How your stomach acid impacts digestion

Brain Health Starts in the Gut 0:00

Good morning everybody. Today is Tuesday, and I am so excited to get into what we have to talk about today. When we think about our brain health and our ability to think and to process and remember things, we don't always remember that a lot of that, the resources that our brains uses to do that really begins in our gut, okay? The ingredients that it needs, formulating those ingredients, it begins and ends, well, doesn't end there, but it beings there in the gut. Hey, Leslie. I love when you guys tell me that you're here.

It makes it a lot less lonely knowing the virtual world, it's hard to feel that connection. So when your watching the replays, let me know. it feels great when I see that your guys are on. so definitely be sure to let know when u watch. back to our gut health. So we're always looking for ways to optimize our digestion. And so today I decided to talk about stomach acid. It's a huge factor in how our body is able to break food down, how it's able in the end absorb our nutrients and all that stuff.

A lot of times we think of, if there's an issue around stomach, acid, we just turn it all off.

Why Stomach Acid Matters 1:32

And that's not super helpful because this is one of the ways that our body fights things like bad bugs. Right. And it's how our bodies breaks down food so that we can utilize it as nutrients. All right. So normal stomach acid, it creates a pH of about 1.5 to 2. 5. But as we age, it's not as easy for our stomach to be able to maintain that pH. So then as we get older, we're more likely to take medications and a lot of those medications will alter it or stress that process. We don't want to do that either.

Then we have our acid blockers, which are really common and popular and they really impair your digestion. They may temporarily relieve a symptom of to what feels like too much stomach acid. or that burning or the discomfort, but it's making the underlying cause worse. It's limiting something called pepsin and that's part of the irritating factor in the symptom. The problem is that it also keeps you from doing things like digest protein and absorb your minerals and kill those bad bugs that we mentioned.

These are some pretty important functions that best to address the root cause and to heal that instead of just taking something like an acid blocker. Because in the end, that's only going to make the issue worse. And whatever is impairing that process, I'm sure that that is not the only area that it's wreaking havoc. So the other areas that you may not necessarily feel or realize are still being impaired, like being able to absorb your nutrients. You know, you can't make a direct correlation there.

But it's definitely impairing you if your stomach acid is off, it is impaired in either direction. It's certainly impair your ability to digest and use your nutrient. So that issue is still happening. And with acid blockers, we're even making that situation worse. Our stomach acids are first line of defense, well, almost first. we'll say one point, we' was half a step beyond, you starts in your mouth, your That's where we start breaking things down and with the chewing and then our saliva, that starts breaking down, and that should be acidic as well.

Signs of Low Stomach Acid 4:08

And that's our first contact with killing off germs and, uh, kind of thing. So, um, you know, then it goes to our stomach. If all of this is to alkaline, we're going to end up with more bad bacteria that will eventually get to the point where it reaches our small intestine. And then we've created situations where we got this bacterial imbalance in our gut and things start happening like SIBO. And we don't want things like that, small intestine, bacterial overgrowth. So we really want to deal with it where it's at and stop it in its tracks instead of allowing it to go further.

Now we also need to absorb B12 from our food. And when you're deficient in B-12, you could have a lot of fatigue, weaknesses, nervous system issues, all that stuff. Now, we want to make sure that we're consuming B 12 in a way that our body was made to So sometimes we'll see people do them topically with patches or what have you. That's not the best way. Your body doesn't recognize it the same way, it doesn' translate the exact same. Could you be getting some benefit out of it? Sure, you could be.

But would you be getting the same benefit if we were to improve your absorption ability and then have your body be able to get that nutrient in a natural way, in the way that it was designed to receive it? So no, you're not going to be the getting same result there. Then we also have other issues. When we take things like imeprazole, which is one of those acid blockers, it crosses the blood-brain barrier directly and can affect the brain. So I think you get the point. Healing the root cause instead of taking the meds definitely goes a long way.

You like the sweatshirt? I know, right? Took forever, but finally got it. And the jogger pants too, it's really super comfy. So, anyway, sorry, Leslie, stop looking at the comments over there. So what are some ways that we can identify if maybe our stomach acid is impaired in some way so I'm going to share. this image that I have for you. And here we go. I'm just going to share that so that you guys can see it. So there's some symptoms that can be associated with impaired stomach acid and then actual diseases, because eventually it will translate into what the medical community calls a disease.

It could be anything from bloating, belching, burning, flatulence immediately after meals, a sense of abnormal sense of fullness. Obviously we should have a sense a fullness after we eat, but this is, you know, an abnormal sens of fulness after you eat. It could look like indigestion, diarrhea, constipation, it could like food allergies, guys. A lot of times we think that, oh, well, we have food allergy. We don't realize how much power we in healing that so that our body isn't as sensitive to these things.

Because remember, when you start developing things like leaky gut and all that, it creates these sensitivities. Your body is on super alert. And then things that we should be able to absorb as nutrients now start to present as an allergy or a sensitivity. So we see many, many people over the years. No longer have sensitivities or allergies. I even had one woman, she had to carry an EpiPen with her for eggs and no longer had do that.

Habits That Disrupt Digestion 7:49

And that was her entire life. So that something that she didn't even think to mention because it was just something she couldn't think she could ever heal. Um, but it's a big deal so it could look like food allergies, nausea after taking supplements, this is something, sometimes people find they're sensitive to their supplementation well this could be why itching around the rectum weak peeling and cracked fingernails. Acne, iron deficiency, intestinal parasites, or abnormal flora. This is that gut microbiome that we were talking about, the balance between the good bugs and the bad bugs, sorry.

Undigested food in your stool, chronic Candida infections, upper digestive tract gassiness. And then on the disease scale, I mean, i'll just pick a few. We've got asthma, celiac, diabetes, eczema, gallbladder, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, rosacea, vitiligo, all kinds of things here you can see on the list, things that you would never ever consider as being connected in some way to your stomach acid. So it's really important to keep those things in mind. Remember, there was a saying when I was doing one of my trainings, anything can cause anything because our body is all so interconnected that it is like, well, could this really cause this?

Yes, it absolutely could. So things that impair our stomach acid. This is where you want to pay attention because these are the lifestyle habits that factor into impairing our digestion. I'm the gassy one right after meals. All right, Les, well, you're probably not chewing your food very well and you probably do a lot yapping, talking while you are eating instead of chewing. I tease Leslie all the time. I know her very well. She's a good friend. It's all in good fun guys. Um, but yeah, so these are some of the things that you don't want to do, or you want try to reduce as much as possible if you find you do have to them.

So one of them is drinking water during your meals, especially ice cold water. The first thing when you sit down in a restaurant, they give you a glass of ice, cold, water, and people start sipping on it, shuts down your digestion guys, So, um, even if it's not ice-cold water it still dilutes your digestive juices. Okay. And it can contribute to alkalizing the stomach area. And that's not what we really want at that time. Okay? So if you're feeling super thirsty while you are eating, that can be a sign that you dehydrated.

So two things, either you not chewing your food efficiently and you eating too fast. That can create a thirst because you aren't allowing the body to work in all of the saliva. When you stop and chew your You know, then you it has the time. Yes, I'm eating like it's going to be taken away in five seconds. Okay, well, there we go. I guessed right. So if you chew your food enough, then your body is going to have the opportunity to incorporate enough saliva to where you won't get thirsty. Okay. But if we don't give ourselves that opportunity, Then you're going get a thirsty or if your dehydrated and you know, that could be a reason why you are not making enough saliva too.

So it's something that you know, you definitely want to take into consideration. So you want be drinking your water outside of your meal time, and then you wanna leave about 15 minutes on either side of eating without water. Now, if you do need to drink while you eat, let's say you're still working on getting up to that level of hydration that you need be, then something like sipping on kombucha can be helpful. You know something that's fermented and not wine, like kombuja, okay. So that's one thing that you can do.

And that is really going to support this area so that can digest and break down your food without impairing your stomach acid. Another thing you need to do is calm down. So don't eat when you're stressed, guys. You hold the bulk of your worry when we look at Chinese medicine. The bulk your worries held in your spleen, stomach, and pancreas. What happens when your really stressed out, you are under a lot of stress, what eventually happens? You start getting heartburn and acid reflux, okay? So that just proves the connection over and over again, how these two areas are very related.

So, that's where things like mindful eating come in, stopping and saying grace, taking deep breaths, to switch yourself into that parasympathetic state, letting go of things, not eating when you're stressed, so that it doesn't impair that digestive process. So, um, and that's another reason why eating while you're working can be really harmful too, because a lot of times, you know, your watching the emails accumulate and accumulate. You're sitting there and you trying to eat and your really stressed out.

So it's not, it not good. These are, these are two things that should not be done together. Um, so keep, keep that in mind. Some mindfulness things, say grace, take deep breaths. There's breathwork cycles you can do, four second inhales, hold for four seconds, for second exhales. And, you know, repeat that a few times takes a, few seconds, right? So that's something that you can do. Um, I talked to one girl, she said she has a smile file.

Mindful Eating and Lifestyle Fixes 13:12

I thought this was the coolest thing. She has smile files. So it's like, You know a folder that she keeps and when she needs to smile, She opens up the folder. And that, and it has pictures, reminders, whatever it is, things that would make you smile. Maybe making a Smile file would be helpful. and keeping it wherever you eat. And then keep a notepad there, okay? So you can jot down things that you're grateful for, keep it at the middle of the table maybe, and pass it around because you cant be in love and gratitude at same time that your in fear and stress.

So that can help your body shift over too. Keeping a note pad right there. It could be things like, you know, if you jotting down things you're grateful for. And when I say things are grateful, for don't just pick things that you are supposed to say, like my kids or my husband or whatever. Really stop and take a second, just a seconds and feel that, okay? It could be something like, hey, I'm showing up for myself right now. I am taking five minutes and I'm going to show up for myself and fuel my heart, my gut, and my brain with this food I will place into my body.

I accept responsibility for nurturing this vessel I have been given to walk this earth in. race. That's, you know, that's taking that that moment. So for breathwork, we talked about the inhales, and put a hand on your belly and a Hand on Your Chest. Okay. And you can do three rounds of belly breathing where you're breathing into your Belly, where your bell expands as opposed to your chest expanding. The other thing that you can do is to not eat within three hours of bedtime. That's a big one. It's really, it can be very difficult for some people to get out of that because it's so habitual, right?

But once you do get into the habit of doing that, you're going to notice the difference that it makes. And since we've got Leslie on the line, I know Leslie has experienced that too. Leslie fought, fought fought. doing that. But now that she does it, she loves it and it's one of the things that doesn't compromise on. And then your food choices, right? So the food that we eat can determine, you know, how easy something is to digest or to not digest. So if it is a meal that's, 500 carbohydrates, which easily can happen in some of these situations, that is going to be more really poor quality protein.

I will never forget, I went out to work Christmas dinner one time and the steak that somebody ordered, it was like this big and it's was this like big. You know it wasn't grass-fed, grass finished, and you know, the conventional beef. And they ate almost the entire thing. That's a lot. A lot, a LOT. It was 8 o'clock at night, so where's that going? So these are the things that, you know, are food choices. We can make food choice that make this a much easier job or food chooses that makes this much more complicated job.

Yes, the three hours are a miracle. I did a kicking and screaming, but it so helps. You did, girlfriend. But we got through it. And there's supplementation. So there are supplements out there as well that come really come in handy, especially in the beginning, while you're learning,

Food Choices, Supplements, and Programs 16:48

you know, the better food choices to make or you're learning how to incorporate these lifestyle things that improve this. But you really want to be careful with the supplementation because if you have any type of ulcer situation going on or happening, then it can make that situation worse. So you want do it with some direction and some guidance from a professional. And even just taking digestive enzymes can be tricky. If you have leaky gut or if you're still eating things like gluten and sugar, this can a factor too.

So it is best to work with someone that can safely guide you through your specific situation that could be important. We're still doing the book club. You're a badass. And that's Thursday night. It's not too late to join if anybody would like to check it out. We also have our 10-day detox running. There's information on that in the link if you're interested in doing that. And our Reset to Thrive program is awesome. Whether you're trying to lose weight or you are not trying lose, we customize this based on your goals.

So for some people that do want to loose weight, it can be a huge help because you'll drop the weight easily, real food, no shakes, nothing that you have to buy like that. And the program's great because we equip you in a way that once you had it, You can apply it as many times as we need to in all different ways that we to apply as your goals and your needs change. So it can be really powerful there too. And if you're not trying to lose weight, if want to maintain a specific level of health or get to a specifically place, it could also be helpful there.

Yeah, Leslie experienced that too with the Resets Thrive. It really, really helps. So that piece is a very nutrition-focused, it's all real food, and it could be a big help with getting your health to that next step. If you feel like you want some guidance in the lifestyle area, if you'd want guidance on how to eat, what to, you know, all that kind of stuff, we can definitely support you there too. You can always reach out and message me if you have any questions. So you can go on my website too and schedule a free 15 minute call if that would be easier, but feel free to message may hear as well if That's easier.

We'll be back on at 1130 a.m. tomorrow. I'll see you guys then.