I was always happy when he was around. My heart did not stay still in its place even. Nowadays my stomach replaced my heart. I was filling my stomach as long as my heart stayed empty. Just because of filling somewhere inside of me.
—ARZUM UZUN, NERDESIN ASKIM
The stomach and digestive system have been used throughout time and across cultures to depict the emotional, mental, or physical state of the body and mind. Saying a person has “a strong stomach” implies one who can withstand watching or confronting hardship, while “the pit of the stomach” is described as the location of anxiety; “trusting your gut” means trusting your instincts. Science now confirms that you actually do “feel” from your gut and has deemed its neural circuitry a “second brain,” one that produces neurotransmitters like serotonin and often works independently of the actual brain.
The gastrointestinal tract is about thirty feet in length and performs a whole host of functions that enable you to survive and thrive. These functions include the ability to digest, to break down and absorb nutrients, and to eliminate waste and other substances that do not serve your well-being. If your digestive system is weak, you cannot digest or utilize nutrients to the maximum benefit. This is akin to being sleep deprived and sitting in an interesting lecture. It doesn’t matter how wonderful the lecturer is, you will not listen attentively, fully absorb the lesson, or be able to integrate the lesson into your life. When you support your digestive system, you reinforce your own vital energy and your ability to fully access what you need to have a vibrant life.
Modern Western dietary habits negatively affect the digestive system in a variety of ways. Think about it. Most food has to be broken down to be utilized by the microscopic cells of your body. It must be divided into smaller molecules, so that it can be absorbed into the bloodstream and delivered to the internal organs and brain for energy. Foods that are processed, unnatural, or filled with chemicals require a lot more work to break down. In addition, gulping down food and swallowing whole rather than chewing, as we tend to do when we are on the run, create a bigger burden on your pancreas because it has to provide enzymes to break down whole food all at once, rather than food that has been partially broken down and mixed with saliva in your mouth. Given our modern Western eating habits, can you imagine then how hard the system has to work to make half of what Americans eat nourishing? What we eat, how we eat it, and why we eat it really warrant closer examination—and change.
For starters, we have to remember that food is meant to nourish and fuel, not to satisfy or deal with emotions. Every part of the gastrointestinal system has a purpose and function—whether it is to ingest, discriminate and protect, absorb and integrate, or eliminate—to help us be alive in a vibrant way. When you really understand and strengthen these functions, not only will your gastrointestinal system become more resilient, but so will you.
This chapter will guide you as you:
• Press the PAUSE button and become acquainted with the anatomy and functions of the gastrointestinal system.
• OPTIMIZE your awareness of the digestive system by learning about what can go wrong, the signs and symptoms to watch out for that tell you to get medical help, and the bigger picture the gastrointestinal tract represents when viewed by wisdom traditions.
• Discover how your digestive system might be speaking to you as you WITNESS your physiology through guided exercises.
• EXAMINE underlying emotions or beliefs that may be weakening your ability to fully digest, absorb, discriminate, or eliminate not only food and waste products, but also ideas, beliefs, or experiences.
• Develop the tools that will help you RELEASE negative habits and beliefs that do not nurture you, RELIEVE your body of stress and toxins, and RESTORE your gastrointestinal system back to its powerful and resilient state.
Anatomy and Functions
Digestion actually starts with your nose, as your sense of smell allows you to determine what you want to eat. Once you put the food into your mouth and chew, saliva containing special enzymes like amylase is secreted by three pairs of salivary glands to help break down the food.
As you chew, the food becomes mush, which is called a bolus. The tongue moves the bolus up and backward so that it reaches the back of the throat. When you swallow, muscles move the bolus down and to the back of the esophagus. The muscles of the esophagus then move the food down to the stomach. So that food can enter the stomach without allowing a backward flow of acid, at the end of the esophagus is a ringlike muscle, called the lower esophageal sphincter, that constricts and effectively separates the esophagus from the stomach, once the food is in the stomach.
Once in there, the stomach muscles work to move the bolus around so that it can mix with and be dissolved by hydrochloric acid and gastric juices filled with powerful enzymes such as pepsin. Once the task is complete, the stomach empties its contents in the form of liquid or paste into the small intestine.
About twenty feet long, the small intestine is made up of three sections: duodenum, jejunum, and ileum. As the muscles of the duodenum contract, the bolus mixes with enzymes released from the pancreas and bile from the liver. The enzymes of the pancreas help break down carbohydrates, proteins, and fat, while bile acids produced in the liver, which are stored in and then secreted from the gallbladder, serve to break down fat. Since fat is too large of a molecule for the pancreatic enzymes to break down on their own, bile acids emulsify the fat, acting like a detergent that causes fat globules to break down into smaller droplets or particles. Pancreatic lipase can then break these droplets down even further.
Absorption of nutrients begins in the small intestine, mostly in the jejunum and ileum. Nutrients like calcium, magnesium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin D, and glucose are absorbed in the duodenum. Fat, sucrose, lactose (from milk), vitamin B6, thiamine, vitamin B2 and vitamin C, folic acid, and B12 are absorbed in the ileum.
Leftover by-products—whatever is not absorbed in the small intestine—are delivered to the colon, or large intestine, which is about five to six feet in length. The by-products move from the cecum to the right, or ascending (upward), colon; to the transverse (horizontal) colon; down the left, or descending (downward), colon; to the S-shaped sigmoid colon; and to the rectum. Water, potassium, sodium, and fatty acids from fiber are absorbed along the way until the liquid bolus becomes formed stool, a combination of undigested food parts, old mucosal cells, and bacteria, which is ultimately stored in the rectum, where it accumulates until it is pushed out (also known as a bowel movement).
Gas or stool in the rectum sends messages to the brain to stimulate the muscles of the rectum to contract, while relaxing the muscles of the anal sphincter, so that contents can be released and passed through the anus to create the bowel movement. You actually have two anal sphincters, an internal sphincter, which works without your conscious thought (like keeping the stool in while you are sleeping), and an external sphincter, which you can control voluntarily.
A complex feedback loop of hormone signals and enzymes enables you to digest, absorb, and eliminate food. Protein in your stomach, for example, stimulates pepsin to be released as well as histamine. As the pepsin starts breaking down the protein, gastrin signals nearby cells to release acid, the muscles of the stomach to contract, and the muscles of the pyloric sphincter to relax (located between the stomach and the small intestine). As the protein is broken down into smaller amino acids, more hormones, digestive enzymes, and acid are released. The higher the acid in the stomach, the more gastrin is released. Once the acid level drops, and this is usually because the contents have now moved on to the intestine, gastrin levels fall.
It is important that the high acid level of the stomach contents be neutralized as they enter the duodenum. To make this happen, the hormone secretin is secreted by the cells of the duodenum to signal the pancreas to send out its digestive juices filled with bicarbonate. Secretin also stimulates the release of bile from the liver and signals the stomach secretions and contractions to stop.
Meanwhile, other hormones are released in the small intestine, some to signal the gallbladder to empty and others to cause the sphincter lying between the liver-pancreas and duodenum to relax and open, the release of insulin from the pancreas, and feeding to be either resumed or stopped. The functions and activities of these hormones are highly influenced by sight, smell, taste, thoughts, stress, emotional states, and adaptive behavior patterns. For example, anxiety, fear, or illness can trigger activity in the sympathetic nervous system, or the release of adrenalin, which suppresses contraction and secretion of gastric juices, induces relaxation instead, and lessens blood flow to the gut, thus shutting digestion down. Normally, an individual’s appetite would be suppressed too. However, let’s say that you have developed the habit of eating more food to help you handle stress. In this case the normal feedback loop that tells your brain to stop eating and shut down your appetite is turned off. Instead, the signal essentially says, “Eat, you will feel better,” even though your nervous system is also signaling your digestive system to shut down. The result is that you eat more food and end up getting an upset stomach.
In other words, your gut is closely linked to your stress response and the associated coping habits. Changes in mood affect your food intake, and your food intake, in turn, influences your mood. Have you experienced gastrointestinal upset when stressed? How about that nervousness in the “pit” of your stomach?
Many years ago when I was still working in the hospital, I used to experience terrible stomach pains every time I had to have interactions with a senior physician who seemed not to share my ideas about how to treat patients more holistically. My first inclination was to develop a strong dislike toward this doctor, but that did not work for me either, because I also respected him and the knowledge he could impart to me. Every time I got mad, my stomach hurt more and my desire to eat baked goods increased. So instead of eating yet another chocolate chip muffin, I reflected on the discomfort in my stomach. I asked myself why was I experiencing pain there. My gut literally told me that my sense of self-worth was being challenged—not by the senior physician, but by me. I was the one doubting my ideas and beliefs. This physician was simply challenging me on my own assertions. As I worked on believing in myself, the symptoms ceased, as did my cravings for muffins.
Of course, not everyone who experiences stomach pain will have the same issues, nor is it guaranteed that, once you address the emotional issues that are being triggered, the symptoms will go away. Your gastrointestinal system is actually very resilient, but because it is constantly being barraged by what you ingest, it is at high risk for damage, both structurally and functionally.
What Can Go Wrong
HIGH ACID IN THE WRONG PLACES: Obstructive tumors, poor dentition, poor food choices, or simply the aging process can negatively affect the gastrointestinal system. As you age, for example, the acidity in the stomach starts to drop. Low acid levels hinder proper digestion and trigger gastrin levels to rise. This leads to more stomach muscle contraction as well as relaxation of the esophageal sphincter, resulting in a reflux of gastric juices into the esophagus, causing a high acid level in a place where it should be low. Stress and poor food choices, such as alcohol, highly processed foods, and foods high in sugar and chemical additives, can upset the balance of the gastrin feedback loop, resulting in heartburn, indigestion, reflux disease, or inflammation and destruction of the stomach (gastritis) or esophageal lining (esophagitis).
LOW ACID WHERE IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE HIGH: If gastrin levels are low, the stomach has difficulty breaking down B12 for absorption in the ileum. Low B12 levels can lead to a whole host of problems, including fatigue, poor cognitive functioning, depression, or other neurological symptoms.
GLITCHES IN THE HORMONE FEEDBACK LOOP: With stress, poor food choices, poor coping habits, medications, or preexisting medical conditions, the hormonal feedback loop can get disrupted. Take sleep deprivation, for example. Studies show that lack of sleep (less than six hours a night) is related to increase in appetite and hunger for high-fat and high-carbohydrate foods.1 Normally, with adequate sleep, the hormone ghrelin is released to stimulate hunger when you are truly in need of food, and leptin is released when you are full or satiated, to suppress your hunger. With loss of sleep this signaling system is disrupted, and leptin levels fall and ghrelin levels rise. Have you ever found yourself sleep deprived and craving sweet or fatty food? This is why, and it is just one example of hormonal mayhem. Lack of sleep also triggers more activation of the stress response and higher adrenalin and cortisol levels, which then affect all systems of the body. Acid levels may fall or rise, esophageal contractions may be stimulated, or the contractions of the intestinal muscles may be inhibited. You might then experience irritable bowel syndrome or heartburn when the intestinal lining takes a beating.
DAMAGE TO THE LINING: Damage to the intestinal lining, which can occur because of poor food choices, high- or low-acid levels, or chronic activation of the stress response, can result in a whole host of problems that interrupt the hormonal feedback loop, digestion, absorption, and the bowel movement itself. Such damage can also result in destruction of the natural bacteria that live in the gastrointestinal tract. These friendly bacteria help you digest and absorb nutrients, maintain a good pH, and fight infection. Without them, disease-forming bacteria can take over, and a variety of complications can arise, such as bloating, ulcers, irregularity, achiness, and fatigue.
Facts for You to Digest
• More than 34 million Americans are afflicted with diseases of the digestive system; 20 million with chronic diseases.
• As a group, the digestive diseases account for 8–9 percent of total U.S. mortality, with 60 percent of digestive-disease mortality due to malignant neoplasms and 40 percent to nonmalignant causes, chief of which is cirrhosis of the liver.
• Digestive diseases are the second leading cause of disability due to illness in the United States. Digestive diseases are the leading cause of time lost from work for male employees, and account for 15 percent of all absences from work among workers ages seventeen to sixty-four.
• The total economic cost associated with digestive diseases has been estimated at more than $50 billion annually.2
The point is that when or if you experience gastrointestinal issues, there are usually multiple factors involved. It is a “system” after all, and when the system fails or is injured, you can experience a myriad of problems from dental caries to heartburn, ulcers, and gallstones; infection or inflammation of the gallbladder, liver, pancreas, or colon; collapse or out-pouching of the gut lining (as in hemorrhoids); or cancer.
Usually, most gastrointestinal problems are intermittent, less severe, and easily treated or prevented, as you will soon discover. Having said that, visit with your health-care provider when you do have symptoms, as the likelihood is that there is a treatable solution, and definitely seek medical attention immediately if you have any of these red flags.
Red Flags That Tell You to Get Help
Though most common GI issues are usually intermittent and symptoms typically resolve when treated, some symptoms and signs indicate red flags, or serious warnings to seek medical attention immediately.
• Unusual, persistent, or excruciating abdominal pain
• Bloody or black-tarry stools
• Bloody vomit
• Heartburn that is severe or getting worse and is not relieved with medication
• Pain that is interfering with daily activities
• Difficulty swallowing
• Persistent hoarseness or sore throat
• Persistent diarrhea
• New and persistent constipation
• Periods of choking
• Unexplained weight loss
At forty-five years old, Jessie had never been married and had never really had a serious relationship. For the most part, she said, she was perfectly happy, as she had many friends, took a lot of adventurous trips throughout the world, and enjoyed her job. She came to me not to find a boyfriend, but because even though she was “happy,” she had problems with anxiety and sleep disturbance and, more irritatingly, problems with her stomach that were interfering with her life of adventure. She complained that her stomach was always “upset,” which manifested in cramping and diarrhea, which then affected her energy level. She denied eating junk food and said she ate a “healthy diet,” which included cereal with skim milk and fruit in the morning, cereal for her snack, and a variety of proteins and vegetables, including cheese and yogurt for the rest of her meals.
As part of her first homework assignment, I asked Jessie to keep a food and symptom journal addressing such questions as: How do you feel the next day after eating dairy? Do you experience any stiffness of your joints, and if so, when and what have you eaten that day or the day before? On the days that you do not eat cereal, how do you feel? What happens to your stomach when you feel anxious? How does this affect your food choices? When you think about being in a relationship, do you feel anxious or calm and what happens to your stomach?
When Jessie returned with her journal, she had become aware of some conclusions. Her stomach usually felt lousy after eating dairy. Her joints always ached and were stiff in the morning, and she felt less tired on days she did not consume cereal. Her anxiety always seemed to be tied in with her stomach upset, and just thinking about being in a relationship caused her stomach to be bound up.
Now that Jessie was more in tune with the effects food had on her body and the affects her emotions had on her food choices and symptoms, I asked Jessie to close her eyes, think about being in a relationship, and tell me what she was feeling in her stomach in that very moment. I then guided her through an awareness exercise to see what her stomach could tell us:
DR. EVA: Jessie, can you tell me what you are feeling right now in your stomach?
JESSIE: I am feeling tension, like my stomach cannot relax.
DR. EVA: If you were to flash a light on the area of tension, what would it appear like?
JESSIE: It looks like a bound-up ball of energy.
DR. EVA: If you were to get close and notice what sort of emotion is being released from this ball of energy, can you tell me what it is?
JESSIE: I am sensing fear, sadness, and disappointment.
DR. EVA: Why? Can you ask the ball of energy why it is there? Is it there to protect you from something? When did you first create it?
JESSIE: It is there to protect. I first created it in middle school. I felt unattractive. Boys did not like me. I was very alone. I spent time finding other things to do. I made up adventures.
DR. EVA: Was that a bad thing to do?
JESSIE: I should have tried to fit in. I was different.
DR. EVA: As an adult, Jessie, and looking back now, is it really bad to be different and adventurous? Were you really unwanted or unattractive? How do you perceive being adventurous now?
JESSIE: No, it is not bad. It is a good trait. I like that trait.
DR. EVA: So you can tell little Jessie that and let her know she is not bad or unworthy and that she can use her trait as an asset, not as an escape. She can share this asset with other people openly, and they will love her back. Do your friends not love you now, Jessie?
JESSIE: They do.
DR. EVA: How does little Jessie feel now?
JESSIE: Happy.
DR. EVA: What are you feeling in your stomach at the thought of being in a relationship?
JESSIE: Nothing. It feels relaxed. I feel open.
For the next few months, Jessie continued to work through distorted beliefs related to her self-esteem and fear of rejection. At the same time, she worked on rebuilding her digestive system, improving her diet, and reinstating the natural bacteria that needed to line her gut. Jessie removed all gluten and dairy from her diet and ate mostly grass-fed proteins, fish, vegetables, and some fruits. She started on fish-oil and vitamin-D supplements as well as probiotics to help with digestion, absorption, and mood.
Perhaps you can see from Jessie’s story that there is a lot more to the gastrointestinal system than simply eating food and having bowel movements.
What Wisdom Traditions Say About Digestion
According to wisdom traditions, a strong body and a healthy digestive system represent your ability to be in harmony and agreeability with the earth, your surroundings, others, and yourself. In the five-element system of traditional Chinese medicine, your spleen is the organ mainly responsible for digestion and nourishment and is associated with the element of earth, or Mother Earth, if you will. To best understand this concept, think about what Mother Earth does. She is responsible for ingesting, digesting, and assimilating the earth’s materials so they can be used to support new life, like taking the dead leaves that fall from the trees to fertilize the soil for new growth.
Your spleen, according to traditional Chinese medicine (not Western medicine), provides nourishment and warmth to your body. It regulates your metabolism and supports the integrity of the body, while providing you with energy. Your spleen is also involved in the digestion of your ideas and the extraction of new information from your experiences. It influences your ability to reflect, think creatively, innovate, concentrate, and assimilate stressful experiences into opportunities for self-growth. According to this wisdom tradition, when your gastrointestinal system is not in balance, you might experience digestive problems, but you may also incur other symptoms such as worry, feelings of being overwhelmed, poor concentration, rigid thinking, lack of creativity, or a poor sense of self or self-worth.
The Vedic tradition has a similar approach. The third, or solar plexus, chakra (recall that chakras are energy centers responsible for transforming spiritual energy into physical energy) is associated with digestion and the corresponding organs. This chakra is located between the rib cage and navel and governs the upper abdomen, stomach, spleen, intestine, liver, pancreas, and gallbladder. It is believed that this energy center governs creative and intuitive abilities as well as the rational side of the mind, assimilation of thoughts, the ego, and experiences that help you define yourself. A healthy third chakra represents a healthy digestive system, whereby you know who you are, what is nourishing for you and what is not, and are able to absorb and assimilate life’s experiences in a healthy way, without losing yourself or being destroyed; you are able to let go and be rid of whatever it is that does not serve, help, or better you.
Can you see the correlation now between Jessie’s story or my story and the circumstances or emotions that added to the symptoms? In my case, feeling threatened for my beliefs and not really believing in myself led to stomach distress, while acceptance allowed me to feel better. When the functions of the digestive system—ingestion, discrimination and protection, absorption and integration, and elimination—are healthy, they manifest as a healthy sense of self, the ability to digest and assimilate information and life’s lessons, and being able to let go of whatever doesn’t serve you. In turn, when these character traits, attitudes, or behaviors are strong, your digestive system benefits.
What the Metaphor of Digestion Means for You
You can use the metaphor of digestion and the gastrointestinal system’s functions as guides for self-examination and investigation of your needs and how you perceive yourself and your life. When you think about, for example, ingestion, you can reflect on how you take in and break down information, ideas, or experiences; discrimination and protection—how you evaluate what you take in and are able to discriminate between beneficial and harmful elements; absorption and integration—how you assimilate and integrate fuel made up of ideas and experiences into the rest of the body and your life; and elimination—how you remove waste and whatever does not serve you or your body, including thoughts and beliefs.
When these functions are in balance, the following happens:
You know who you are and you do not need to be defined or feel validated by others or external circumstances. You are able to choose only what you want and what is nourishing. Location of benefit: Entire digestive tract.
You know how to discern between healthy and unhealthy information, people, or thoughts, so that you can sift through your experiences, decisively say no to what hurts you, and take in only what nourishes you. Location of benefit: Entire digestive tract, with a focus on the stomach, small intestine, pancreas, liver, and gallbladder, as further breakdown and discernment is involved. Wisdom traditions, in fact, see the gallbladder as representing your will and ability to cut to the chase, with surety and gusto.
You are able to take in nourishment and assimilate and integrate it with your whole self, maintaining a strong sense of self-worth and self-esteem. If weak, you are unsure about yourself and you may use outside circumstances to bring comfort to feelings of inadequacy. You invariably then feel worse and the cycle persists. Location of benefit: Entire digestive tract, especially the colon and the anus.
You are able to “let go” of whatever thoughts, ideas, or beliefs you might have ingested that do not belong in your body. You are able to stay “clean” in mind and body, not ruminating or holding on to toxins that come from beliefs or words that hurt rather than nourish you. Wisdom traditions connect this function with being strong in your own identity. Location of benefit: Entire digestive tract, especially small intestine, where absorption happens, as well as the colon.
Ready to witness the gastrointestinal system for yourself?
AWARENESS EXERCISE
Breathe in on a count of three. Breathe out on the count of five. Empty the thoughts from your mind (four cycles).
Shift your awareness to your mouth. Notice what you feel. Allow all your senses to be engaged.
Notice how the saliva already starts building up and what that feels like.
Swallow the saliva. Notice the process of swallowing. Be aware of how the saliva moves down your throat, then down the esophagus, then into the stomach.
Notice any sensations you experience along the way. Always breathe in for three, out for five.
Notice what you feel in your stomach. When you breathe, is your stomach feeling tense or relaxed?
Imagine the saliva moving through all the intestines down to your colon, where it is absorbed. Notice what and how you feel as you become aware of the rectum and anus as you breathe in and out.
Breathe in for three, breathe out for five. Notice sensations, emotions, images, or thoughts that may arise with these statements. Make a mental note also where the sensations arise.
I am being recognized for a job well done.
People are talking badly about me behind my back.
I feel stuck and am unable to come up with any new ideas.
I feel alive with creativity and possibilities.
I am fearful of being rejected.
I am warmed at the loving reception my friends had for me.
I am unworthy.
I invite you to examine the following statements or questions and notice which one elicits the strongest response in your stomach or any area of your digestive tract. Also, if you tend to have any of the problems mentioned earlier in this chapter, you can focus on that particular symptom or functional problem instead. Perhaps you have a tendency to get constipated or have heartburn; pay attention to that symptom or part of your body. Or you know you have issues with low self-esteem. When you focus on your low self-esteem or situations that cause you to feel unworthy, notice where this might show up as sensations in your abdomen like contraction, tension, or restriction. For instance, you may want to examine the “knot” in your stomach or a feeling of heaviness, of being “blocked,” as one can get with constipation.
I tend to please people sometimes at my own expense.
I make sure I take care of myself first and tend to others later. Why shouldn’t I?
I often feel that I am being taken for granted.
I often feel that I am not important enough or feel inadequate.
I find myself in situations where I am not valued. Why can’t they see me and my worth?
I crave attention and comfort when I am upset and often use food to comfort.
I often find myself saying, “I don’t deserve this!”
I have often felt wronged, that something has been taken away from me, and I fight back in response.
I have a hard time making decisions and am not sure what is best for me.
I get angry or upset when I am criticized.
I have a hard time letting go when someone upsets me or criticizes me.
I tend to ruminate and overthink things.
I am grieving loss and cannot seem to let go.
If I let people in close, they always disappoint me.
If I let people in close, they may reject me.
GOING DEEPER EXERCISE
Close your eyes, breathe deeply, and take your time with each statement. See how you or your body reacts, specifically along the digestive tract. Where does the tension or negative sensation appear most?
Feel, look at (with an imaginary flashlight), examine the emitted emotion, ask “Why are you there?” or “When did I first create you?” and allow your imagination or thoughts to carry you to another place and time.
Allow the movie reel to play out and see where it takes you, looking for the time your needs first were not met, that is, your needs to be fueled and nourished, loved, and valued for being you.
When you are ready, write down your experience and how it makes you feel today. Write without holding back and see where the process takes you.
The foundation you have been creating can now be used to heal and strengthen not only your digestive system, but your own beliefs, attitudes, and ways of being in life. The aim now is to focus on incorporating tools and activities that enable you to reinforce your ability to ingest nourishment, discriminate and protect against anything that may be harmful, absorb and integrate anything that supports your integrity and viability, and eliminate anything that doesn’t serve to help you function at your best.
Eliminating, Integrating, and Nurturing
RELEASING AND HEALING: I invite you to go back to what you have written down during the examining exercise and ask yourself these questions:
Is this story even true?
Is it true that ________ (fill in)?
What are the positive takeaways from this memory?
What is positive about me? What are my virtues, victories, and values?
When you have come up with your three “Vs,” choose one that resonates most deeply and positively with you and do the following:
PERFECT AS I AM MEDITATION
Breathe in for three counts, breathe out for five. Empty the mind (three cycles).
Breathe in for three, breathe out for five. Empty the heart (three cycles).
Breathe in for three, breathe out for five. Empty the digestive system of any negativity and let the flow of your breath move from your nose and mouth all the way down and out through the base of your spine (three cycles).
Bring your awareness to your solar plexus (stomach area) and breathe in for three, breathe out for five. Say to yourself “breathing in peace” on the inhale and “and harmony” on the exhale (five cycles).
Then as you breathe in and out, repeat these words with every cycle of breath, “I am perfect as I am and ____________” (fill in your chosen virtue, value, or victory).
Do this as long as you wish and as often as you need to.
LOVE ON THE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE: Just like having a balanced ecosystem living within your gut, you want to work on having balanced loving in your own life. You are not meant to be an isolated being, just like those little friendly bacteria. Dr. Michael Gershon, author of The Second Brain and chairman of the department of anatomy and cell biology at Columbia University, has determined that oxytocin, the love hormone, very much influences the digestive system. In a 2010 study, Gershon found that oxytocin reduces gastrointestinal inflammation and improves gut motility.3 This means bringing more love into your life:
• Fall in love with your life. Feel lucky. Rather than complaining about what you don’t have or why you may be a “victim,” choose instead to see the silver lining and realize that you “get to” do something, rather than “have to.”
• Spend time out in nature, connecting to something vast and beautiful.
• Join a group. This could be a support group, spiritual group, or same-interest group. Finding people who share your interests enables you to feel less alone.
• Volunteer. When you do good for others, it feels good and also raises your oxytocin levels.
• Hug often and consider bodywork. Simple hugs and relaxing massages can also raise oxytocin levels. Touching reminds you that you are not alone.
• Choose to nourish yourself and your life always. Ask yourself before eating a certain food, engaging in a particular activity, or getting caught up in a negative thought or criticism: “How does this support me in being at my best, to flourish, grow, and be happy and healthy?”
DESTRESSING AND DIGESTING: High levels of stress shut down the digestive system in the variety of ways you have now learned about. You also now know that there are many ways to manage your stress levels, whether you develop a meditation practice, work through your emotions and practice cognitive restructuring, exercise, spend time out in nature, or talk to friends or a therapist.
In addition, you want to learn how to use food to be healthy, not to avoid feeling stress. Hectic lifestyles cause most people to eat on the go, quickly, without thinking or noticing what is going down. Many people use food for comfort, rather than fuel, which increases the stress response rather than lowering it. If you want to learn to change this habit, you can start eating mindfully:
• Appreciate the food on your plate—colors, smells, where it comes from, how lucky you are that you are about to be nourished, and so on.
• Choose a small bite, appreciate it, and when you place it in your mouth, notice everything about the taste and feeling. Chew slowly and thoroughly as you do so.
• When you swallow, once again think how lucky you are to be getting nourished.
• Take a few nice and slow breaths before the next bite.
• Stop when you notice that you feel full.
• Appreciate again.
Eating mindfully will help elicit the relaxation response, improve blood flow to the gut, improve breakdown, digestion, and absorption of food (especially if you really chew), and help put you in a place of appreciation rather than misery. In addition, you will likely find that you eat less and better and have an easier time maintaining a healthy weight.
Supporting Your Integrity and Viability
FUELING THE GUT: I want to emphasize again that it is important to start looking at food as fuel rather than as an outlet for comfort. Food, though it can still be comforting, can be ingested with the notion of nourishment in mind—something that supports you to be at your best, happiest, and healthiest.
You may be wondering what could be left for you to learn about healthy eating when you have read so much already. The goal in this section is to understand your digestive system, how your body uses and is affected by food. Sweets, baked goods, fatty foods, alcohol, excessive caffeine, a lot of dairy, or anything processed wreaks havoc on the digestive system, for example. In contrast, foods that are high in density and quality provide the natural vitamins and antioxidants your body needs and your digestive system requires for healthy functioning. This is what you need to know.
Stay hydrated. Fluid is absolutely necessary for digestion and absorption. Normally, you want to consume about half your body weight in ounces of water. So if you weigh 150 pounds, you want to drink 75 ounces of water throughout your day.
Before you start learning about which foods are best, know that no food gives you the nutrition you need if you do not chew it thoroughly first. The digestive juices in your saliva are key to getting the food into smaller particles, so that the nutrients are then accessible. How many times do you chew? Eat smaller portions at more frequent intervals and chew food to a pulp. Try counting to forty!
Do eat protein. Lean meat and eggs are easier for the gastrointestinal system to digest than processed meat and most fats. Some studies suggest that a diet high in red meat can increase your risk of colon cancer, though there is some debate as to the exact mechanism that leads to cancer.4 To avoid this problem, if you do choose to eat red meat, keep your portion sizes small, go for the grass-fed lean meats, alternate with protein from other sources, such as legumes, healthy grains, and fish, and balance your plate with plenty of fruits and vegetables to provide antioxidants. Avoid processed meat; according to recent studies, such meats are linked to colon cancer due to the increased carcinogen content.5
Do eat healthy fats. Healthy fats are important for promoting healthy functioning of the digestive system (including the pancreas, liver, and gallbladder), reducing inflammation, improving heart health, weight control, regularity of bowel movements, and absorption of other nutrients such as antioxidants and fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin A. One good example is cod liver oil, which you probably know of as a good treatment to cleanse the gut and move bowels; but this oil is also high in vitamins A and D, and as I have mentioned before, vitamin D may be critically important in preventing the development of autoimmune conditions, including those of the gastrointestinal tract.6
You want to avoid hydrogenated oils, or oils that are liquid but become solid at room temperature. Also known as trans fats, these fats are hard on your gastrointestinal tract, difficult to digest, and associated with the variety of health problems you have already heard of, including high cholesterol and colon cancer. Hydrogenated fats are very bulky, requiring breakdown and then reformatting into particles that can be carried in the lymphatic system and then stored in fat cells to be utilized later. Can you understand now how the weight can build up, not to mention that you are feeding fat cells that can trigger your inflammatory response on their own?
Olive oil, a monounsaturated fat, safflower oil, a polyunsaturated fat, and coconut oil, a healthy saturated fat are examples of better oil choices that can lower cholesterol and inflammation and help with weight control. Coconut oil, in fact, because it is a medium-chain fatty acid, is broken down directly and taken to the liver to be used for fuel. Good fats include those you get from avocados, fatty fish, and nuts like almonds or walnuts.
When you shop, avoid the inside isles of the grocery store, keeping to the periphery where all the fresh and natural foods are located.
Fortify with grains and fiber. Fiber promotes digestive health by promoting regular bowel movements, helping you rid your body of waste. According to current studies, diets high in fiber are related to a lower risk of colon cancer.7 In general, as I mentioned before, I recommend trying to keep your grain intake to the size of the palm of your hand and choosing to get more of your fiber from other complex carbohydrates, like broccoli, cauliflower, onions, leafy greens, berries, and other fruits; my two favorites (which happen to be great sources of fiber) are sweet potatoes and avocados.
Studies report an increasing number of gluten-sensitive people worldwide.8 I have found in my clinical practice that the majority of my patients have some kind of gluten sensitivity, meaning their physical (not just digestive) and psychological symptoms are worse when they have a diet high in barley, rye, wheat, and other foods containing gluten—most processed foods like cookies, ketchup, salad dressing, and so on. Symptoms associated with sensitivity can range from bloating and heartburn to joint aches, fatigue, and depression. There are a variety of gluten-free grains that provide the body with fiber, minerals, vitamins, and protein necessary for healthy digestion and elimination. Some of them are oats, teff, millet, quinoa, and amaranth.
Restore the gut’s ecosystem with probiotics and prebiotics. A healthy gut means having trillions of good bacteria living, digesting, absorbing, and promoting a healthy immune system. Eating processed and fast foods, living with a high level of stress and little sleep, or taking multiple rounds of antibiotics can result in the loss of this microflora and an imbalance or disharmony in the natural gut world, allowing disease-causing bacteria to thrive, inflammation to abound, and absorption of needed nutrients to remain poor. You therefore want to increase your intake of food groups that contain live cultures of such bacteria as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium as well as the foods that help feed them.
Yogurt that is made with “live” or “active” cultures is best, but you want to watch out for the amount of sugar that has been added. Go for unsweetened yogurt. You can add flax (for more fiber and antioxidants), berries, or honey, which also help the good bacteria thrive. Other foods that help the natural flora of your gut include onions, garlic, leeks, legumes, asparagus, and artichokes. Fermented foods are those that have been “cultured” and therefore also support the good bacteria. These include pickles, sauerkraut, tempeh, kefir, and miso.
Protect and heal with antioxidants. If you recall, your gut makes up a large part of your defense system against disease and pathogens through its physical barrier, its ecosystem (friendly bacteria), and the immune cells that live there. Your gut is constantly being invaded by the outside world, so if you do not ingest gut-friendly foods, damage and oxidative stress can occur. When damage occurs, you can be prone to developing a host of allergies, as your immune system becomes overactive, as well as other inflammatory problems affecting every part of your body. A good way to protect your gut, therefore, is by making sure you consume foods that are rich in antioxidants, like colorful fruits and vegetables (kale, raspberries, string beans, sweet potatoes, avocado, spinach, apples, and cantaloupe). Cherries, blueberries, tomatoes, and squash, for example, are high in antioxidants and may protect against inflammatory damage in the gut.
Consider supplements. If you have any gastrointestinal symptoms, have difficulty digesting many vegetables or fruits, sources of healthy fats, or fermented foods, you may want to supplement. Keep in mind that not all supplements are alike. You will need to check the labels and ask your health-care provider if they are safe for you, especially if you already have food allergies. In general, supplements that can boost your digestive health include probiotics, vitamin D, omega-3 fish oils, and digestive enzymes. You have already read about vitamin D and omega-3 fish oils, so I will focus here on probiotics and digestive enzymes.
A 2011 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality assessment of the safety of probiotics concluded that the current evidence does not suggest a widespread risk of negative side effects associated with probiotics.9 Probiotic supplementation has been found to support treatment of a variety of problems including diarrhea, especially after antibiotic use, inflammatory bowel disease, and symptoms associated with irritable bowel syndrome.10 In general, friendly bacteria include Bifidobacterium lactis HN019 and Bb–12 (found in many yogurts), Lactobacillus (L.) reuteri, L. rhamnosus, L. casei, L. acidophilus, and S. boulardii. You want to check the label to ensure the full name of the bacteria is listed, and usually a variety of bacteria are better than one, matching the ecosystem in your gut.
Preliminary studies show that provision of digestive enzymes may support treatment of irritable bowel syndrome, heartburn, and celiac disease and may improve digestion.11 Types of enzymes include hydrochloric acid, bromelain, lipase, lactase, and papain.
MOVING YOUR BODY GENTLY: Evidence suggests that low-intensity exercise may have protective effects on the gastrointestinal tract. There is strong evidence that the risk of colon cancer can be reduced by up to 50 percent with less but promising evidence for constipation, diverticulosis, bleeding, gallstones, and inflammatory bowel disease, though the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood.12 For this reason, you want to incorporate regular gentle forms of exercise that advocate movement without too much stress, like certain forms of yoga, tai chi, and mindful walking.
SUPPORT, LOVE, AND JOY IN THE EATING ENVIRONMENT: As you have learned already, social support is good for your health and well-being. What better time to socialize than during mealtime? As the pace of our lives speeds up, many of us tend to eat on the run, in the car, and often alone, none of which supports our health and well-being. Individuals who eat with others are more likely to eat more slowly, make healthier food choices, and make mealtime more meaningful as an opportunity for sharing. Home-cooked meals also tend to be more nutritious. Studies show that adolescents who have regular family mealtimes are less likely to develop substance abuse problems.13 This tells us that aside from the benefits of healthy nutrition, the togetherness of mealtime may provide you with the support and love you crave, so that you do not seek relief or comfort in maladaptive habits. With love comes oxytocin, which studies show is beneficial for gastrointestinal health.14 So eat with others, be merry, and be happy and healthy!