Gastro Intestinal System

Welcome to our Food Medicine and Life channel, and today we are going to talk about the most important system of our body, gastrointestinal system. It is a 33 ft long stretch inside our body which defines how healthy we live and how happy we stay. So what happens is, let's look at our stomach. Now stomach releases an acid. The normal pH we all know is 7 to 7.5, which is neutral pH. When it goes lower to 6 to 5.5, it becomes acidic. When it goes higher, 7.5, say 8, 9, it becomes alkaline. People keep saying we should always stay in alkaline mode. But where alkaline? Not in stomach. Why? Because in the stomach, the right pH is between 1 to 3. If that pH is not restored and if enough acid is not made in the stomach, what happens is that we are not able to digest our food properly, especially the proteins, right? Now, which results in infections. Even the H. pylori infection, which is known to increase acidity, which is known to, you know, result in ulcers, it also, you know, the chances of getting that infection increases. And minerals are not absorbed properly if enough acid is not there in the stomach. What impacts this acid? One very, very important thing which impacts this acid is completely in your control, and that is stress. If you stay under stress, your stomach is not able to absorb acid. The second thing which impacts this acid secretion is how well you chew your food. When we chew our food, even in mouth, salivary enzymes are released and food starts getting digested, right? When we get digested food in our stomach, stomach requires less acid to digest the proteins further. The irony or the sad part is we do not spend time chewing food these days. Why? Because we are either watching TV or looking at our phone or thinking something in our mind, and food is just— eating food is just a task which we have to finish. Now the acid requirement increases and our gut is not able to release that acid, and that's where the problem comes. Now what can you do to increase this acid? There is another video of mine, please look at that video and understand how you can increase this acid. But very, very critical for a good functioning gastrointestinal system. Now what more is required? We know that we have pancreas, right, which actually help in digestion of carbohydrate, fat, protein, and collagen. It releases an alkaline fluid in the small intestine and helps make small intestine alkaline, because stomach can be acidic, but by the time from duodenum the food reaches small intestine, it's a completely alkaline zone now. To top up with this, gallbladder releases bile, which is very, very important for fat digestion. If fat is not digested properly, our body will become deficient in all fat-soluble vitamins, which is vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K, all our omegas, and lead to a lot of inflammation in our body. And therefore, it becomes very important that good bile secretion happens. Let me take you guys back to your stomach once more. You know, if your acid is not being made there, absorption of iron will not happen, your B's will not be made, and you will have anemia, low energy, fatigue. All this starts from where? Stomach. Please remember this. Next, very important is gallbladder also helps. By releasing bile in detoxifying your liver. And the more healthy your liver is, the better metabolism and excretion happens in your body, and toxins are released out instead of being circulated in your body again and again. And then comes your small intestine. As I told you, small intestine has to be alkaline, and the body has processes in place to make it alkaline. And this is where the digestion gets complete and your nutrients are absorbed. If food has not been digested properly in the stomach, what happens is the movement of food becomes very slow in the small intestine. Also, putrefaction can occur there, and therefore, you know, bloating, gas, SIBO, can happen, and all of these can result in malfunctioning of your GI system and also less absorption of your nutrients. So friends, we eat, you know, we cook, we spend so much money to buy good food, not just to excrete it, or not because we want to have more problems than benefits. Yes? And if the answer to this is yes, please make sure that you understand what is happening. When you're eating food, you should be able to relate to it So that you take all the right steps to improve your digestion. In our small intestine, almost 90% of digestion happens. Why? Because all the absorption of nutrients happens there, right? And who helps in this digestion? Trillions of bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites. We give them home, but they don't stay free there. They have the ability to create enzymes which help in digestion. So it's a mutually beneficial relationship. We keep them happy, they keep us happy. And also, to add to it, you all know if you have listened to me before, what is sympathetic-parasympathetic system. Stress system is sympathetic and rest and digest is parasympathetic. But there is parasympathetic. And there is third, enteric system, which is independent of any other nervous system, and that is what is there in the GI tract. And therefore, whatever you eat defines how happy you stay. So please remember, you have to take care of these bacteria and trillions of organisms which are there in your small intestine. You know, friends, some of you are always deficient in vitamin Bs. Yesterday I had a client who had come and her vitamin B was 100. When— what is the value you want to keep it at? 500. One of the big reasons for this is also the fact that your small intestine does not have good bacteria, and that is where your body either is not able to make vitamin B or your body is not able to absorb vitamin D. Fiber plays a very important role in the proper functioning of our small intestine. Why? Because with the microbes there, it helps produce butyrate, which helps in the smooth movement and absorption of nutrients from the small intestine. Now the food has reached the large intestine. This is the place which has maximum microbes in intestine. The two main functions of large intestine is one, absorption of water, second, absorption of minerals. What happens here is if the villi are broken, it leads to a breaking in the immune system and less absorption of minerals, which results in breakage and further results in autoimmune conditions. You know what, we are eating a lot of antibiotics today, these days, my friends. And what do antibiotics do? They don't only kill the bad microbiota, they also kill the good microbiome. But the good news for you is that the microbiome, both bad and good, have started adjusting to these antibiotics. Therefore, on one side, the antibiotics are becoming less effective, but we need newer ones, but on the other side, our good microbiome is learning to handle those antibiotics properly. So what can you do to improve your gut health? I follow a 5-hour program to help people heal their gut. The first R is remove, and of this remove, there are two phases. The first phase is the elimination diet. Until and unless you do that, there is no point doing anything else on your gut health. Phase 2 of first R is removing all your infections— bacteria, fungus, parasites which are unwanted there. Number 2 R is replace. You replace the bad microbiome with the good microbiome. Number 3 R is is repopulate. So you increase the type of bacteria and fungi and parasites which you want in your gastrointestinal system. Fourth R is replenish. So you further, you know, heal the layering of the gut and replenish the gut microbiome with health and vitality. And the last 5th R is very, very critical, which is rest and relax, in which we teach people to do meditation to stay stress-free. Because unless and until they do all of that, all the work we have done in the first 4 Rs will go away or wash away with the water as if we had never done that. Friends, stay healthy, and the way to stay healthy is to keep your gut healthy. Action! If you know someone who is suffering from gut health issues or mental health issues like autism, ADHD, bloating, constipation, autoimmunity, please share this video with your loved ones and click Subscribe to this channel because you are going to hear a lot about gut health and happy mind in my coming videos.