What comes first … the chicken or the egg … food sensitivity or impaired gut function?  Are we becoming more and more sensitive to certain foods, resulting in issues with our digestion, or do we have a malfunctioning digestive system, which ends up not being able to cope with certain foods?  That’s the dilemma so many of my patients have, resulting in depression, exhaustion and pain.

Although it’s quite common, albeit not cheap, to have our hair samples tested for food intolerance, that may not be addressing the real issue.  It’s really easy to put the blame on the food we eat, but food is often not the culprit!  So, if it’s not food, what is?

If our digestive process is impaired and our gut isn’t functioning the way it should, then it’s obvious that certain food will be difficult to digest.  That’s not necessarily the food’s fault though!  Identifying and no longer eating that particular food is definitely helpful, but if the food is only the trigger, then you’re not healing your gut, you’re just no longer aggravating it.  Does this make sense?

So, what influences the gut and causes it to malfunction?  Several things!

Stress

• Do you know the expression “I can’t stomach that”?  Often the phrases we use reflect the area of the body which is most likely to be affected by the stress we are feeling.  And the gut is known as the “second brain” as it has more nerve cells than the spinal cord or peripheral nervous system. So, stress (anger, frustration, anxiety, worry etc.) can have a major impact on the digestive function and cause pain. 

Nutritional Deficiencies

• We need a complex mixture of enzymes, vitamins, minerals and amino acids in order for our digestion to work properly and the pH value of each section of the gastrointestinal tract, which reflects the acidity or alkalinity, is different.  If one area goes out of balance, it can impact everything else along the line.  And there is only one easy way I know of to find out how things stand.

Eating Habits

It’s not just what we eat that affects our gut.  It is often more important to look at HOW we eat.

• Eating too quickly and not chewing enough.  The digestive process begins in the mouth and if our food isn’t prepared properly then our stomachs have to work harder to break it down.
• Eating while discussing work, stressful issues or studying.  When requiring our stomach to digest food properly, we cannot expect it to be “digesting” difficult subjects as well.  Do one or the other!
• Eating on the run.  This causes all manner of chemicals to flood our bodies which cause indigestion and stop the normal flow of food through the gut.
• Eating too much.  If our stomachs are too full, our stomach acid can get diluted to the point of not being effective.
• Eating late at night.  If we eat late, then we often go to sleep late and, don’t get enough nourishing sleep to see us through the following day.
• Too much raw food.  The stomach heats everything up to 100 degrees before the food can be broken down, so loves soft, warm, vegetably, mushy food like soups, stews and risottos, as it doesn’t have to work too hard to process it.  If the stomach is already weak, it doesn’t want to have to deal with cold, hard, raw food.
• Too much spicy food.  If the stomach is already too hot, then spicy food will cause more heat which can cause ulcers, gout etc.
• Too much greasy, fried food blocks the digestive function, as does too much sugar.  I know … it’s the stuff we love, which does the most harm.  Sorry!
• Eating nothing all day and then shovelling food in late in the evening!  Our stomachs want to sleep when we do.

Our stomach energy is at its most effective around 7am in the morning.  Do you remember the Homepride adverts with the little guys in white coats and bowler hats?  Imagine you have a team of these workers in your stomach, raring to go and looking up at the funnel which delivers their day’s work to them, waiting for the breakfast which will form the basis of your daily energy … and all they receive is a cup of coffee.  They are still ready and waiting at lunchtime, when you eat a sandwich and a packet of crisps, and by the time it gets to the evening, when you (and they) are getting ready to slow down, you give them a huge meal to deal with.  Their response, figuratively speaking, is: “You’ve got to be joking!! What do you expect us to do with this at this time of night?” 

So, we haven’t nourished ourselves well, our bodies have been flooded with stress and adrenaline all day, and we then wonder why we are exhausted all the time!

We need to try to make sure our gut is healthy if we want to feel energised and ready to live our best life.  But how do we go about finding out what’s really going on inside?  One simple and fast way to discover more is with a test which highlights any major food sensitivities as well as checking each section of our gut to identify any weaknesses.

This scan provides information about food you may currently have an intolerance to and/or what may be inflaming or weakening your gut.  It then creates a personalised liquid remedy for you, which acts like a nudge to your immune system, basically saying, “Hey, here’s a blueprint of what a healthy digestive tract is supposed to look like, and mine doesn’t, so please start the rebalancing process to make mine function as it should!”

It is really tough when we are scared to eat and don’t know whether we’ll feel worse afterwards.  But there is hope.  If you are unfamiliar with bioresonance, you can read more about it here.  Then, go and find a bioresonance practitioner, or simply email me at dena@oppenheimer.co.uk and have the scan.  It’s painless, doesn’t take long and you don’t even need to be present if you don’t want to be … a hair sample will suffice to identify you for the scans.  And the best thing is … it’s not just information … it kickstarts the rebalancing process!

I appreciate that there is a lot of information in this article.  Can I suggest that you re-read it again in a couple of days and highlight the bits that speak to you?  Even changing one thing could make a huge difference to your wellbeing.

Let’s get you back to living life feeling well.

This article forms part of the series (At My) Wit’s End Wisdom