Image by Christian Dorn from Pixabay
‘Tis the season of good things. Particularly good things to eat. Good to the point that we, most of us, indulge in a little too much and a little too often. All part of the fun! Until we can’t button our pants or sleep laying down. We find ourselves belching and tooting our way through the holidays. If this is NOT you, you are a person of unbelievable restraint. Or you have an iron constitution.
But for the rest of us, we give ourselves so many digestive challenges this time of year that the Navy Seals could not overcome them.
So let’s talk about digestion.
Digestion starts when food hits our mouths and ends when it exits. At every point along the way what we put in our mouths must be dealt with. The good stuff, the building blocks of life (proteins and fats) are broken down into usable sizes. The rest, water, fiber, etc… are sent down the tunnel to either feed our microbiome (all the bugs that live in our intestines) or be reabsorbed and utilized for other metabolic processes.
Pretty simple. Goes in one door and out another and gets transformed along the way. But as simple as the idea is, the processes that do occur along the way can get fouled up. And because most of us are a little too lenient with what we put in the front door, what comes out the back door can be less than optimal.
Most Americans, really most, have at least one digestive challenge on a regular basis. Many have multiple. Some of the most common challenges are acid re-flux, indigestion, heartburn, flatulence, diarrhea, constipation, halitosis… you get the picture.
Why is this?
The simple and true answer is because we eat highly processed garbage, we are dehydrated, live with too much stress, sleep irregularly, indulge in sweets and alcohol and the list goes on.
Our digestion is really being challenged most of the time.
Before I tell you what you can do, let’s take a closer look at stomach acid.
Stomach acid has for years been given a bad rap. The fact of the matter is that without stomach acid we would not be able to live. We would not be able to absorb minerals, fight off parasites, process B12 and most importantly, breakdown protein. No protein equals no life! So we want the most out of our protein. Stomach acid, when it is produced by our cells, has a pH of about 0.8. To give you a point of reference, battery acid is almost identical. When your stomach produces this acid, it quickly gets mixed with whatever is coming in and the pH rises to between 2 and 3. (Neutral is 7 and alkaline is 14) That is the pH required to break down collagen, kill parasites, absorb minerals, etc… It is perfect when it is working correctly.
Here is the tricky part, the part the medical world has backwards, 180 degrees completely backwards. Here goes… you need stomach acid! Strong stomach acid! Many lifestyle habits can cause a decrease in acid production and so many people are deficient. If you have insufficient stomach acid, you are slowly becoming malnourished and depleted of life. But I can hear you saying, “my problem is too much stomach acid!!” “My doctor has me on a PPI because I have too much acid” or “I eat tums like candy because I have too much stomach acid.” Actually you don’t have too much. Likely you have too little. Here me out! Here is what is happening. The protein you eat will begin to putrefy because the stomach has not produced enough acid to breakdown the protein. This means the food, not your stomach, makes acid by beginning to rot, and this acid wants out! So you burp and belch and re-flux until you burn yourself. Or create an ulcer. The acid produced by the food is insufficient to digest much of anything. This increases your need for Rolaids, which lowers stomach acid, which leaves incomplete digestion, which causes re-flux and on and on the cycle goes.
And all because we don’t have enough stomach acid. Not because we have too much.
Besides re-flux, how does one know if they are short on acid?
- Lower bowel gas several hours after eating
- Sour stomach
- Constipation alternating with diarrhea
- Halitosis (bad breath)
- Foul smelling stool (you know the difference!)
- Loss of taste for meat
- Being over 50
All of these need not be present, but usually some are, to signal the need for increased stomach acid.
So what are we recommending?
Zypan from Standard Process!
Zypan is a remarkably effective and efficient digestive aid which works according to nature, as described above. It does this by lowering the pH and increasing gastric secretions that digest your food properly. Zypan includes betaine hydrochloride (BH). This is what allows all the other factors to work. (Nature has not provided food with this compound so BH is actually synthetic.) Zypan includes factors like pancreatin from pigs. Think about it. Pigs can digest everything and anything. This doesn’t mean you should eat like a pig, but if you do, Zypan can help with the fallout. It also includes pepsin and other factors that help to digest collagen which holds meat fibers together.
This is a great product and deserves a seat at your holiday table. If you can’t behave yourself, then at least be smart and use some Zypan. We have some bottles in the office if you need some support or you may order online here: Online Order Link for Zypan
Happy Holidays!
Cheers,
ks
