The gut is where it all happens. With more neurons in the gut than the spine and brain combined it’s no wonder in Chinese medicine, it is often referred to as the engine of the body. From an evolutionary point of view, we had a gut before anything else and mechanically, movements emanate from the core outwards.
Compatible Food, Gut Health
Any food you eat should give you stable physical, mental and emotional energy for around 4-6 hours. In the book The Metabolic Typing Diet by William Wolcott and Trish Fahey, there’s information on how to work out and fine-tune what your bodies’ nutritional proportional needs. If you’re getting symptoms such as headaches, nausea, bloating, fatigue, irritability etc. this can indicate food sensitivities and intolerances.
Common allergies are nuts and crustaceans that when eaten, can swell the throat and block air coming in. Food sensitivities are foods that irritate the gut lining and can cause an over production of mucous which, is the body’s attempt at breaking the food down. Food sensitivities can be an underlying factor for a lot of diseases and dysfunctions. A large majority of foods that are being sold today are covered with pesticide residue, GMO’s, additives, preservatives, colourings, waxes and other synthetic materials that irritate our bodies and trigger immune reactions.
Most Immunity Comes From Our Gut
Food informs the body how to function. When we eat, we’re taking on the information contained within that food. When we consume processed foods, these foreign substances tell the body that it’s under attack and the body then fights back. This fight back is called an immune response. The immune system is most affective when we are at rest. Our immune system will short-circuit other systems such as digestive system, circulatory, respiratory, repair and the musculoskeletal system in an attempt to recruit enough energy to fight off the invader. This is why people often get tired and sick. Another cause of this reaction could be food intolerances.
Food intolerances are foods that may seem healthy and can work for others but simply not designed for YOUR body. Getting a runny nose, croaky throat within minutes to an hour or two after eating is the first signal that your body is struggling to break the food down. As food makes it’s way through the stomach, duodenum and into the small intestine the food/s create inflammation in the organs, then it becomes a competition for blood and nutrients between organ and muscles.
The organs will win this competition every time because you can live without the muscles, but can’t live without the organs. Instead of muscles doing their job of stabilisation and movement, muscles are left short-circuited to help restore vitality to the organs. This irritation can cause restrictions in tissues. Arteries and nerves also refer pain to corresponding muscles and joints on that channel. As Eugene Sandow said in his book Life Is Movement, “You cannot have healthy muscles without healthy organs”.
There are potentially many things to consider when discussing gut health. Such as:
- Metabolic type
- Dietary habits - how many meals each day?
- Food quality - organic v. non organic
- Eating environment - is it stressful?
- Fluids with meals - burping can be diluted hydrochloric acid production from drinking with food
- Leaky gut syndrome (food particles not being broken down stimulating inflammation)
- Alcohol
- Coffee
- Stress
- Hydration (links to water filters, supplements, nourish)
- Prescription drugs - check side effects
Gut Health and Stress
It’s important to realise that adrenal health to related to almost all aspects of human function.
Any form of stress will result in adrenal stress and ultimately affect gut health. Stress loads directly affect physical-mental-emotional and spiritual relationships. In a lot of people, adrenal stress generally relates to our connection to the material and aesthetic world. Any musculoskeletal or neurological (nerve) pain will cause stress to your adrenal glands, which, also affects sleep cycles. When the adrenal glands are overworked, the thyroid will slow down metabolism in response to elevated stress hormones and slow the ageing process and attempt to match your chronological and biological ages.
To see if you have subconscious and unconscious stressors, here are two quick ways to tell if your body is stressed without realising it:
- Divide your resting rate heart (beats per minute) by your resting respiratory rate (breathing) by over 60 seconds. It should show a whole number eg, 60bpm divided by 10 breaths = 6. If the number is fractioned eg, 6.7, it’s a sign of stress.
- Hold a piece of paper with your hand held still. If the paper shakes, that’s a sign of sympathetic dominance (there’s too much energy in the nervous system and it’s dissipating that away from vital structures). If you are indeed stressed, try some simple breathing techniques that can do wonders to help counter your stress. If you find yourself getting anxious, try breathing out of your left nostril only for 2-5 minutes. If you tend toward lethargy, breathe through your right nostril only for the same amount of time. By activating the diaphragm (the only muscle that works 24/7), you pump the digestive organs and get things moving as well as calming your stress responses, and allowing your digestive system to absorb the food you eat. Oxygen is the enemy of stress.
As Yogi’s say – If you don’t go within, you go without! Paying attention to your gut health, including gut instincts, will ensure a happy and healthy life!
