“IBS” could almost been seen as a health “buzzword” these days. It seems every other person is experiencing digestive discomfort, bloating, irregular bowel motions, or has been diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome an inflammatory bowel disease. It’s important we realise that these things have become very “COMMON” but are not “NORMAL”, and are in fact messages - either whispers or screams - from our body asking us to check in with our choices and perhaps take better care.

With that said, in today’s world, so many are overwhelmed and under-resourced, confused by the outrageous amount of should’s, shouldnt’s, and social media. With a basic understanding of our body’s we can start to feel a little more empowered in our health and healing. It comes down to taking ownership of your health and making more investments than withdrawals in the bank of your wellbeing!

This blog will provide you with a basic understanding of the structure of your gut and some simple ways to support it.

• Gut Barrier Function: Our gut lining is just one cell layer thick. . . literally less than paper thin, AND is exposed to the outside world. With its grooves and folds, its surface area is that of nearly 2 tennis courts! So, ensuring it’s intact is essential to making sure we’re letting the nutrients in and keeping the nasties out of the bloodstream. The outer ‘tube’ of our gut contracts and relaxes in a rhythmic motion to send food, fluid, and waste through the gut.
• Mucosal Barrier Function: Picture a raw salted caramel slice, yum… stay with me. The muscular gut tube is the biscuit-y base, the mucosal barrier is the caramel layer, and your microbiome is the chocy on top. Proper patterns of contraction and relaxation, a well knitted together gut wall, and a healthy mucosal layer create a healthy home for a happy microbiome. Your mucosal barrier sits on top of your gut wall, and is home to a heap of your immune function - because of its constant exposure to the outside world.

Pop the probiotics and digestive enzymes aside, healthy gut structure and function begins with the basics.

Foundations of Proper Digestion

1) De-Stress

The digestive tract is highly susceptible to the effects of stress, which contributes significantly to all symptoms of digestive dysregulation, from levels of pain and gut motility to microbial balance and brain health. Being reactive or resistant to life’s inevitable stressors is a massive hinderance to your health. Get into the practice of managing stress in healthy ways, regulating your perception of pressure and urgency, and processing of what challenges might be arising.

2) Proper, Well-Balanced Main Meals, with time in-between

Unless your needs require otherwise, such as in pregnancy and/or breast feeding where smaller more frequent meals may serve you, avoid constant grazing. Or in other words, aim to make meals well balanced and big enough to sustain you. This allows whats called your ‘migrating motor complex’ - your guts own house keeping system to sweep through and clear out the length of your digestive tract. Depending on the person, it does this every 115 - 230 minutes and is interrupted by feeding.

3) Make Meals at Home

Not only is whole-food prep at home about getting enough of the good stuff in, but also keeping the not-so-good stuff out. Plus, digestion begins with the smell, taste, touch, and thought of food (the cephalic phase) - accounting for up to 20% of our stomach acid production.

Mitchells Nutrition Everyday Essentials

1) Mitchells Bone Broth Powder 

A mug of Mitchells Bone Broth Powder with a squeeze of lemon juice, some fresh ginger and fennel, and a little salt and pepper. Why ginger & fennel?

• Ginger - not only gently warming, soothing, and activating the digestive system, ginger is a ‘pro-kinetic’ helping to move food and waste through the digestive tract more efficiently.
• Fennel - is a carminative - known to relieve digestive discomfort by relaxing the smooth muscles of the digestive tract, helping to alleviate discomfort, cramping, gassiness, and bloating.

2) Mitchells Bone Broth Protein Powder

• Naturally high in both glutamine and collagen Mitchells Bone Broth Protein Powder, really is your easy-to-consume essential for good gut health.
• Bone broth is naturally rich in the amino acid glutamine, which plays a key role in keeping those tight-junctions well woven together, letting nutrients but no nasties through.
• Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body, yet levels start to decline from the age of about 30 years onwards. Its main role is to provide structural support for all connective tissues of the body, including the gut.

3) Mitchells Beef Liver Capsules

• Our Beef Liver Capsules provide a whopping 135% RDI vitamin A. Vitamin A plays a crucial role in promoting regeneration of the gut lining and healthy gut mucous production (Cantorna).

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References

Cantorna MT, Snyder L, Arora J. Vitamin A and vitamin D regulate the microbial complexity, barrier function, and the mucosal immune responses to ensure intestinal homeostasis. Crit Rev Biochem Mol Biol. 2019 Apr;54(2):184-192. doi: 10.1080/10409238.2019.1611734. Epub 2019 May 14. PMID: 31084433; PMCID: PMC6629036.

Deloose E, Janssen P, Depoortere I, Tack J. The migrating motor complex: control mechanisms and its role in health and disease. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2012 Mar 27;9(5):271-85. doi: 10.1038/nrgastro.2012.57. PMID: 22450306.