach’s gastric juice is incorrect the proteins cannot be broken down and will either sit there for hours, days or will go on to putrefy in the bowel. Eating too fast and too much can cause this, also if there is constipation further down in the colon, you can get a stacking up problem.

You cannot mix oil (fat) and water so for the body to use these foods we must emulsify the fat with bile. Bile is secreted from the liver and stored in the gall bladder until it is required, the orange-coloured bile enters the system just after the stomach (duodenum). If there are no fats in the meal the gallbladder will not be required until the next meal or snack, less fat means a more concentrated bile when needed.

The contents of the stomach pass into the small intestine as a liquid named Chyme. This is/or should be a very alkaline environment. Where bile may be present to emulsify any fats. Bile also carries with it much of the debris that is cleaned from the blood by the liver. The multitude of dead cells and immune debris leave the body via this route, this is what colours and deodorises the faeces.

The small intestine is where digestion takes place, it is very alkaline where lots of good and hopefully a little bad bacteria will be working on the chyme which is the contents of the stomach to help digestion of nutrients that the body can use, these nutrients are then released through tiny villi (hair like projections of the intestinal wall into the blood system to be directed to wherever they are needed to repair and rebuild the body’s many cells. Many starches are broken down into sugars (subject to evidence of Ptyalin in the mouth) and are absorbed into the intestinal walls to be carried to the liver for storage and distribution (after being converted to Glucose – the only sugar the body can utilize).

Also here is where most of the emulsified fats leave the intestinal tract for the liver, for further processing into the multitude of oils utilized by every cell the body

Considering the length of the intestines it would make sense that a diet of mainly a vegetable source would be correct.

Processed sugars and starches which means fast food,sweets chocolates etc go straight from the small intestine as glucose into the blood stream. Where there is a continual use of these foods it will stress the Pancreas, which must produce Insulin to get the sugars out of the bloodstream, and into cells. The excess glucose may be converted into glycogen in the liver and skeletal muscles, in order for it to be re-used it has to return to glucose, the conversion of which is made by hormones (adrenaline, thyroxine, glucagon) The excess is stored in Adipose (fat) tissues, in an attempt to stop it clogging arteries, but all defenses have their limitations.

With constant over use of refined foods Insulin secretion glands in the Pancreas will fail, and conditions such as Pancreatitis and Diabetes are just a short time away

The good bacteria works well with sugars and starches that come in natural foods (fruit and vegetables), together with all the nutrients and enzymes to be broken down and taken up by the body. Refined foods (simple sugars) will call upon the pancreas to produce enzymes but this is not ideal, as we have said above it will cause a deterioration in this gland. The bad bacteria will love these simple sugars which will then cause fermentation as well as encouraging the growth of bad bacteria but also the bi-products or toxins such as Ethanol, Alcohol and gasses. (hence a bloated abdomen and plenty of wind!!)

An overgrowth of an unfriendly bacteria can be immune-resistant, and very difficult to suppress, therefore candida is often found in people with chronic fatigue because their immune systems have broken down.

The small intestine is where carbohydrates are converted to monosaccharides, protein into amino acids and fats into fatty acids and glycerol.

We now have vitamins and minerals to nourish the body, (all things being equal in health).

Lymphoid tissue is situated at the beginning of the colon (large intestine) where the small intestine tails off to join the large intestine, its job is to eliminate the bad bacteria entering the colon.

We now move on down the tract to the next long tube, the colon. There is also a lot of work going on here with absorption of water to create a semi solid stool and a collection of minerals salts and vitamins which can be absorbed into the blood stream. The colon is also a host for microbes such as Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Streptoccocus faecialis, Clostridium perfringens. Whilst safely in the colon they will deal with the final putrefecation of the waste but if they get out due to inefficient valves they can move back up through the digestive system where they will cause a bacterial catastrophe.

Where there is constipation it is a real problem or where a poor fibreless diet has lead to leaking or inefficient valves and allowing bad bacterias going back up into the small intestine and further. Back up in the small intestine, if there was a lot of bad bacteria, the mucosal layers of the tract would have produced more mucus than normal to try to slide this and any other nutrients through to the colon (hence mucus coating the stools is often seen with people on highly refined diets and malnutrition). Here the water is drawn out of the Chyme , If there is constipation these mucoid layers begin to stiffen, becoming more sticky and even harder to move. This will at worst prevent or at least cause a problem with assimilation of nutrients through the colon wall. As this mucus was a result of bad bacteria in the small intestine it will have produced its own toxins. The Appendix (if not been removed) may have suppressed the bacteria somewhat, but they still exist in their millions within the mucousa, a great feeding and breeding site. The Colon, in good health, should never be in this condition, but sadly there are a massive amount of people with unhealthy colons and at 2.5 metres long this is a very unhealthy state of affairs.

The entire intestinal tract is a series of circular muscles that move the Chyme by what is known as peristalsis. Just as any other muscle, if stretched too thinly or ballooning caused by overeating and repressed gases, or held permanently tense, with a low or no fibre diet or distended through a sedentary lifestyle, there is sure to be diverticulitis or other problems, maybe even cancer.

The other massive problem is the toxic waste, namely bacteria and parasites, as said before, a massive breeding ground so if there is little flexibility in the colon, thickening of the walls due to the mucous and toxic waste the muscles will become unable to flex or move the waste normally, therefore constipation or diarrhoea (diarrhoea is often caused when the colon is so packed only water and a small amount of waste can get through) will occur. Without this massaging effect (peristalsis), blood has only limited access, therefore cell wastes are not cleared away thoroughly, oxygen is not evenly distributed to them, and they literally suffocate in their own toxic wastes. The entire muscle will eventually go into degeneration, further compromising or causing disease to the entire system.

When one muscle is compromised or wasted, the next has to work twice as hard, which spreads the tension and stress. Moreover, when this happens close to a ballooning muscle ring, then the pressure alone will further bloat this area. Just as underactive as a stressed muscle, the ballooning section has the added disadvantage of creating further folds and space in which to collect additional mucous.

Within the decomposing, hardened mucous, there lies another demon. Much bigger than the bacteria and in fact it can be much longer than the person in which it resides. Parasites, primarily worms, can range from microscopic, to ½ metre long (Some Tape Worms have been recorded as 28 feet long – the length of the intestinal tract).

I have clients ask “how can I get these horrible parasites”, well, they come on foods contaminated by the manufacturers, chef’s, dirty fast food outlets and restaurants and believe it or not an unwashed lettuce can carry more salmonella than an egg !! and what about the apples you buy in the supermarket and eat without washing, or those grapes, yes !! people with dirty hands have been all over them even if they are organic and free from pesticides and herbicides, they may carry bacteria and parasites. Anyone with pets, particularly cats as they seem to lay around on pillows in your beds !!! will definitely have some form of parasite, I say worm them and yourself (not with the same product !).

Often people during foreign travel get an upset tummy, they appear to get over it, but I can vouch that those little bugs will breed and cause longer term problems which will be seen at a later stage and until dealt with will wreak havoc with the digestive system. Most of these parasites are living not from the food you eat, but from the material that is still decomposing within the mucous lining of the intestines. This is why I insist on a high fibre diet to ensure the bowels are freely moving, every day. Anyone with any level of constipation will suffer with a build up of parasites and bacteria. However, we do need bacteria and worms to compost our waste, they live naturally in our bowels, but as I have said, in limited amounts not colonies of them.

There is often a great psychological response to the subject of bacteria, and infection. Most people greet the subject with emotionally charged visions of being eaten alive from the inside.

Bowels are my favourite topic, I see nothing but disease ensuing from a toxic bowel – Death by the Colon…… Please improve your digestive health.

You can do this by following my 30 day plan but also I am recommending the products on this website for those who are severely compromised.

For a more personalised approach please contact me for a consultation.