Gut Health: Parts 1 and 2
This post is part of a series that I wrote for Instagram. A number of short posts that travelled from mouth to a***s and everything in between.
I thought it would be a good place to collate these, so there are 4 posts that cover the subject … happy reading :-)
I am going to start at the very beginning .. well, it's a very good place to start 😉 and work my way down the digestive tract highlighting key points as I go.
I will then revisit some topics in a little more depth once the basics are covered.
👄THE MOUTH
Digestion and good gut health all starts with the month. Or does it?
Actually digestion starts before we even take our first bite. The anticipation of food plus the smell and sight of what we are about to eat stimulates the stomach to increase acid production in readiness to breakdown the food.
The main structures in the mouth that support digestion are the teeth, the tongue, the lips and the saliva glands.
In the mouth we have three pairs of saliva glands, Saliva is needed to:
⭐ moistening food, helping to create a food bolus, so it can be swallowed easily
⭐ break down some starches down into maltose and dextrin
⭐ maintain good oral health
WHY CHEWING IS IMPORTANT
Chewing your food creates a bigger surface area allowing the saliva to effectively start to breakdown the starches.
The mixing of food with saliva makes it much easier to travel down the oesophagus and into the stomach, making choking and the chances of food then going into the lungs less likely . ⠀
When chewing your food you are sending messages to your stomach that food is on its way. This increases production of stomach acid to deal with incoming food.
Swallowing un-chewed or partially chewed foods puts a massive strain on our digestive system. It can lead to bloating, gas, indigestion, heart burn and acid reflux!
MINDFUL EATING
Mindful eating can aid good digestion. It can also allow you to enjoy the food you are eating, be more aware that you are full-so avoiding overeating and it can also improve your relationship with food.
🍽 remove all distraction
🍽 allow time to eat
🍽 chew slowly
🍽 use all your senses
🍽 put your fork down between mouthfuls
🍽 stop when you feel full
Our body has now taken over the process of digestion.
Once the food in our mouth has been formed into a bolus (the technical term for when it is all soft and mushed up) we then use our tongues to push it back and swallow. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The epiglottis, at the back of the throat, allows the bolus to move into the oesophagus. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
If this bolus goes into the trachea (wind pipe) by mistake it will set off a reaction making you cough, bringing the bolus of food back up.
The oesophagus has smooth muscles that contract moving the bolus down and into the stomach. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Once in the stomach a sphincter at the bottom of the oesophagus closes.
The stomach is a really important organ in digestion. It is like a muscular washing machine that mixes the bolus with strong acids and enzymes that break the nutrients down into smaller parts so that they can be more easily absorbed. ⠀
The stomach then pushes this mix into the small intestine for further absorption of the nutrients.
There are a number of signs that this part of your digestive process is not working as effectively as it should.⠀⠀⠀
Do you recognise any of these symptoms?
🤒 acid reflux
🤒 heart burn
🤒 indigestion
🤒 bloating
🤒 burping
🤒 gurgling
🤒 energy slumps
🤒 abdominal pain
🤒 nausea
🤒 vomiting
🤒 pain between your shoulder blades
These are a few symptoms that can highlight a problem with your gut health and your digestion of food up to this point in the process.
With any digestion problems it is always worth investigating further.
Nutritional therapy can help with a whole range of digestion problems, if you would like to know how nutritional therapy can help you why not complete the contact form and arrange a free 15 minute discovery call.
Lesley x