Most people don’t think twice about being bloated, having loud annoying digestion, being gassy and beyond with digestion. The fact of the matter is digestion is supposed to be silent, painless and unfeeling (oh and generally not stinky!). If your system is tuned up and functioning optimally you don’t even know it’s happening (and you don’t smell it either)!
You may be thinking – does it really matter even if I am bloated, or have annoyingly loud belly sounds? Well it might not socially matter to you, but what it indicates is there might be some imbalance happening and THAT is important to your overall health. Let me tell you the reasons why.
Silent Digestion Means It’s Likely Working Properly
Now, there are always exception to any of these things that I talk about here. Certain medical conditions or medications may mask symptoms of imbalance, but generally silence is a good thing in digestion.
Your brain starts your digestion by signaling to your body that food is about to come. This happens with the smell of food, the thought of the meal or anticipation of meal time. Your digestive juice – stomach acid – will begin to flow to get ready to start that break down, which initially begins in the mouth. The food then starts a chemical breakdown in the stomach, and then when ready is slowly released into the small intestine where additional breakdown and then distribution of nutrients happens. Some continue to the large intestine for the final pass through – more separation and recirculation or elimination. Waste is eliminated. This should all happen without you knowing it is happening. Until it’s elimination time.
If you are not noticing digestion after a meal, and you have normal bowel movements (well formed, and comfortable), you are optimizing your digestion.
Silent Digestion Means You are Maximizing Your Nutrients
If you have silent digestion and all the conditions above are being met, that means that you are likely maximizing your nutrients from your food source. This also means if you choose a really great nutritious food source, you are going to really benefit your entire body and system because you will pull the most nutrients you can from the food.
Without silent digestion and things like reflux, pain (acid issues), gassiness, bloating, gall bladder issues, liver problems, and more… something isn’t breaking down properly. You are lacking either juices, or enzymes or more to process your food. That means your food particles aren’t being utilized and potentially could even be causing you further harm.
Undigested food in the small intestines is one of the things that is known today as leading to a “leaky gut.” Leaky gut is just part of this story, there are many other things, including altered immunity and more that can happen when you don’t get your food digested properly.
The food needs to be broken down to its smallest form to get the nutrition out. If it’s not – you will be lacking in nutrients. You can develop vitamin, mineral and even macro nutrient deficiencies. This can eventually, or immediately, lead to imbalance, disease and malfunction. Not to mention how uncomfortable these types of indigestion are.
There are common problems today with B vitamins, minerals like calcium, magnesium and more, as well as absorption and use of healthy fats, and proteins that are causing many imbalances for folks. These are only a few common issues that can lead to severe imbalance.
Silent Digestion Means You are Boosting Your Immunity
By having silent digestion (aka maximized digestion) you boost your immune system. As briefly described above, undigested food, can leak out into your system which causes an immune/inflammatory response. And it’s also possible to have this type of inflammation INSIDE the digestive track from improper digestion of foods. Irritable bowel, colitis, dysbiosis and more are problems where food particles become irritants to the digestive system and the body causing a body system, or even just digestive, response of imbalance.
If you find yourself with some symptoms of digestive imbalance, and you start thinking about how often yourself or your family is sick in a year and it seems like you just never really get better… you have a connection.
The gut microbiome is indicated in all forms of disease and immunity today. It’s the main source of protection or imbalance for your body.
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