What exactly happens when the food we eat hits the stomach and begins the break-down process? Just how does the body get the nutrients it needs?
In truth, digestion should work like clockwork. We should never have to give it a thought. But in a quick survey conducted by the CDC, two-thirds of the adult population had some kind of digestive incident within a three month span.
Practitioners hear complaints of digestive unrest (to put it delicately) all the time. Maybe it strikes as waves of nausea, gas, bloating, or acid reflux. Or maybe it means bouts of diarrhea, or constipation.
How important is the digestive system?
If our digestion is faulty in any way, the nutrients don’t get to every cell. And over time, our well-being is seriously compromised.
For instance, Leaky Gut Syndrome, a euphemism for something called increased intestinal permeability, really means that big food molecules slip through the digestive wall into the blood stream. And when not fully broken down into components that the cells can use, the immune system sees even the good food molecules as threats and quickly kicks in to fight.
Worse yet, at the same time as the immune system is ramping up this attack, the cells in the rest of the body aren’t getting the nutrients they need.
Fortunately, two to three pounds of bacteria live in the digestive system. And with these bacteria, we’re well-equipped to deliver trouble-free digestion and run our metabolism.
At least that is, when things are working right.
Whether we’re tired, whether we’re making enough vitamins (all the B vitamins and vitamin K are manufactured inside our digestive system) depends on how the brain and the gut are “talking” to each other.
80-90% of our serotonin is made in the digestive system. Actually, two-thirds of the immune system is actually located in the digestive system.
There is so much going in the gut it shouldn’t surprise us that the digestive system is often called the second brain.
Yet we often don’t know enough about this “second brain” activity to incorporate it into our diagnosis and treatment.
That’s why you won’t want to miss our mind/body programs.
Starting with increased intestinal permeability, we’ll get into how we as practitioners of mind/body medicine can bring relief to our patients.
The digestive tract can be as competent as clockwork, and that’s information your patients will want to know.