Nutrition vs. Digestion – One of the most often overlooked aspects of nutrition is digestion. If we are not able to properly digest our food, it doesn’t matter how nutritious it is because we won’t be able to absorb the nutrition. Many health problems are not only caused by poor nutrition but also by poor digestion. The digestive system is the gateway to overall health. Approximately 70% of our immune system is in our digestive tract, and if it is compromised, we will get sick. Poor digestion can hamper our body’s ability to absorb nutrients and regulate fat and blood sugar levels, causing all sorts of medical issues.
Poor digestion can also damage our ability to create serotonin, the hormone which regulates our sleep cycles. As a result, we can’t sleep properly, which also has a negative cascade effect on our health. Poor digestion can also cause a myriad of other problem including undigested proteins, fat and sugars in our blood stream that can cause skin problems, food allergies, heartburn, cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, lactose intolerance, incontinence, Crone’s disease, colitis, and Celiac disease.
All of this is to say that digestion is just as important to our overall health as nutrition. While there are many causes of poor digestion, the starting point of any examination of digestion is the Autonomic Nervous System. The Autonomic Nervous System is a part of the brain and central nervous system that regulates involuntary physiological functions of our body and organs, including breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, and sexual arousal. All these functions happen automatically without us having to think about it. It is the result of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. There are three parts to the Autonomic Nervous System: the Sympathetic Nervous System, the Parasympathetic Nervous System, and the Enteric Nervous System.
The Sympathetic Nervous System is the part of our Autonomic Nervous System that responds to stimuli from the outside world that indicates danger or threat. I call this “The Warrior”. This controls the “fight, flight, or freeze” response. The Parasympathetic Nervous System is that part of the autonomic nervous system that regulates our internal organs in time of relaxation and rest. I call this the “Guru”. It controls the “rest and digest” or “feed and breed” response. The Enteric Nervous System regulates our digestion. The Enteric Nervous System is directly affected by the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous Systems.
When the Sympathetic Nervous System is activated, several bodily functions are affected. It signals the adrenal glands to secrete adrenalin and cortisol. This will accelerate heart rate, widen bronchial passages, channel blood out of the digestive tract into the extremities, constrict blood vessels, dilate pupils, cause goosebumps, raise blood pressure and initiate sweating (nervous sweat). It diverts all available energy to our extremities and muscles so we can defend ourselves. This includes our frontal lobe and enteric nervous system (our digestive tract) and blood is channeled away from our brains and digestive tract to our extremities.
This is all done unconsciously by design, for if we had to stop and think about what to do if a predator or enemy attacks, oftentimes, we would not survive. It is this automatic response that has allowed us to survive. When our senses perceive a threat or danger, the information is signaled to our amygdala for analysis. The amygdala interprets the data and if it interprets danger, it sends a signal to the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus sends signals to the adrenal glands, which releases adrenalin and cortisol. All of this happens in a matter of microseconds before we have even had a chance to think about it.
The effects of activating our Sympathetic Nervous System can be invigorating and exhilarating. Unfortunately, if the Sympathetic Nervous System is overstimulated or chronically stimulated, the long-term effects of adrenalin and cortisol on our bodies can be severe. Among the problems caused by overstimulation of the Sympathetic Nervous System include:
- Digestive issues
- Obesity
- High blood pressure
- Clogged arteries
- Insomnia and dysregulated sleep
- Anxiety, depression, and addiction
- Fatigue and burnout
Overexposure to cortisol, the stress hormone, also has a significant impact on our digestive health. Exposure to high levels of cortisol over prolonged periods can cause diabetes, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, immune suppression, osteolysis, and myolysis. It also contributes to anxiety, depression, headaches, muscle pain, heart disease, strokes, weight gain and memory loss. Cortisol also makes us hungry to fuel the fight or flight response. Thus, we gain weight.
There is also a condition known as adrenal belly, which is excess fat deposits in the abdominal area caused by cortisol overeating.
Elevated cortisol also means elevated insulin levels. Insulin is the fat-storage hormone. If Insulin is elevated, our body will hold onto fat no matter how little calories you consume or how much you burn. This is because the fat cells at our waistline have four times as many cortisol receptors as normal fat cells. The more cortisol in our system, the more that the fat cells around our waist will expand. Even worse, cortisol will create cravings for salt and sugar, which compounds the weight loss dilemma.
Activating the Sympathetic Nervous System and staying at high levels of stress will compromise the digestive system and cause numerous physical and mental health issues. Thus, we must design strategies to deactivate the Sympathetic Nervous System and lower stress, adrenalin, and cortisol in our bodies.
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