I had so much fun chatting with you all about the last blog post that I just had to keep going! This is another post written just for you and your kids to discuss.
As a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, I love talking about the foundations of health from the standpoint of nutrition. Do you remember the 6 foundations from the last post? That’s right: a whole foods nutrient dense diet, digestion, blood sugar regulation, mineral balance, fatty acids, and hydration.
We often talk about consequences with our kids. ”If you throw your berries on the floor again you won’t get more.” “If you climb on the counter you may fall down.” “If you tease the cat again you may get scratched.” There are most definitely consequences with our health too. Everything is connected. Our bodies are working hard to keep us alive and in balance like one big, beautiful symphony. When the foundations are not supported it can throw that pleasant symphony into a chaotic cacophony. Some of the systems of our bodies that we are going to talk about today are: Endocrine, Immune, Cardiovascular, Detoxification, and Nervous Systems. There is one foundation above (can you guess which?) that is critical to the function of these systems.
If you guessed digestion, you are absolutely right.
Hey kids! Do you remember what digestion is? Remember that our body takes in the foods we eat, breaks them down, and absorbs the nutrients we need for energy, growing and healing.
This may sound crazy, but good digestion is important for our entire body, inside and out, from our head down to our toes!
Our bodies have certain systems that have big jobs that they do for us. Let’s talk about some big words and what they mean for our health and see if digestion is important for each system.
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM- Who is messaging inside of your body?
The Endocrine System is something that we don’t think about much each day but its working in us every second! This system of our body makes hormones. Hormones are little, tiny messengers that help our cells talk to each other. Every cell is a small factory doing a big job for you. Did you ever try to talk to someone that speaks another language? It may have been very difficult. It’s important that our cells are able to speak the same language so that they can help us grow, have energy, and feel good. But, what does digestion have to do with this? Everything!
We need good healthy fats (fish, butter, olive oil), proteins (meat, eggs, cheese) and carbohydrates (fruits, veggies, potatoes) for our body to make hormones. But, we need to digest them (absorb them) well so that our body can use them! Our body takes in these healthy foods, breaks them down, and actually creates the messengers from them. So, it’s super important to take the proper steps to help your body digest best. I’ll have some tips for you at the end.
AMAZING ENDOCRINE FACT: The human body creates more than 100 hormones! (Nutritional Therapy Association, 2020)
IMMUNE SYSTEM- Why does your body need an army?
We could talk for days about your amazing immune system. Just ask Dr. Scott! It’s one of his favorite subjects. The Immune System is our body’s way to keep us safe from things that can make us sick. You can think of our immune system as the guards and the moat outside of a King’s castle. The moat stops the enemy’s army from getting in and the guards can let people in that belong there while keeping the bad guys out. But, what does our digestive system have to do with all of this?
Your digestive system is an army working for your body to protect it from invaders. The stomach makes acid and your pancreas makes enzymes that can protect you from pathogens (a fancy word for enemies in the body). There are special cells in your intestines that make mucous to protect you even further. And, your large intestines contain bacteria that work hard to keep pathogens out.
When we make good choices like eating whole, healthy food and chewing our food well, we lower our chance for having food reactions, making our intestines irritated, and developing food allergies.
AMAZING IMMUNE SYSTEM FACT: about 80% of your immune cells are at work in your intestines! (Wiertsema, et al., 2021)
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM- Have you ever heard your heart thump, thump, thump in your chest?
Our cardiovascular system is our heart, but it also includes our blood and blood vessels. Remember, that digestion is absorbing nutrients. Well, this is especially important for your heart because your heart needs lots of good nutrients and vitamins to keep pumping and working for you. When you are digesting well, your body can properly absorb the fat that your heart uses for energy, make amino acids that your heart needs to have good blood pressure and artery health, and absorb nutrients like calcium and B vitamins that help it to thump, thump, thump.
AMAZING CARDIO FACT: Your body makes around 2 million new red blood cells every second! (Nutritional Therapy Association, 2020)
DETOXIFICATION- What would happen if you didn’t clean your room?
Your body is always cleaning up inside! This is called detoxification. Your body is so amazing that it can heal and fix itself up and it’s working to do that all the time. If you didn’t clean your room, your toys and clothes would start to pile up and get in the way, it may start to get smelly (eeeew!), and you couldn’t use your room the way it was supposed to be used. It’s the same way with your body. If it didn’t clean out, all the icky stuff would pile up inside and it wouldn’t work as well. Many parts of our body help it stay clean. Do you ever run around so much that you sweat? Your skin gets rid of toxins (something that can be harmful) that way. When you poop, your body is getting rid of waste that way. When you exercise and move your body, it helps get rid of toxins that way. And your blood can take away substances that aren’t helpful to you.
Your digestive system is one of the best cleaners your body has. The “mom” of the digestive system-the liver- has lots of big jobs when it comes to helping keep your body cleaned out. It works very hard filtering your blood, removing toxins, and then turning them into something that can be thrown out. Then, we poop all of the waste out. It’s important to poop every day. We don’t want that yucky stuff hanging out inside of us.
Did you know that you have bacteria in your intestines? Yep, about 100 trillion. (Guinane & Cotter, 2013) Crazy, right? That sounds bad but it’s actually really helpful to your body. The bacteria also do a great job of breaking down things that don’t belong and getting rid of them.
NERVOUS SYSTEM- Do you have two brains?
There is one more system that we need to talk about, but you’ve heard of this one right? It’s Dr. Scott’s favorite! Yes, the nervous system may be one of the most interesting topics in all of the hundreds of things we can talk about when it comes to health. Dr. Scott works with you and all of his other patients to make sure that your nervous system is in balance. Balance is an important word for the body. Everything can work better when we are balanced- just like a symphony all working together to create beautiful song. But, can the digestive system possibly have an important connection to the nervous system? You bet!
The nervous system controls the digestive system. Remember? Digestion starts in our brain. It needs to be in a parasympathetic state (calm, resting, digesting) for our food to digest correctly. But, just like Dr. Scott talks about, everything in our bodies are connected like a big web and our digestive system can impact our nervous system too.
Sometimes, our “gut” is called our second brain. Weird, right? These two brains talk to each other and now that there is more and more research, we are able to see just how much our digestive system health has an impact on our nervous system. “Researchers are finding that irritation in the gastrointestinal system may send signals to the central nervous system (CNS) that trigger mood changes.” (Johns Hopkins Medicine, 2022) Wow. It really is all connected.
So, how can we help our digestive system to have a GOOD impact on our nervous system? The very most important thing we can do is make sure we are eating food that HELP our bodies. High quality fish, meats, eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables, and high quality fats like olive oil and avocados are some great examples. Next time you eat a meal you can think, “these healthy foods are helping ALL of me feel good!”
What can I do- I’m just a kid?
Here’s a CH-CH-CHant that will remind you to BE A HELPER to your digestive system while you’re eating so it can work hard to keep you healthy and Blooming Well!
CHeck out your plate- Smell the food, look at the colors!
CHew your food til it’s mush- another chew and another…
CHoose to lose electronics- we need to be at rest.
This is how you help your body feel it’s best!
REFERENCES
Nutritional Therapy Association. 2020. Endocrine. Nutritional Therapy Association Student Guide, 5.
Wiertsema, S. (2021). The Interplay Between the Gut Microbiome and the Immune System in the Context of Infectious Diseases Throughout Life and the Role of Nutrition in Optimizing Treatment Strategies. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.33803407/
Nutritional Therapy Association. 2020. Cardiovascular Health. Nutritional Therapy Association Student Guide, 3.
Guinane & Cotter. (2013). Role of the gut microbiota in health and chronic gastrointestinal disease: understanding a hidden metabolic organ. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23814609/
Johns Hopkins Medicine. (2022). The Brain-Gut Connection. Retrieved from https://hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/the-brain-gut-connection
Comments