By George Savastio, ND
Digestive problems such as gas and bloating, heartburn, nausea, constipation, irritable bowel, etc. are extremely common. Just as common are explanations for them from “Dr. Google”. As we “research” (research in this context usually means falling into innumerable internet rabbit holes) the issue online, we encounter a bewildering array of explanatory schemes, often tied to a product guaranteed to provide relief or your money back. To make it more difficult, these explanatory schemes aren’t presented as theories, but as facts, or, in some cases, as revelations directly from God. Uniting them all is an unspoken agreement that the body is essentially a mechanical thing, and the symptoms are an indication of where the “thing” has broken down.
For whatever reason, I just can’t get drawn into these theories. Let’s take leaky gut as an example, since that idea has been around for a while and seems to be enjoying an upswing in internet opinion now. The concept seems plausible – the mucus membrane that lines the gut comprises a sheet of cells bonded together to form a sort of barrier between the inside of the intestine where the digesting food is, and the blood on the other side. The theory is that the assaults of modern living – frequent medication use, substance abuse, poor nutrition, junk food, stress etc. – combine to destroy the integrity of the membranous barrier and allow undigested food particles to enter the blood and wreak havoc with the immune system, producing autoimmune diseases, inflammation, chronic fatigue and on and on. There are laboratories that provide tests that “prove” whether the gut is leaking. Nowhere is it stated that no one has ever witnessed the actual leaking. We also know that the cells lining the digestive tract are routinely destroyed by the act of digestion itself in healthy people. Some of them only last for a few days, as they are degraded by the digestive enzymes in the gut. If we plug that known fact into the leaky gut theory, then everyone has a leaky gut. If that’s the case, why don’t we all have digestive symptoms and the associated host of ailments all the time?
I have another idea. What if the body isn’t a mechanical thing? What if it’s a reflection of how you perceive, think, understand and feel? In Ayurveda, the ancient natural medical system of India, the experience of being alive is considered a digestive act. Perceptions enter through the senses and are digested into the stories of our lives. Ideally, we take in experience and sort through it, taking in what is helpful and nourishing and passing on the rest to be discarded. Our guts do the same thing with food in a healthy situation. The cells lining the tract sort through the digesting food and take in that which is advantageous and discard the rest. Ayurveda suggests that as we digest our experience, so we digest our food.
The wisdom of this assertion is clearly seen in children. Periods of stress and change in the household or in school frequently bring on tummy aches. When a nursing mother is stressed, her infant may become colicky. But the association between stress and digestion doesn’t end there. We carry it through our lives. When I’m investigating the cause of digestive illness, I always start with how the patient is experiencing their lives at the moment. More often than not, the answer is found there. The symptoms are a reflection of your life and offer a way to get your attention to important matters.
If we learn from the symptoms and make necessary changes, then their purpose is fulfilled.
