Improving Digestion with Supplements and Stress Reduction
Is Your Stomach in Knots?
How to Improve Digestion with Lifestyle Changes
Below is the chapter on the Stomach taken from Dr. Sean Woods’ book, “The Healing Vibe.”
The stomach is arguably the most important player in getting food prepared for absorption in the body. It is literally where the body melts your food into a liquid pulp called chyme. The stomach is filled with hydrochloric acid and this 1.5-3.5 Ph acid melts and breaks down your food, especially protein, and kills any invaders that may have been attached to your food or drink. The stomach is cross layered with muscle and it twists and churns your food aggressively without you even knowing it. If the stomach is not able to handle its job, food is left in the stomach where it sits and creates major dilemmas for the body. As you will see, when the stomach is weak it places unwanted stress on the other digestive organs and over time there is no way to catch up from inadequate digestion. One of the major corrections to your health will be releasing muscle knots and toning up the stomach and diaphragm with daily deep breathing exercises.
The stomach needs to be working well to break down the complexities in the types of food we eat. The stomach works quite nicely if it produces enough hydrochloric acid and the stomach muscles are free of knots. Hiatal hernias always have a knot at the esophageal sphincter, which is the junction between the esophagus and the stomach. This is the sight of acid reflux and where hydrochloric acid seeps up the esophagus causing erosion problems if not corrected. When any part of the stomach is in spasm, you are in big trouble with your health. It is not a smart decision to rely on acid blockers and antacids to squash the symptoms your stomach emits when it is not happy with the food you are putting into it.
In addition to unhealthy foods, unhealthy thoughts also contribute to the malfunction of the stomach. The stomach is one of the organs most affected by stress and anxiety. Negative and misplaced thoughts about yourself, others, and events causes a contraction of the stomach and diaphragm and can stop digestion in its tracks. If the stomach is in knots it can cause chaos throughout the body and mind. When food sits too long in the stomach and gets digested poorly, the fascial connections from the mesentery pulls down on the heart, squeezes the adrenal glands into stress mode, and prevents the diaphragm from expanding fully. This physical manifestation is called ‘anxiety’ in the psychiatric world. With repeated poor thought patterns and unchecked stress, the stomach will eventually show physical disease as a corresponding representation of the way you feel. For example, spending time in worry does not only do a disservice to the person you are worrying about, it also takes its physical toll on you.
As poor digestion continues, you start to see overgrowths of H pylori, acid reflux, gallbladder spasms, bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, and other GI problems. These are the symptoms that may have you running to the pharmacy for those over-the-counter drugs. If you continue taking the drugs without trying to find out how to get yourself healthier, the state of your stomach and your emotional balance will most likely continue to deteriorate. You are beginning to learn how the emotional, chemical, and physical body are creating one another and are all happening at the same time.
From my experience, nutritional supplementation is critical to correct a stomach and there are specific supplements that are needed to take to start correcting stomach dysfunction. For the stomach you may need cell salt soothers to heal the stomach lining and/or need hydrochloric acid to start finishing digestion. Stomach specific enzymes are also recommended to aid digestion and help strengthen the stomach. Finally, there are specific herbs that the stomach loves to clean, heal, and relax.