Advice: Newsletter >Stomach Storms.

Stomach Storms
by Kayla Campbell

Have you heard of the 'Slow Food' movement? It is dedicated to getting people to take their lives and their food slowly, eating locally produced crops, spending time on food preparation and forgetting the instant mashed potato/frozen dinner scenario that envelops so many people these rushed and rushing days.

This movement could seriously affect the business of nutritionists and other health practitioners, not to mention putting several drug companies out of business: a national understanding of the importance of what you eat and how you eat it would mean fewer legions of people suffering from acid indigestion, heartburn, nausea, acid reflux and so on.

It takes time to chew your food, and if you have 20 seconds to get through your sandwich in the gap between appointments, it's going to hit your stomach with no advance warning at all.

Why should this matter?

When you smell food being prepared, your salivary glands wake up and produce saliva in anticipation
of the meal to come.
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When you chew, the saliva moistens the food and starts
to break down starches. All this activity sends messages to the stomach to prepare for food to arrive, causing
digestive juices to be produced.
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When the food arrives in the stomach, the stomach acid and digestive enzymes that have been produced
are ready to start breaking down proteins.
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This alerts the rest of the digestive tract and as the food moves on through the small intestine, more digestive enzymes
and factors such as bile are produced to
break down the other components of the food.
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Nutrients are absorbed through the gut wall and wastes move along to the bowel, where water is extracted and
the remaining wastes are expelled.

When you don't take time to chew and relax over your food, letting your digestive tract have your undivided attention, this whole system falls apart and the result is digestive mayhem:

heartburn,
acid reflux,
burping,
wind,
bloating, and, once things really get started,
overgrowth of unfriendly bacteria,
Helicobacter pylori infections and
stomach ulcers.

These digestive problems can cause other symptoms that we may not connect to our digestive tract: fatigue, headaches, skin rashes, etc. Hands up who recognises a batch of their own symptoms?

Stomach acid
This gets a bad press. It's blamed for getting above itself and swamping the stomach. It is, however, vital for protein digestion - undigested or poorly digested food will putrefy in the system and produce toxins, in the same way that food will fester and attract vermin if left lying about outside the body.

Stomach acid also kills off unfriendly microbes that come in through the mouth. In fact, low levels of stomach acid can cause symptoms that are often blamed on excessive acid: bloating, wind, digestive pain, as well as undigested food particles in the stool, poor nail and skin condition, and anemia. Not having enough stomach acid means it is easier for unfriendly bacteria to get a hold.

Candida albicans
Candida is one such, causing many symptoms including vaginal and oral thrush, low immune function, fatigue, bloating, cravings, and mouth ulcers. Candida lining the gut can prevent proper absorption of nutrients. We all have Candida in our gut all the time, so it is not inevitably a problem. It is poor digestive function along with stress, poor diet (low in fibre, high in refined carbohydrates) and overuse of antibiotics that causes the overgrowth. Once it's established, it tends to spread around the body, causing recurrent cystitis, athlete's foot, fungal nails and the like.

Helicobacter pylori
And once your system is nicely debilitated, with incorrect acid production and inflammation in the gut, it is easy for wee beasties such as Helicobacter pylori to get a foothold, burrowing into the stomach wall and creating damage that can lead to ulcers. Treatment for this involves antibiotics and stomach medication that do nothing to repair the poor digestive function.

Do something sensible!
Start your own Slow Food movement!

Sit down to eat.
Relax. They had the right idea when they used to say a prayer before eating: it gives time for the body to anticipate food and start preparing, whilst your central nervous system switches off from the tasks you were recently buzzing with.
Chew each mouthful thoroughly. Yes, really chew! It'll take much longer to get through your food so you won't need to eat so much. This is good because overloading your stomach doesn't help.
Stay sitting down after you've eaten, for at least five minutes, to give your stomach a chance to get started.
Avoid caffeine, refined carbohydrates (that's most fast food and processed stuff), fried foods (again, most fast foods are high in fat), and alcohol.
Eat short grain brown rice, live yoghurt, pineapple and artichokes, all of which are good for your digestion.
Eat garlic and onions to fight off fungi.

Remedies
These are the things I use continually with my patients to restore good digestion.

Gastronol - This remedy will help you if you are suffering from heartburn, postprandial drowsiness or nausea. Take 2 tablets, 15 minutes before food.

Concentrated whey - This is fantastic if you have general digestive horror and suspect Candida overgrowth. Take a teaspoonful daily in juice and it will calm and strengthen your digestive function, fight the unfriendly bacteria and encourage the friendly bacteria. I have used this with Helicobacter pylori infections and it has worked very well.

Real life
Ann had been told she was allergic to many foods; she had digestive pain, bloating, and was very upset and scared. She implemented the Slow Eating plan above, improving her water intake and avoiding wheat, dairy products and caffeine.

After a month or so she was radically improved, not only in terms of her digestion, but also in herself: she had calmed down and was happier and less stressed than she had been for years, putting time aside every day not just for eating well but for relaxing and enjoying music and reading. In fact, her husband has started to complain that she is too relaxed: his shirts aren't getting ironed on time!