Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash
I love simple things. Particularly stuff I can act on immediately. And if it improves my health…I’m all in. I’ll bet you like simple too.
This past weekend I attended a nutritional seminar, put on by the incomparable supplement company Standard Process, regarding endothelial health. To put it simply and to spare you from boredom, the endothelium is the one cell layer thick lining of your blood vessels. A very important topic but irrelevant to this discussion. Digestion, on the other hand, is immediately and primarily actionable. Because no one can be healthy without healthy digestion, there is always a fair amount of material at these seminars regarding this important topic. If you don’t absorb nutrients and eliminate waste, your endothelium won’t be healthy either.
A little background neurology first…and then the action steps. It will all make sense, I promise.
Most people live in a chronic state of fight or flight, even when there is not a threat in sight. This has serious ramifications for your digestion, so also on your endothelium. Your autonomic (the automatic) nervous system, which controls digestion, has two parts: One being fight or flight; the other, rest and digest. The more time you spend in a relaxed state, the better off you are. Ever wonder why your digestion works better on vacation? Because you are usually resting and digesting more. But again, most of us are living in a state of fight or flight, and this is killing us!
So here are two easy things you can do that push your automatic nervous system in the direction of rest and digest.
Ready?
The first is: CHEW YOUR FOOD! I mean make it liquid before you swallow it. You have digestive enzymes in your saliva and mixing them into your grub improves digestion every time. I just followed this advice during my last meal, and it was brutal. This requires concentration! I can’t believe how much focus this took, but well worth it. I ate less. And I digested more… theoretically. Win/win.
The second is: SIT DOWN TO EAT. When you go from sitting to standing your body gets a subtle signal that action is coming, fight or flight. This is the wrong signal to send. Sitting favors the rest and digest phenomenon. While sitting and eating, and chewing, best to avoid politics and religion, these push most of us into a bad digestive state. Sit, relax, chew.
No matter how bad your digestion is, these two things will help.
If your digestion still goes way past poor, call me and make an appointment. If you don’t absorb nutrients, you are heading for sickness. Every time. MEDICATIONS ARE NOT THE ANSWER. They provide temporary relief and suppress symptoms which cause more problems and require more medication. We can do better, AND faster using whole food supplements and herbs. We probably need to clean up your diet too. Mine is always a work in progress.
I usually charge $79 for one of these consults. If you read this far, and tell me you have been chewing your food while sitting down, we will knock it down to $39. Great deal.
Cheers,
ks
Jun 17, 2024 at 6:35 PM
Finally, someone said this besides me. I learned and implemented these suggestions 20 years ago with my first nutritional supplement company. The doctor who formulated the supplements taught us the following simple tips (they agree with yours, I promise): Eat at the table, NOT in the car, at your desk, or in front of the TV Chew your food; this is where digestion begins and the ONLY place this particular enzyme is available in the body Enjoy conversation while chewing (you chew so you can listen and vice versa). Hmmm...now there's a tip, huh? I cringe when I watch people bite, chomp and swallow...their poor gut.
Jun 17, 2024 at 3:12 PM
Well when some of us are not thinking about it we make others cringe, for sure!! As always, you are well ahead of the game with knowledge. We appreciate how you seek to care for yourself, Carla. Keep up the good work. Cheers!