Your friend Sugar makes you think she is so good for you. She makes you think she’ll give you energy and happiness. She gives you a dopamine hit so you feel really good like all your troubles have gone away.
Then 20 minutes later “burppp” you know you were so wrong to spend any time with her. She comes out the top and out the back with gas and gurgles in your belly. What? How does she cause this pain? Sugar impacts your digestion.
How Sugar Impacts your Digestion?
Little Miss Sugar runs in and gets absorbed in your mouth and in the beginning of your small intestine. So how does she mess with your large intestine if she is gone? She actually dissuades you from eating the fiber and other prebiotics you need for a healthy gut microbiome.
What are Prebiotics?
When you eat sugar and are craving sugar, you are less likely to grab a whole piece of fruit or greens, onions, apples, or seaweed. These prebiotics are liked by bacteria you want in your large intestine. These good bacteria help you break down foods easier with less pain and gas so that the nutrients can be absorbed and used. The fiber in these foods slows down digestion so that the food breaks down all the way so it gets used by the body.
The gut lining relies on these good bacteria to be around to help with keeping your gut cells tightly packed next to each other and healthy. The good bacteria also send out signals indicating to the brain what is happening in the gut and can impact your mood.
If food doesn’t have enough fiber then it gets to the large intestine without being broken down all the way. The bacteria then try to break it down further but since it is not broken down enough it causes excess gas and bloating.
The particles still may not be broken enough to be used but if the gut cells are not tightly packed there are holes that these larger food particles get through. Your body doesn’t recognize those particles, calls them foreign, and sends immune cells after them. This can lead to autoimmune diseases.
But I Keep Hearing About Probiotics
Yes, probiotics are important too. Probiotics are a way to get more good bacteria in your gut. Probiotics are the good bacteria you want in your gut. One of the problems with them is that they rarely contain a large variety of strains. Even with a large number of units, it is very difficult for any strains to survive the digestive process through the stomach.
So why take Probiotics?
The reason to take probiotics is parts of the good bacteria get to the intestine. The parts of the probiotics or good bacteria help the good bacteria in your gut to thrive and grow and signal to your brain that you have the good stuff. It is interesting but the waste products from these good bacteria give signals through the vegas nerve to the brain. One example is serotonin. Most of the feel-good serotonin actually starts in the gut.
We Don’t Know it All?
The gut is still being studied. It is impacted by so many things that it is hard to tell what is causing the most impact on the good bacteria in the gut. We do know that good bacteria are helpful in how we do many functions in our body, lower inflammation, and help with memory and emotions. It is very important for our health to keep our gut bacteria happy and thriving.
There is a lot of evidence that shows that the standard American diet does decrease the variety of gut bacteria and alters which bacteria thrive most. We know that there are certain types of gut bacteria that help keep us healthier and happier. We know that the bacteria that cause digestive problems seem to thrive more when we eat the high sugar and high saturated fat diet that is common in America.
If you are not eating the fruits and vegetables that help the good gut bacteria live and thrive, you end up with fewer strains and less of the good bacteria. You are left with bacteria that cause digestive issues like gas, bloating, pain, and diarrhea.
Sugar impacts your digestion just by hanging around. If you would like to find out what it feels like and how happy your digestion can be when you take sugar out of the equation then join me for the 10 Day Sugar Detox.
