When you really start to dig into how truly vital our gut is to our overall physical and mental health, it can feel a little bit like falling down a rabbit hole. The science is vast yet just the tip of the iceberg. I hope to break down a couple of the major components here and offer some suggestions on maximizing support to the gut, our second brain.
Doctors are looking to the gut as the milky way of our immune systems. Did you know that 70-80% of our immune system and it’s function comes from our gut!? This is staggering to me! Dr. Peterson, Pathology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine indicates “certain cells in the lining of the gut spend their lives excreting massive quantities of antibodies into the gut.” What are antibodies? Let’s do a quick refresher. Antibodies are proteins utilized by our immune system to neutralize pathogens (or invaders). So cool!
So, what’s the concern with that!? “In a healthy person the microbes in our gut not only break down foods, but stimulate the immune system. Due to modern lifestyles including diet and antibiotic overuse there are increasing disruptors in this process.” Dr. Shulzhento Oregon State University Biomedical Science. So to simplify, The disruption of these microbes causes them to begin functioning inappropriately, in effect they are misfiring. This can result in things like malabsorption and increased fat absorption.
Now if that wasn’t enough of an incentive to start thinking more seriously about gut health, check this out!! 85% of the serotonin produced in the body is in the digestive tract. The ENS (Enteric Nervous System) is formed with 100 million nerve cells traveling between the esophagus and the rectum. We swallow our food and it travels down through our GI tract where digestive enzymes (if we have the appropriate amount of them), break down the food, stimulate absorption, blood flow, and finally elimination. When our body does not have the appropriate numbers of microbes, or digestive enzymes our bodies cannot process the nutrition appropriately leading to a myriad of concerns. A couple of great articles explaining this in more detail are from Johns Hopkins and The Cleveland Clinic.
So, What can we do??? Nutritional support is foundational. I discussed soil depletion and the need for supplemental nutrition here. Highly digestible plant based nutritional supplementation which provides up to 12 servings of fruits and vegetables is a no brainer for me, in the busy day to day, even though I do eat well, I have never felt better than with the added support.
On top of that though, the single most important thing that I have done for my health is add Terrazyme. Those enzymes mentioned above that assist us in digesting food are another brick in the foundation. Enzymes are a catalyst to life. All metabolic processes in the cell require enzymes in order to occur at rates fast enough o sustain life. Enzymes regulate things like respiration, thought, growth, taste, smell, and nerve function to name a few. Canned and processed foods have zero enzymes. So adding a digestive enzyme to your routine is pivotal in aiding in digestion and eliminates some of the digestive discomforts that come sluggish digestion.
Think about this…..the gut supports our mental health and our immune system. I’d say that is ground zero for starting a wellness lifestyle. Let’s start taking care of our guts!!