Digestion Take #1

Digestion is a North to South Process; it starts in your brain and ends in elimination!

I think we are all familiar with the saying, " You are what you Eat". And I love this saying to encourage us to eat healthier however, it is more than that, think of it as you are what you digest! What happens is you can be eating the perfect diet, yet if your digestion isn't working properly you may not be absorbing any of those delicious nutrients! And you are actually feeding into digestive problems like Heartburn and IBS, etc. Hey friends; Gas, bloating and burping are NOT normal especially on the daily and it can be fixed!!

"All disease begins in the GUT" - Hippocrates 

Where does Digestion begin?

You might answer, the mouth (unless you have read my previous newsletters, you may have already heard me say this before). Your digestion actually begins in your BRAIN!! When you see and smell food your salivary glands start to produce saliva. Your saliva is a complex mixture of electrolytes, hormones and enzyme know as; Salivary Amylase which is the digestive enzyme needed for the breakdown of Carbohydrates! And your mouth is what is considered the physical "gateway" to digestion. Where the mechanical and chemical breakdown of food happens! Your salivary glands work to lubricate the food to aid the esophagus in moving food down to the stomach! Where the breakdown of carbohydrates (with the help of.... Salivary Amylase) will take place. Your teeth take the part in the mechanical breakdown, by chewing your food. When you chew your food (Properly), you take the burden of your stomach later taking on excess work. 

What goes wrong?

If there is not enough saliva and salivary amylase, often due to not being in a parasympathetic state, this will begin to affect things further down the digestion path. If there is a deficiency in salivary enzymes this means carbohydrates will not be broken down properly. 😯 

Why is this bad?

When your carbohydrates are not being properly broken down this leaves more work to be down later on in your small intestine. Your small intestine cannot handle a large and frequent amount of of undigested starch. Which then enters your colon and can feed into candida and cause other issues in your digestive track.

How you can prevent this

Start with eating mindfully! (Please refer to my blog post about 8 Tips to Eating Mindfully).

With love,

Amanda