If you’re interested in health, you can’t but help hear all the buzz about the micro biome or microbiota (microbiome = all of our microbes’ genes) but we’re mostly talking about those that hang out in our gut. The rate at which your food moves through your system, the mucus lining the intestines (which feeds healthy microbes), and nutrients extracted from your food—all that is controlled by your central nervous system.

Nicknamed the “second brain”, the lining of our gut has more neurons (umm that would be hundreds of millions) than our spine or even our peripheral nervous system! This enteric nervous system in our bellies is responsible for everything from “butterfly feelings” to how we digest our food. It sends signals to our brain through the nervous system, as well as tons of chemical and hormonal messages. This brain-gut axis seems to play quite a few roles — in our digestion, detoxification, moods, and disease.

This enteric brain—or we can call it “gut brain”— helps us break down and assimilate our food without having to communicate through the spinal column. But it’s so independent and complex, it is believed to do so much more than simply tell the body to break our food down into nutrients and excrete what’s left through the colon! Scientific American reports that “scientists were shocked to learn that about 90 percent of the fibers in the primary visceral nerve, the vagus, carry information from the gut to the brain and not the other way around.

Based on what we now know, our emotions are highly affected by what happens in the gut. (In fact, did you know that you make up to 95% of your serotonin in your gut?) So, those feelings of butterflies in your stomach or a “gut instinct” have real validity.

But importantly, that one thing you can do that will impact your health? Eat mindfully.

If the gut is THAT important (and it is!) then wouldn’t it seem that taking really good care of it is really important? Given what we talked about and the fact that up to 70% of our immune system is aimed at the gut to expel what is ailing us, I’d say it’s a superb idea. The best idea of the day. Or year!

I’ve talked about “leaky gut” (aka intestinal permeability) where the integrity of the gut lining is breached and we “leak” contents into our bloodstream, which causes an enormous host of problems from achy joints to autoimmune disease. But can we influence the gut and digestion through our thoughts as well as the other way around?

The answer is yes! Your thoughts, emotions, and stress level are crucial to optimal health. Optimal health comes from the complete digestion and assimilation of nutrients—in other words, the messages that come from the food and drink we take in. One of the best ways to describe this phenomenon is by referring to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). This ancient medicine has an amazing ability to describe what Western science is only now figuring out.

In TCM we see digestion as being the job of the Spleen (and Stomach). The more important of the two viscera, the Spleen, is responsible for taking the food and drink and turning it into qi and blood, which then gets distributed throughout the body. If the Spleen isn’t functioning well, it can’t do its job and we see symptoms like gas, bloating, nausea, and fatigue after eating. The Spleen becomes burdened by “overthinking” and it’s recommended that you not work or get distracted while you’re eating so that it can do its job.

This makes a lot of sense given the science I just presented, right? In order to take food in and extract all possible nutrients from it, we should make sure our digestion is in optimal form. This means ensuring that we are peaceful, focused, and calm when we eat. Doing so will allow for optimal nutrition, which is what keeps our guts, brains, and bodies healthy!

Western science says breaking down our food gives us nutrients and energy. These nutrients become the building blocks for everything in our bodies. What we feed ourselves creates our inner physical (and mental/emotional) world. How we digest is crucial to those building blocks as well as to detoxification and elimination.

So, what IS the biggest secret to better health? Be in a state of mindfulness and relaxation when you eat.

If we’re in any kind of a stress response, we are simply not going to be able to digest and assimilate our foods, let alone detoxify. We won’t even realize when we are satiated. Science shows that it takes about 20 minutes for your brain to receive the signal that you’ve eaten enough. Eating mindfully also allows you to experience the food you are eating and for your brain to understand when it has had enough.

You can even start craving food that your body thinks it wants because your microbes are dictating your desires! Another Scientific American article states:

“Recent evidence indicates that not only is our brain ‚aware‘ of our gut microbes, but these bacteria can influence our perception of the world and alter our behavior. It is becoming clear that the influence of our microbiota reaches far beyond the gut to affect an aspect of our biology few would have predicted—our mind.”

But remember, it goes both ways. When you are under stress, experiencing fight or flight response, your body shuttles blood elsewhere—to your legs for running and your mind for figuring out how to survive. If you’re in full blown “lion is chasing you down” kind of stress, your body will totally shut down digestion. Your body doesn’t know the difference between a lion and a big deadline or a fight you had with someone — it just thinks: survival!

When a group of gazelles is being chased down by a lion, their adrenaline starts pumping, their digestion shuts down, and they sprint to save their lives. However, once one is captured, the others actually relax and go back to grazing. They never perseverate about an earlier argument (or a past run-in with a lion) while eating. That past trauma is over and done.

But not so for humans. Once the fight is over, we still fixate on it. Once the deadline is met, we can’t so quickly calm down and get back to normal.

And what’s going on within us can have a powerful influence on the nutrients and energy we get from our food and the way we excrete and detoxify. We need to be relaxed to do all of these things. When you relax, you’re experiencing optimal signaling of the nervous system, and those chemicals and hormones are all singing a beautiful song, instead of shutting down.

So please, if you do one thing to improve your health, eat mindfully and in a relaxed state. Don’t read, watch TV, argue or bring your mental baggage to the dinner table! Spend time tasting the flavors and noticing the textures of your food. Ask your body to digest the food as well as it possibly can. Focus on the energy and nutrients circulating effortlessly in your body because you are in a relaxed state. Then, reap the benefits of better health, greater energy, and vitality and maybe weight loss (or gain if need be.)

If you found this interesting, remember, sharing is caring. Help someone move toward better health.