InHealth: Gut Instinct

By Karen Brainard, M.D.

Who does not have a belly ache every now and again? Eating should always be a pleasure, but can be followed by a burning stomach, gas, bloating, heartburn or abnormal stools. Why is it that so many of us have disturbed digestion? What can we do? When should we worry and when is it fine to self-medicate?

Much self-care is simple, but not easy to implement. Take time to enjoy the meal and people around the table. Take time out of your busy day to just be and appreciate what you have before you. Chew thoroughly, enjoying all the flavors, waiting to speak until you are done with that mouthful. Allow yourself to fully enjoy the meal, preparing your stomach to finish mixing it, adding digestive enzymes in the small intestine, completing the breakdown of your food into small molecules. Eat from all the colors of the rainbow. This assures that you get all your essential macro and micronutrients. Follow these basic guidelines for digestion to have an optimal starting place, yielding good nutrition.

Why then do we so often have gastrointestinal distress? The pressures and patterns of modern life for families do not encourage what I have outlined above! We get out of balance and our microbiome—the millions of bacteria living in and on our bodies—is not optimized. If we eat lots of sweets and starches, we feed bacteria that may have migrated from our large intestine, where they are supposed to be living in abundance, to our small intestine where they ferment our food and release lots of gas that cause belching and heartburn. These bacteria then consume many nutrients to support themselves, leaving our bodies starved for the basics. Sometimes we develop inflammation in the lining of the intestine, allowing food particles to pass into the bloodstream in a way that can create antibodies against those food particles, setting up a situation where eating those foods again causes more inflammation and dysfunction in the digestive system and possibly elsewhere in the body. Often these turn out to be the foods we like and eat the most. So pay attention to what your body tells you. If you notice that some foods cause indigestion, limit them until your intestines can recover. Take l-glutamine powder in water a couple of times per day to help the repair. 

Sometimes our microbiome is unbalanced because we have needed antibiotic treatment and that has killed some of the good bacteria. That is a good time to take probiotics to help restore balance.

Sometimes the GI distress is not related to foods but brought on by stressors of everyday life. All of us have heard the expressions: “I had butterflies in my stomach”, “My intestines were tied in knots”, “I was so scared I nearly soiled myself!” All of these feelings attest to the reality that our intestinal systems have almost as many nerves in them as our brains do. In this situation, our attention needs to go to relaxation and connection with both our inner selves and those greater forces which sustain us. 

What symptoms should trigger a trip to your doctor? Sustained pain in your abdomen, nausea, unexplained weight loss, new constipation or frequent loose stools, bloody or black stools are all warning signs that may be serious. One of the most basic aspects of self-care is that sometimes you need the help of a professional. Never hesitate to reach out!  

Karen Brainard, M.D.

Bradenton East Integrative Medicine

8614 State Road 70 East, Suite 200, Bradenton, FL 34203 

941-727-1243

kbrainard@beimonline.com

www.beimonline.com