How many times do we need to chew before swallowing? Perfect question to ask around the big meals on the holidays. Not something that we typically will think about like breathing but essential to our well-being. The ability to naturally break apart our foods and digest their nutrients keeps us alive and can be altered. Altered? Yes! Let’s take a look at how digestion plays a part in aiding our health or how our we are being hindered.
We start in the mouth, slide down through the esophagus, settle in the stomach, wiggle through the small and large intestines, and you know where we end. Each clever component works together with the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas to help determine which nutrients get to stay and who has to go.
Mouth: So many purposes and so much responsibility, thankfully we only have one to watch out for.
But let us pause for a second and think about something sour. Did your tongue do the thing? Did the heart rate go up or did you sweat a little? Ahh yes, the perfect way to represent how powerful our salivary glands are. They can turn on without even the presence of food. And what about our friend Pavlov and his dogs? Sometimes a sugary smell as I pass a bakery will cause a healthy amount of drool too. Our saliva is its own being with antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, lubricating, teeth mineralizing, and wound healing components. Saliva will even seize production during stressful circumstances.
Then we have our teeth. 32 for most of us, some of them useful and others still leaving. Our teeth stand individually strong and stronger together along the mandible and maxilla bones. The muscles around helping to create that strong jawbone. The fluoride meant for only them to be absorbed but hurt the whole. We have forgotten the ways of our ancestors in their ability to know the land so well. To know that the food it provides for nourishment also provides strength. We will further miss the high nut, seed, meat, and egg diet that aided in the strongest teeth from the paleolithic diet. Quickly replaced by the grain, corn, and sugar plants that fund our oral crisis. Grinding can deter the functionality of our teeth in the future.
Did you know it should be in the 30s or 40s? Without the right amount of chewing, we reduce the cause of a traffic jam for everyone else.
The strongest muscle in the body, sometimes tamed with a piercing bringing us back to our Mesoamerican past. The tongue facilitates where our nutrients will be carried next. Taste can be so amazing. Bringing us back to memories and into new ones with the connections they combine from around the world. Thank you, saliva and teeth, for releasing chemicals to the tongue to send over to the nose. 5 separate tastes that come in a variety of sizes and numbers. Allowing us to receive different experiences with the same item. They do tend to change and fizzle out over time. And how could we forget the ability to speak? An ability so powerful almost every ancient text writes of it. Thank you, Amendment I. With the perfect dance move, the tongue swipes our food to our next location.
Esophagus: A delicate area with an important role. The new gatekeeper of the food to the stomach and not through their gates again. Vishuddha is the chakra present where we find our ability to express our communication. An additional role to govern the treasured thyroid. When our throat chakra or components like the thyroid are out of sync, chaos will exist. The importance of a stabilized metabolism, temperature, energy, and uninterrupted flow of our system. Some of the imbalances can show up as acid reflux or resentment, weight gain or inability to express one's true self, and inflammation or depression.
Stomach: The different reflexes necessary to allow this bag to expand and contract to hold all the gold for the body. One of the holders of trillions of microbiomes that connect the body as one. Highlighting the importance of the ways we previously explored on how to allow more in from “Tummy Time”. Beginning from the way we enter this world; our microbiome brings us back to the word. The very experience of how we saw our first light whether through the birth canal or via caesarean section, our gut flora numbers will be different for a lifetime. We have different enzymes who know their job descriptions well. They work to breakdown our foods to pass along information to the next group. These enzymes let us know through their own methods when they need assistance. Reduce antibiotic use as much as possible and increase probiotic use just as fast in the opposite direction. Encouraging life instead of destruction for the simple will of continuing the loop.
Small intestine: Separated by three distinct parts, the small intestine is ready for work. This is where the body decides who gets to stay and who has to leave, permanently. The body does a majority of digestion in the intestines, breaking down the different elements of the fats, proteins, and carbohydrates it has been supplied with. The solar plexus Chakara, Manipura, is centered in our body to distribute fire throughout. Providing the energy and confidence we need to create and sustain a life of purpose. to reduce indigestion, ulcers, and eating disorders, keep this Chakara balanced. The body will take the iron, folate, vitamins, water, and other items. We hope we have done our due diligence with our gut flora to be sure our body is able to properly except all the necessary components to keep itself running. Malabsorption can lead quickly to malnourishment.
Big intestine: This is the end. Where most of the decisions of absorption have already been made by the other team players. Now the colon and rest of the large intestine members must use the available water and electrolytes to finish this race (not for time or speed but for completion). Gut flora again makes their debut in numbers around 500 different species; consuming bacteria build up and breaking down polysaccharide parties. We have met our end on the porcelain thrown.
Now we take a second to reflect on how our mind has played a role in the digestive system. Have we hindered in any regions causing a burden to some systems? Have we adequately nourished our body to maximize its ability for use? Where can we improve?
We know how to move our bodies but are we? Even just a little to help assist our other team members to reach their revenue target goals that end up in the toilet.
Every time we consume an item, we are beginning the conversation on if we are helping or hurting? Fighting a future disease or fueling? We have a library in Healthy Secrets on steps to take towards a healthier lifestyle to further our digestion process in a smooth stress-free way.
Consume the foods that will fuel. The liquids that will run through us bringing energy with its movement. Consume only what is necessary and follow hara hachi bu whenever possible. Remember the brain and the stomach lag in communication, sometimes like they are on opposite sides of the world or operating on their own time zones. Big emotions can alter our digestion. Recognize them, accept them, work through them, and move on. Mindfulness works, plays, and lives in The Body time zone.
Thank you for reading!
"Destiny is Mine"
*Reminder* I am not a doctor. This is not medical advice. Always consult your pediatrician, doctor, or nutritionist for individual specific goals as well as doing your own research.