Podcast: Focus on Digestion

Digestive problems are a real concern for many people. I personally suffered from unrecognized Celiac disease for 40 years so know first hand how difficult these problems are. Like many concepts about our bodies, digestion seems so complex and helping problems seems mysterious due to the limited descriptions of western medicine. The natural language of ancient Chinese medical science on the other hand makes digestion easier to grasp.

Let me try to simplify digestion for you. Your digestive tract is the tube that starts at your lips and passes through the center of your body to your anus. It includes your mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and colon. Your liver, gallbladder, and pancreas contribute creations to the pipeline. In this apparatus food and fluids undergo a breakdown process by adding thermal heat and hot chemicals. The end result are the tiny particles called nutrients which are transferred through the wall of the small intestine into the blood to fuel all the cells of the body.

The wall of the small intestine is where the majority of the food breakdown and absorption occurs. To regulate what particles can cross the wall to the capillary blood vessels and into the blood, the cells of the intestinal wall link together with tight junctions. These let in nutrients and keep food particles and pathogens out.

This tube is also where emotions are processed. Just like food, we have a steady diet of emotions coming at us from the world that require sorting. We have to chew on them, digest them, and assimilate or eliminate them. Each of the organs of digestion have a role in emotional processing.

We are warm-blooded beings and digestion is a warm process. Ancient Chinese medical science describes this warmth as digestive fire. Contributions to this warmth start with the kidney fire, the pilot light of the digestive process. In the stomach, fire is generated on demand when food enters and is called hydrochloric acid. The small intestine is part of the organ system called the fire element, therefore is warm by its nature. Liver fire is represented by bile and enzymes which are catalysts that break down fat and protein. The pancreas contributes a variety of enzymes, more fire to combust and break down carbohydrates, protein and fat. As in all of nature, fire and its heat makes things move faster.

Now let me take you on a tour of your digestive system.

Your mouth has many functions, including welcoming food, tasting and chewing, and adding enzymes and saliva to initiate breakdown of food. It is also where you chew on your perceptions and experiences of the world.

Spleen, stomach and pancreas are a single organ system in ancient Chinese medical science. Your stomach’s job is to ripen and rot, the initial stages on the journey of disintegration into nutrients. Emotionally, in the stomach we develop feelings about outside stimuli and compare them to our gut feelings. Denial of feelings disrupts the stomach energy causing worry and obsession. Your spleen contains the blood. It keeps it in place in the vessels, produces blood cells and antibodies, and controls all aspects of thought. Your pancreas manufactures and secretes several different enzymes to break down fat, protein and carbohydrates into usable nutrients. It also produces insulin whose role is to allow sugar into cells to be burned.

Your small intestine Is responsible for the separation of pure and impure. It is on average 22 ft long and has the surface area of a tennis court. This is where the vast majority of absorption of nutrients into the blood takes place.This huge area, known as the gut wall, is where the outside world meets our inside environment, where food meets blood. Emotionally the small intestine separates truth from lies and right from wrong. It is our self-feedback mechanism and is damaged by constant comparison to others. Small intestine is partnered with the heart.

Your liver manufactures enzymes and bile. Liver enzymes enter the small intestine to break down protein. Bile is stored by the gallbladder and released into the small intestine in the presence of fat. Bile emulsifies fat into tiny droplets so that pancreatic enzymes can break it down to ketone bodies. Emotionally the liver is the general, responsible for the free flow of energy in the entire body and free and easy movement through life. Anger and frustration constrain the liver and create the feeling of being stuck in life. Gallbladder is the judge, directing our decision making.

Your large intestine assimilates and eliminates. In its five foot length and surface area of a table top, gut flora ferment fibrous material to extract its few remaining nutrients. Water is then removed and finally, the solid waste from the warm combustion process of digestion is eliminated through the colon with bowel movements. Emotionally the large intestine assimilates the pure and eliminates the impure. Too much stimulation from bright lights, constant entertainment and loud noise can impair large intestine function and foster hypersensitivity.

Your digestive tract is the seat of your immune system. It is colonized by a load of beneficial bacteria, fungi and viruses known as the gut microbiome or gut flora. This is the outside world present in us. Here we relate to the environment and make chemicals like serotonin that our body utilizes.

Since there is enough bacteria on each bite of food to kill us, our immune system is constantly active in our digestive tract. As food moves through the tube, your immune system monitors it and uses a mechanism called oral tolerance, selectively allowing most germs to pass through without attacking them. When a toxin or more threatening pathogen is present the immune system responds with heat and swelling—meaning inflammation—in an attempt to neutralize it. Vomiting pathogens back to the outside is a fantastic, healthy immune mechanism to keep pathogens out.

Well-functioning digestion is a joy to experience and it is critical to our health. If it is not functioning well no other system in our body can function optimally. The simplest thing you can do to increase or recover your gut health is to keep your physical and emotional diets warm and simple. Cold food and drinks slow digestion. Overeating and eating too many different things at once tires digestive energy. Emotional turmoil upsets and stagnates digestion as you process its meaning. All of these excite an immune response that can lead to a range of issues including GERD, IBS, gastritis, constipation, leaky gut syndrome, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, diverticulitis and stomach ulcers. These are all inflammatory bowel diseases.

Suggested reading

Welcoming Food by Andrew Sterman. This is a beautifully written, simple to understand volume. It is informed by the dietary concepts taught in ancient Chinese medicine science.