Get to know your gut

If you’re not 100% sure which parts of your body make up your gut, you’re not alone.

In short, your gut refers to your digestive system – a rather intricate system that breaks down the food you eat. Knowing a little more about the inner workings of your gut can help you take better care of its health. And a healthy gut, makes for a happier, healthier you!

All the pieces of the puzzle

Your digestive system is made up of your gastrointestinal (GI) tract, liver, pancreas and gallbladder. Your GI tract is the biggest piece of the puzzle – it consists of a series of so-called ‘hollow’ organs that are connected to each other from your mouth, all the way down to your anus. Your hollow organs – namely your mouth, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and anus – each play a role in turning your food into nutrients and energy. And, when it’s extracted all the good stuff from your food, it helps you get rid of the solid waste that’s left (think bowel movement…). Pretty impressive! Let’s take a closer look at these organs.

Chew on this

The digestive process starts in your mouth, when you take a bite. Your salivary glands make saliva, a digestive juice, which moistens food so it moves more easily down your throat into your stomach. Saliva is about 99% water and not only moistens food but cleanses the mouth and dissolves food chemicals so they can be tasted. Saliva also contains enzymes that begins to break down starchy foods into sugars. This is why you get a sweet taste in the mouth when you chew on starchy foods like bread. To keep your saliva going, drink water, don’t rush eating, and chew slowly to promote healthy digestion.

Can you stomach it?

The stomach is a muscular pouch with an entrance and an exit. The stomach environment is naturally acidic as it produces acidic liquids to help you digest and absorb nutrients from food into the bloodstream, as well as disable potentially harmful bacteria. Your body also produces enzymes and mucus to help protect itself against the acid.

Small… but looong

Your small intestine is a muscular tube or pipe, measuring about 22 foot long (or seven meters) on average, or three-and-a-half times the length of your body!²

90% of the digestion and absorption of food takes place here, with the other 10% occurring in the stomach and large intestine.² Its main functions include digestion, secretions and absorption of the food it’s received from your stomach, using its own enzymes together with those released by the pancreas and bile from the liver.

Dysfunction of the small intestine can cause small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), constipation, indigestion, gas pains and bloating, diarrhoea while travelling, or, worse, on a date.

Let’s go large

The large intestine, also known as the colon or the large bowel, is where food waste is formed into stool, stored, and finally excreted out of the body. This 6-foot long (±1,8m) muscular tube², has 4 primary functions:

• Absorbing water, mineral salts or electrolytes
• Producing and absorbing vitamins, short chain fatty acids and some essential nutrients
• Protecting or preventing the growth of harmful bacteria
• Removing indigestible residue of food, fibre and leftover solid waste out of the body

There’s no question that healthy digestion, absorption and elimination relies on adequate water, prebiotics and probiotics, and daily fibre intake. When you eat these super nutrients, they need to survive and stay intact through the stomach and small intestine, until they reach the large intestines where they are used as fuel. This allows the bacteria to reproduce, leading to larger colonies of good “gut-friendly” bacteria.

Also, the balance between beneficial and harmful bacteria is important for maintaining digestive health. The diversity, or different types of micro-organisms of our gut microbiome is critical. Greater diversity allows our gut to be resilient and bounce back from any disturbances to the balance. Several factors can upset this balance, including diet, stress, hygiene, and medications, particularly antibiotics. So, make sure you supplement and top-up to maintain a healthy balance.

Be kind to your gut

There are quite a few things you can do to keep your digestive system happy and healthy:

• Drink plenty of water throughout the day – it helps food flow more easily through your digestive system and it helps to keep you regular.
• Stick to a balanced diet filled with a variety of colour, flavour, and texture, including fresh fruit and veggies, whole grains, and fish and chicken (rather than red or processed meats). Try to consume as little sugar and refined grain as possible, as it has been stripped of all bran, fibre, and most of its nutrients.
• Be sure to take probiotics, prebiotics, fibre, digestive enzymes, and herbs, which are valuable for the health and functioning of your gut, providing benefits ranging from aiding digestion to alleviating common gut ailments.
• Take it slow… with the chewing and eating, that is. Eating slowly gives your body time to digest your food properly and enables it to detect when you’re full. In this way, eating slowly and mindfully helps prevent overeating, which causes unnecessary weight gain and digestive stress.
• Getting moving after a meal can literally help food move through your digestive system more easily.
• Avoid alcohol, smoking, caffeine, and energy drinks, as they can be addictive and cause heartburn, acid reflux and stomach ulcers.
• Minimise your stress – stress can lead to constipation, diarrhoea and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Now that you know a little more about your gut, take good care of it, and it will take good care of you!

If you, or a family member, are suffering from gut-related discomfort – such as a gassy stomach, bloating or abdominal spasms – Spasmopep^® could assist in alleviating these symptoms.

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