Relax and Renew: The Art of Rest and Digest

“No matter how good the diet is, if we are not absorbing the diet is pointless”

Ooouf I almost fell off my chair the first time I heard this!! What does it even mean? Would you agree, the right foods are like “medicine” for our body and we want to be able to absorb it nutrients, the vitamins and minerals, right? Functional Nutrition is about seeing how the systems of the body communicate together, we have the immune system of the gut and the gut’s mucosa for assimilation and absorption which shouldn’t be ignored in improving absorption, but we can also think about digestion and the Nervous system!

Maybe you’ve heard about the nerve that corresponds with our gut, brain, hormones and immune system! The Vagus Nerve aka The Gut-Brain Axis, a bidirectional nerve that wanders from the brain stem down into the digestive system and wanders back up to the brain! Bidirectional means this nerve is not a one way ticket, nerve impulses are sent from both organs. There’s more, the impulses have purposes to release a key components, one called Hydrochloric Acid (HCL) because our stomach is meant to have a PH balance that is nice and acidic, one reason is to help fight off invaders that we’ve been exposed that passed our first barrier systems, such as bad bacteria!

Mental Health and the guts microbiome have been a hot topic on social media! The Viral Happy Juice, for example consists of ingredients to help restore the guts integrity but also soothe and calm down the GI with things like Ginger and Artichoke leaf.

It makes sense then that if we notice the gut being soothed we would also see the nervous system firing off more calmly! For example in an article it was found that Gut dysbiosis and its relation to neurotransmitter disruptions seen in clinical depression, connects gut microbiota with mood. Moreover, it goes on to speak about gut integrity + inflammation = stress

Or we can look at this backwards: stress = inflammation + weak gut integrity.

Remember is bidirectional!

The Gut-Brain Axis: Influence of Microbiota on Mood and Mental Health. Integr Med (Encinitas). 2018 Aug;17(4):28-32. PMID: 31043907; PMCID: PMC6469458.

6 ways we strengthen the vagus nerve

• humming or gargling for 2 minutes throughout the day

• Tapping techniques – the meridians are the representation of the nervous system, there’s two places you can start:
  • the collar bone where the small intestine meridian runs (the vagus nerve)
  • the nap of the neck (just along the hair line) and gently knocking up to the crown of the head to the forehead (third eye)
• Rubbing your belly in a question mark direction
• Chiropractor adjustments
• Yoga twist and incorporating squats
• Also consider looking at an emotion wheel or getting an Inner-Voice Scan done to pin point common emotions for example practicing compassion and forgiveness
  • my favourite essential oil for this is called “Forgiveness” by DoTerra

Other things to consider!

Grab my gut restoration guide here and my anti-inflammatory ebook here

• DON’T OVEREAT
  • It requires the body to expend a lot of energy and forces the body to try to use too many nutrients at once.
• TAKE TIME FOR GRATITUDE
  • When you take a few moments before you eat to pause and reflect, either with blessings
    or gratitude, you are activating brain signals to release saliva, a key to proper digestion.
• BOOST STOMACH ACID
  • Many people have low stomach acid. Heart- burn, belching or gas, fatigue, headaches and much more can all be a result of low stomach acid.g
    • freshly-squeezed lemon juice to your water
    • drinking one tablespoon of raw fermented apple cider vinegar in water each morning.
    • Water for digestion, especially for the health of the mucosal lining, which supports the small intestine bacteria for proper digestion and absorption of nutrients.
      • Lack of water in the digestive system can result in ulcers, indigestion, heart- burn, fatigue, brain fog, memory loss, and constipation.
• PROBIOTICS
  • We need good bacteria to strengthen the immune system, reduce chronic inflamma- tion, help remedy leaky gut and more.
    • You can introduce probiotics with supplements
    • with raw fermented foods like sauerkraut or coconut kefir.