You are NOT what you eat!
I’m sure you’ve heard it before… “You are what you eat” While yes, this is true - something crucial is missing, and that is DIGESTION! The truth is… You are NOT what you eat, you are what you DIGEST. Food gives us energy, food gives us nutrients BUT if we cannot properly digest our food - we cannot obtain the nutrients that the food is providing us with.
Digestion IS KEY
Digestion is SO important. Many nutrients that we NEED for our body to function properly are only obtained through the food that we eat. Which is why eating healthy is SO important. Our gut is home to many bacteria that we need in order to absorb the nutrients from the food that we eat. If our gut is in bad condition due to a multitude of reasons (stress, food sensitivities, lack of sleep, etc) we cannot extract the nutrients from the food that we need. You could be eating all the healthy vegetables you want but if your gut is not balanced and you are not Digesting your food - you are not obtaining the benefits from the healthy foods.
(This is extremely oversimplified - you can find people who understand digestion way better than me for more scientific info. Check out studies from Dr. Justin Sonnenburg for more detailed info) I also linked some resources below.
Pay Attention To What Your Body is Telling You
I say it all the time and it’s one of the most important things you can learn to do that will change your life. Learn How To Listen To Your Body!!! If you don’t feel good after you eat something, if your bowel movements don’t look normal, if you feel low energy after you eat - something is going on! It could be many things - but it is likely that your digestion is off. Everyone is different… some foods may digest fine in your best friend but for you it causes severe diarrhea and leaves you feeling fatigued. This food could be kale! It could be eggs, it could be oatmeal. All foods I would consider healthy. The point is even though it’s healthy, it doesn’t mean it can’t react with your body and disrupt your digestion.
What Conventional Medicine Doesn’t Tell You
Food allergies spark an intense immune responses that leave people with hives, shortness of breath, and sometimes can even lead to death if not treated in an immediate response. This is what conventional medicine does great - emergency situations. They are equipped with the tools and knowledge to understand allergies. Where conventional medicine seems to fail is at analyzing the root cause of why someone may be having digestive upset. They almost never acknowledged that it might just be from the food that you are eating. Food sensitivities can also spark a more mild immune response that can cause inflammation within the body. These sensitivities may lead to a number of the signs I discussed above (diarrhea, constipation, mood changes, headaches, pain in the joints, etc). BUT how do you know if you are sensitive to certain foods? You can try elimination diets - You can remove foods for 30 days and add them back in 1 by 1 and pay attention to how you feel and how your digestion is. A more comprehensive way is to take a food sensitivity test that can identify specific foods that you should stay away from - meaning your body negatively reacts to them. Naturopathic doctors often offer these food sensitivity tests. The problem with conventional medicine is that it is often not acknowledged that certain foods can disrupt the gut leading to inflammation - again, they don’t seem to buy into the fact that it might be diet related. You might hear “Eat more cereal if you are constipated because you need more fiber” Which honestly just makes me laugh because vegetables are going to be a way better source of fiber than cereal - they also come with no added sugar. You also might hear them tell you to take a number of different medications for your stomach. I’m not dissing the medical system… OK maybe I am a little but it is true!! They are great in emergency situations but not so great at finding the cause as to why we might not feel optimal. We live in a sub-optimal society, everyone is OK with feeling OK, but when are we going to want to feel GREAT! Let’s focus on how to get us feeling great. DON’T IGNORE THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS!
So… The Moral Of The Story is to pay attention to how you feel after you eat. If you are unsure about what you are sensitive to, try doing an elimination diet. The whole30 is a great elimination diet to try (google it for information) - it removes common foods for 30 days that causes sensitivities in many people based on scientific info. After the 30 days you reintroduce these foods 1 by 1 and see how your body reacts. If this doesn’t sound like something you want to do - find a Naturopathic Doctor and work with them to identify what is bothering your digestion.
It’s Not As Easy As It Sounds
Identifying foods that disrupt your digestion can be challenging! It is a lot of trial and error and a lot of paying attention to your body cues. BUT - health is not easy. The human body is so complex. Many people may feel fine until they remove foods and or become healthier just to realize how much better they feel. Sometimes it takes removing something from the diet to realize that it really was making them feel like crap! The other tricky thing about digestion is that our gut microbiome (the bacteria in our gut) is constantly changing and differentiating as we deal with life stressors. Now, I can’t speak on this too in depth because I am not informed enough to - but what I do know is that the more diverse our gut bacteria, the better. I know that stress can really disrupt digestion - remember that saying about being so scared that you shit yourself. Well… this likely comes from the fact that when you are scared and stressed it is a similar reaction in the body resulting in up regulating your sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight state) which results in digestion being put on hold and an inflammatory response. If you are always stressed - digestion is constantly being put on the back burner which will likely yield in less nutrients being absorbed. SO… stay stress free - pay attention to your body - and know that your entire health journey is going to be a lot of trial and error.
Why Go To All This Work? Does It Really Matter?
The answer is YES! Yes, it really matters. The gut has been named our second brain. These little strains of bacteria essentially dictate how we live our lives and how we feel. The gut has been linked to a number of psychiatric disorders like depression and anxiety, and it has even been linked to autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, ADD, etc. I don’t want to go to deep into science in this blog post (I’ll link some awesome resources down below if you are interested) BUT the point is IT IS SO IMPORTANT!!!!!! Gut health is pivotal to perfecting overall health. Make sure you are acknowledging when your digestion feels off - your body is trying to send you signals! If you ignore these signals it will just get worse and as I just mentioned, can even impact your mood and lead to things like anxiety and depression. So, please! Don’t ignore, Take the time to take care of your gut. IT DOES MATTER!
Great … Now I Realize I’m Sensitive To One Of My Favourite Foods
Yep, that’s me. I found out a few years ago that I was sensitive to oatmeal. I loved a big warm bowl of oats with shredded coconut on top, cacao nibs, and some fresh blueberries, ugh so good!! But, every time I ate it I just felt off and my digestion was horrible after I consumed it. I found this out from trial and error, listening to my body’s cues and taking it out of my diet and realizing how much better I felt not eating it. Even though it was so delicious…. it was not worth it to feel so shitty days after eating it! But, then realized that you can create a lot of alternatives to foods that taste just like them! That’s when I found out about No-Oatmeal and realized that it tasted just like oatmeal and I didn’t have to deal with the wrath of feeling bad after I ate it. F*CK Yeah, sign me up!
Another sad food sensitivity story (I’m Dramatic, I know) …
I also recently found out that I’m sensitive to eggs - I can eat them occasionally and seem to be ok, but not often. Where oatmeal I completely stay away from. And this SUCKS because I LOVE eggs. And as I said above the gut is constantly changing just as our life stress, environment, etc is changing - 2 years ago I could eat eggs fine and they didn’t bother me. So, I either developed a sensitivity OR I am just more in tune with how my body reacts to foods and I realized the cues it was giving me when I ate eggs. (Probably more like number 2).
Well, This is annoying isn’t it? I wish I could just eat what I Wanted
You can eat whatever you want, but is it worth feeling like crap!?? Or is it more worth it to get your health in check and feel AMAZING. Getting the gut in check is key to getting our health in check. As i’ve said 100 times, It’s a lot of trial and error. The internet is your best friend…a lot of foods you may be sensitive to probably have alternative recipes that taste just like them that are made from different foods. Unfortunately, there isn’t really anything that tastes like eggs LOL - so I am out of luck for that one… But that’s ok. I just know that if I eat them I am aware of my consequences of feeling off and having poor digestion for a few days. Sometimes you have to weigh out if that food is worth eating (I go into a lot of detail about food choices and consequences in my blog post The Optimal Diet).
So, if you find out that you are sensitive to one of your favourite foods you have to weigh out the cost to benefit. Food sensitivities typically land on a spectrum. You could have a mild reaction to a food or an intense reaction. The intense reaction I recommend completely removing from your diet (Me with Oatmeal). But if it’s a mild reaction then you have to decide when it’s worth eating those foods, and if you want to deal with poor digestion and feeling like sh*t (Me with eggs & gluten). Sometimes I just want an omelette, so I have one knowing my digestion will be off the next few days. Sometimes I just want a donut - if I can’t find a gluten free option sometimes i’ll just eat the gluten and know I won’t feel my best. Weigh out the cost to benefit relationship. BUT, if your reaction to foods is severe please just stay away from them!!! This will just wreak havoc on your gut. It’s not worth it. If you are mildly sensitive to foods and decide to eat them occasionally, fine, but if you eat them often just know this will also negatively impact your gut. Find an alternative recipe that tastes just like the food you are missing.
If you are like me and oatmeal upsets your digestion check out the recipe below!!
No-Oatmeal Recipe:
*2 Tbsp almond meal
*2 Tbsp hemp hearts
*2 Tbsp shredded coconut (unsweetened)
*1 Tbsp chia seeds
*2 Tbsp crushed walnuts
*1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
*1 Tbsp hydrolyzed collagen
Prepare recipe just like regular oatmeal - mix ingredients and add in warm water or warm almond milk to your liking. Add any fruit to the top if you’d like & Enjoy!
Remember:
Listen To Your Body, Find Alternatives, and Make Your Digestion A Priority!
Check out these resources for more information on how the gut works and the connection it has to our brain:
https://www.foundmyfitness.com/news/t/gut
(a number of gut studies linked here from Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s site).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yejZnV7ap34
(a clip of Chris Kresser on Joe Rogan’s podcast explaining how the gut impacts health).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phae6FG2IIU
(A video of Dr. David Perlmutter explaining the gut-brain connection).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOZcbNw7sng
(A video of Dr. Erica & Dr. Justin Sonnenburg explaining how gut microbiota impact our health on Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s podcast)
Books I’ve Read on the topic (*there is many more out there - these are 3 amazing books I have read):
Grain Brain by David Perlmutter
Brain Maker by David Perlmutter
The Mind-Gut Connection by Emeran Mayer
Stay Healthy,
-Holly :)