How To Take Control Of Your Digestion For Life

During digestion, your gut not only comes in continuous contact with important nutrients your body needs, but also with toxins, food additives, microbes, and drugs that regularly pass through your digestive tract. Your gut has a huge task to not only serve as a porous filter for the building blocks of life, but also to keep out all the detrimental substances you might be exposed to.

If you want to get to the root causes of what goes on inside your gut, then look at what you’re putting on the end of your fork. If you consume a milkshake, hamburger, and French fries, then you are turning on the genes that promote inflammation in your gut and body. On the other hand, if you eat two cups of steamed broccoli, then you are turning on healing and anti-inflammatory gene pathways.

The foods you eat really do control your state of health, and the gut is the gateway to the rest of the body.

The stress response can alter the natural balance of healthy bacteria in your gut, causing the gut ecology to shift in favor of a more hostile group of bacteria. When patients with gut issues visit me, I ask what they do to relieve and manage their stress, and often they say, "Nothing."

Bad sleep creates a vicious cycle that damages your gut. Insufficient or poor-quality sleep also makes you crave sweet or starchy foods because your body is tired and demands quick energy to keep it going. By the next morning, your digestive system is out of sync, and eating can actually make you feel sick to your stomach.

Antibiotics are simply overprescribed. Most of the time, rest and immune support are enough to resolve infections for which doctors instead prescribe antibiotics. Antibiotic overuse is leading to more antibiotic-resistant bugs that are difficult to treat and can claim lives.

Everything from the air you breathe, to the food and water you consume, to the pharmaceutical drugs you take, create toxicity in the body. Preservatives, pesticides, and environmental toxins are among the major culprits that can damage your gut lining, creating leaky gut and other issues.

When considered together—antibiotics, eating the wrong foods, getting bad sleep, stressing out, and exposing yourself to toxins—you can begin to understand how gut imbalances occur, leading to chronic inflammation and problems like leaky gut.

When you get leaky gut, food and other particles slip through your gut lining into your bloodstream. Because your immune system does not recognize these, it attacks, leading to food sensitivities and more inflammation.

The trillions of bacteria in your gut play many roles, including encouraging proper intestinal permeability (keeping things within your gut that shouldn’t slip out) and keeping out unfavorable bacteria, yeast, and parasites. You’ll always have some bad guys in your gut, but you want to keep your gut predominantly filled with good bacteria. To do that, you might want to supplement with a professional-quality probiotic.*

Look for a dairy-free probiotic that contains at least 10 billion CFUs each of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium guaranteed by the manufacturer through the expiration date. Take on an empty stomach once or twice a day for at least three months, and keep the probiotic refrigerated after opening to maintain its freshness and potency.

Focus on eating foods that are easy to digest, low in fructose and other sugars, and devoid of substances that are hard on your gut, like gluten, dairy, soy, and corn. I emphasize buying and eating foods that are organic, pesticide-free, non-genetically modified (GMO), full of healthy fats, locally grown, and sustainably farmed.

These include healthy fats, nuts and seeds, high-fiber and low-glycemic carbs, non-starchy veggies, and “clean” proteins like wild-caught cold-water fish. You should also eat plenty of fermented foods, like unpasteurized sauerkraut, kimchi, and no-sugar-added coconut yogurt. 

Dietary fiber comes in two "flavors," and they each play a different role in gut health.

Soluble fiber attracts water and forms a gel-like substance during digestion, which helps you feel full longer and slows the rate at which sugar from food enters your bloodstream. Soluble fiber also doubles as a prebiotic because it feeds your good gut flora (more on that in a minute). Good sources of soluble fiber include apples, beans, blueberries, and freshly ground flaxseed.

Insoluble fiber, on the other hand, is found in vegetables and whole grains and provides bulk to your stool and prevents constipation. Because insoluble fiber doesn’t dissolve in water, it passes through your gut relatively intact, promoting the passage of both nutrients and waste.

Your probiotic flora feed on non-digestible fibers (called prebiotics) that promote the growth of beneficial flora. The best way to get prebiotics is to eat them.

Chronic inflammation contributes to nearly every disease imaginable, and it certainly doesn’t do your gut any favors. Studies2 connect3 inflammation with everything from leaky gut to weight gain. Those are among the many reasons to add cold-water fish and other omega-3-rich foods to your diet.

If you struggle with post-meal gas, bloating, and other problems, then your body might not be making sufficient digestive enzymes. Gut imbalances, stress, and age are among the factors that inhibit the digestive process.

How you eat is just as important as what you eat. Your eating philosophy not only factors into your food choices but also into how your body digests and assimilates foods. Slow down when you eat, really taste your food, chew thoroughly, breathe deeply, and be present with who you’re eating with.