Nutrition & The Digestive Wonder

Our digestive system is almost like an alien, living inside us with its own brain, muscles and eco system. It is our body’s main connection to the outside world and starts with the mouth and ends with the anus.

 This long tube - with a multitude of chambers, lumps and bumps is responsible for nutrient absorption, exclusion of toxins, production of vitamins, regulation of the immune system and it provides a stately home for all sorts of friendly bacteria. But with great power comes great responsibility. With a job so diverse, there is plenty of opportunity for errors, mishaps and imbalances.

Let’s start at the beginning when we put the first bite of food into our mouths. Just by smelling and thinking about a meal, our digestive juices will be activated and preparation for digestion has already begun. The eyes feast on colour – one of many reasons why preparing a rainbow coloured feast is the way to go. If you eat on the move, often your juices won’t yet be flowing, which may result in an impromptu burp-a-thon.

The chewing motion alone will send messages to your stomach, announcing the imminent arrival of food and initiating stomach acid production. So take your time and enjoy every bite.

Once your tooth-churned food has reached your stomach, all the carbohydrate will be put to one side and the principle focus will be to dissect the protein content of your meal. Good healthy stomach acid is incredibly strong and will barrage through even the toughest piece of meat. Should this not go according to plan - due to inadequate stomach acid - undigested proteins can travel through to your large intestine and mess with your gut flora, resulting in a bloated belly and embarrassing wind.

 There are a number of reasons why your stomach acid levels might not be up to scratch such as stress or deficiencies in zinc and B vitamins.

Next stop is the duodenum: As soon as your second brain (the gut) senses the presence of fat, a big squirt of bile is released from your gallbladder to attack everything fatty and carbohydrate- rich. 

Once the broth of half digested food, enzymes, acids and digestive juices have reached your small intestine. Nutrient absorption occurs during this stage and the intestine wall is incredibly sensitive to damage.

 Certain substances can aggravate the gut wall including alcohol, food additives and antibiotics. When damage occurs to the gut wall, small gaps can form which give rise to food particles slipping through the net of cells and triggering your immune system. This gut permeability can provoke the development of allergies, headaches and skin conditions to name but a few.

  Moving further along into the large intestine, more nutrients are absorbed, water is extracted and the churning reaches climax. An array of redundant compounds gather in this highly sophisticated area such as used up hormones, toxins sent from the liver for excretion and dead bacteria and cells that need to be transported out.

 In the case of constipation, many of these particles can be reabsorbed, which may result in hormonal disruption and an over-burdened liver. There are many causes of constipation, but some of the most common are lack of fibre, dehydration and stress. If you suffer from frequent bouts of diarrhoea, then your system will not have sufficient time to absorb the nutrients in your food and this can lead to a domino effect in your body of organ malfunction.

Some of the most uncomfortable conditions of the digestion system include IBS, IBD and celiac disease. In such cases, inflammation and structural disturbance make it difficult to efficiently digest food - resulting in distressing symptoms which can even be life threatening.

Most people require some assistance in achieving optimal digestive health and well-being. A nutritional consultation will work to identify the root causes of digestive disharmony and weakness to implement a personally designed nutritional programme to spring you back to tip top condition.