~~
I expect that many of you have no idea how important
your "gut" is to your overall health. This is unfortunate considering just how directly your gut and its integrity are in relationship to your overall immune function, inflammation throughout your body, and the development of autoimmune conditions. I will be discussing these vitally important relationships further in this installment and in the next few articles. In my last article, I supplied you with information about how important your "gut associated lymphatic tissue" and your "intestinal flora" are to your overall Health, and more specifically to your overall immune function.
Let's take a moment and look at some unbelievable statistics about your gut, and perhaps this will help you appreciate how the delicate balance of this intricately involved organ truly is to your overall Health and Wellness. Yet the unfortunate truth is that many of us take such poor care of our gut that gastrointestinal diseases and disorders are one of the most common reasons patients seek medical attention in the United States. Many of these conditions fall into the so called "functional category" and are therefore difficult to diagnose and manage. "Digestive distress" has been reported to affect 95 million Americans. The digestive tract contains the single largest surface area of any organ in the body. You see, if you think about it the digestive tract which runs from your mouth to your rectum, is one continuous tube which is open at each end. So, your external environment truly runs through your body since this tube is open at both ends like a pipe carrying water from one place to another. Therefore the gut serves as an interface between the body's internal and external environments. More specifically the lining of the gut serves as an interface between the inside of your body, and the external environment.
Believe it or not one simple truth is a common thread through not only every human on the face of the earth, but every living creature great or small, meaning we must consume food in order to survive. As a matter of fact we consume approximately one TON of food every year. This includes 220 pounds of proteins. Another interesting fact is that we consume much more than food. We consume many non-foods as well. Things that must be filtered out, and disposed of.
But wait a minute, how does the body in its infinite wisdom know how to do this? Well, for those of you who have been to my Family Health and Wellness Program you will be familiar with the term that I am about to use. You see, your body has an "on board computer system". We call it your body's "Innate Intelligence". When I casually use that term it may seem sort of Pollyannaish to many of you. "Yeah, just another one of those Dr. Pfeifferisms." Well if we take a moment to dig down to the realities of this amazing healing capability of the body we realize just how intricate and oh yes, how true this term really is. You will also begin to recognize why the gut is referred to as "the body's sixth sense"!
The process of digesting foods, which by the way we ALL take for granted, begins with the breakdown of the so called "macro-nutrients". This includes the three specific macro-nutrients, Fats, Carbohydrates, and Proteins. The proteins are ultimately broken down into their component parts, Amino Acids. This process is adversely affected by multiple factors. These include drugs, both prescription drugs and illicit drugs, processed foods, lack of digestive enzymes, one's age, and chemicals present in foods. This poor digestion of macro-nutrients causes undigested food in the gut to negatively affect the bacteria in the gut. The negatively affected bacteria in turn release endotoxins which will cause the "Autoimmune Cascade" that I discussed in my last article. This in turn will cause the inflammatory process that leads to multiple conditions ending in "itis" such as arthritis and colitis.
The common denominator in all of this is an increase in the permeability of the intestinal wall. A condition that is commonly referred to as a "Leaky Gut".
So, the inflammation that occurs as a result of this multipart process causes the tight cellular junctions to become porous. This process would be much like the mortar in an old brick wall cracking and opening up. When this occurs the digestive process is compromised, and instead of the breakdown of the macro-nutrients such as proteins into their smaller component parts that can be utilized by the body, the whole molecule passes through the intestinal wall. These particles make their way into the circulatory system, and since they are not normally found in this form in the circulation, they are viewed by the body's immune system as unnatural "invaders". The immune system then sets up an all-out attack on these particles, and the "autoimmune process" begins!
I hope this information gives you a little more of an understanding about one of the ways that the "autoimmune cascade" of events begins.
But where does the infamous "gluten" connection that I am sure many of you have heard about come into the picture? That my friends is the topic of our next installment, "The Gluten/Autoimmune Connection".
If you are already heading down the wrong path of inflammation, and suffering with progressively worsening, and destructive autoimmune changes, there is hope for you. I would like to give my heartfelt recommendation to those of you who haven't already joined us for one of our past Cleanse Programs to grasp this moment, and register to join us for our "Cleanse Preview Program". To those of you who are past "Cleansers" who are due for another Cleanse, you can register online.
Thanks for sticking with me through that involved and convoluted explanation of this very complicated topic.
Dr. Pfeiffer's "Think Right"
Nine-tenths of the serious controversies in life result from misunderstanding. ~ Louis Brandeis