A happy gut
Phrases like “gut-wrenching” and “gut-feeling” aren’t metaphorical. If you think about something that makes you nervous or anxious, butterflies may flutter about in your stomach. This is because the gastrointestinal tract is sensitive to emotion and stress.
Before I got severely ill with gastroenteritis in London seven years ago, I don’t remember thinking much about what I ate, how I ate it and my overall digestion process. My past “ignorance” had its benefits - I was far more relaxed. However, because my newfound digestive concerns were motivated by a fear of getting sick rather than a desire to be healthy, I was often worried about what I ate. I checked expiration dates frequently and methodically, consulted numerous reviews before stepping foot in a restaurant and gave fruits and veggies a very thorough wash. I was coming pretty close to Jack Nicholson's neurotic (but charming) character in As Good As It Gets.
While being physically healthy contributes to a heightened sense of well-being, I realised two things: 1. I got ill all those years ago because I wasn’t happy about the direction my life was heading in. It was the 'fight or flight' response. 2. My zealous caution about food probably worsened my ability to digest because I often wasn’t calm right before or during eating. It seriously hampered my mind-gut connection.
It is scientific fact that the brain has a direct effect on the stomach. The Harvard Medical School has pointed out that a troubled intestine can send signals to the brain, just as a troubled brain can send signals to the gut. (http://neuro.hms.harvard.edu/harvard-mahoney-neuroscience-institute/brain-newsletter/and-brain-series/gut-and-brain). Anxiety and stress can impede your ability to digest food. Additionally, constantly being under mental duress can cause your muscles to tighten and strain.
Here are some of the things I do to digest with ease - emotionally and physically!
1. Re-evaluate. I asked myself the following questions -
Are you at peace with everything in your life? Have you bottled anything up, and if so, why? Has it been bottled up for years? Do you need to implement a change? Are there relationships that you need to heal? From my own experience, my stomach discomfort would flare up whenever I encountered something that was emotionally difficult to deal with or that made me feel stressed.
2. Listen to your gut. Ideally, you should eat breakfast. Ideally, you shouldn't eat carbohydrates at night. Ideally, there are a lot of ‘shoulds' and ‘shouldn’ts' to follow with discipline.
At the end of the day, however, your gut will tell you exactly what you need. We only need to eat when we’re hungry. We often mimic robots and just eat because our coworkers have begun eating lunch, or we seem to think we need to have breakfast at a particular time.
But eating when you're not really hungry is just going to confuse your system. Wait until your stomach says, “Feed me please”. Of course, this coupled with the newfound knowledge of eating smaller meals ever 3-4 hours, is beneficial.
Gratitude Whether gratitude is expressed in prayer or as simple acknowledgment, an understanding of and being thankful for the entire process of how your meal has ended up in front of you affects your body's response. Why? Because you aren't in control of the food cycle. You can't be sure about the quality of the land in which your food was planted, or the mood of the farmer as he went about his job. Was it handpicked or commercially farmed? How was the seed treated in its infancy? There's very little control you have over the environment in which your food comes from. The one thing you do have control over is how you prepare, receive and eat it. The ancient Greeks believed in raising the vibrational frequency of food before it was consumed. Rituals in the form of songs and dances were performed during food preparation and the whole point was to bless those dishes. They believed that food made with love contributed to a heartier and far more delicious meal.
Still sound far fetched? Here’s a bit more information.
Masuro Emoto, a Japanese researcher, conducted studies wherein he examined the effects thoughts had on water by documenting its crystal structure before and after being labeled with positive and negative words. Water samples placed in jars labeled with negative phrases such as “I hate you”, and “you make me sick” took on random and disorganized shapes. Water exposed to words like “love”, “thank you”, and “peace” changed to structures that resembled beautiful snowflakes.
If these thoughts can affect water, and water makes up 70% if our bodies, imagine how these thoughts affect our body and digestive process. Being positive and relaxed while eating impacts the food cell’s intracellular fluid. These cells are made up of mostly water and biomolecules, and the latter stores genetic information, including: DNA, RNA, minerals and more.
Shop wisely. Depending on your budget, be wise about what you put in that supermarket cart. For example, I’d pick fresh vegetable wet markets over what’s on offer in Hong Kong supermarkets. It’s important to keep an eye out for bottled sauces - so many of them contain sugar/organic cane sugar. Sugar is sugar, and even if it's organic, using it when quite unnecessary will create a dependency. Breads are best bought when baked fresh, as it’s usually the dough conditioners, preservatives, GMOs, added sugar and artificial colouring in supermarket loaves that causes problems and allergies. It’s best to conduct research into the milk you buy, most of it is homogenised and pasteurised - processes that destroy valuable enzymes, contributing to difficult digestion. Organic probiotic yoghurts can be very good to your stomach.
Care for your kitchen.
I like keeping my kitchen neat and clean using natural products where possible. An aesthetically pleasing and organised kitchen is very important. It contributes to a better environment, which tends to inspire spending more time there and cooking from scratch.
Visit an organic farm
When I was teaching, we visited an organic farm for a school field trip. It was a highly rewarding experience. We walked around the farm picking fresh strawberries, red dragon fruit, pumpkins and gigantic lemons. The farmer was kind enough to explain the farming methods he employed.
There’s something very satisfying about picking fruit yourself, peeling it with your bare hands and allowing it to melt in your mouth. Firstly, it makes you very grateful for mother earth. Secondly, you know where and how your food was grown, and are more of a witness to its evolutionary process than you would be in the market or grocery store.
Click here for my post on the visit to an organic farm in Hong Kong.
