Healing Hypothesis

Health Begins in the Gut

Digestion and your small intestine

Just a reminder, the purpose of the tour of the digestive system I’ve been taking you on is to demonstrate the importance of gut health in overall health because health begins in the gut.

I’ve created what I call my Healing Hypothesis, which are 8 concepts, or pillars, I use in my practice to help you heal. They are what I used to help myself heal from my health issues as well. So I know first hand that they work! The first pillar of my Healing Hypothesis is health begins in the gut. This means that no matter what chronic and complex health conditions you may have, impaired gut health may be involved.

Up next on our tour through your digestive system is your small intestine. There are a variety of issues that can arise that impair digestion and adversely effect how your small intestine functions.

Let’s review the role of your small intestine.

Once your stomach has done its job, the partially digested food enters your small intestine and is mixed with bile and ‘juice’ from your pancreas.

Bile is made in your liver and stored in your gallbladder.

By the way, this is a pain point for me, and it’s important for you to know. Bile (and therefore your gallbladder) is absolutely necessary for the digestion of fats. Do not let your doctor convince you that your gallbladder is not important, and if you’ve had your gallbladder removed, you need to supplement with bile so that you can digest and absorb fats from your diet appropriately. Without the ability to digest and absorb fats, you will become deficient in fat-soluble vitamins, including A, D, E and K.

Your pancreas releases enzymes that continue to digest proteins, carbohydrates, and fats into smaller particles that will subsequently be absorbed into your body so that they can be used to make your body run.

The absorption of essentially all of the nutrients needed for your body to function occurs through the lining of the small intestines. This includes fats, carbs, proteins (in their smallest, digested forms), and vitamins and minerals.

Your small intestine is the longest part of your digestive tract, and it’s about 20 feet long!  There are three sections of it, and they are the duodenum, the ileum and the jejunum.

Common issues I see with digestion in the small intestine are:

  • Celiac disease

  • Crohn’s disease

  • Infections (SIBO – small intestinal bacterial overgrowth)

  • Peptic ulcers

Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition where eating gluten damages the small intestine. Gluten is found in wheat, rye, and barley, and it’s widely found in cosmetic products, supplements, and all sorts of packaged and processed foods, and condiments. It’s just about everywhere.

Symptoms of celiac disease can be gut related, some people with celiac disease have symptoms that are not gut related, and some have no symptoms at all. Here are some examples of symptoms:

  • Abdominal pain and bloating

  • Chronic constipation and/or diarrhea

  • Vomiting

  • Fatty liver, and other liver and biliary tract disorders

  • Iron deficiency anemia that doesn’t get better with iron treatment

  • Fatigue

  • Joint pain

  • Peripheral neuropathy

  • Anxiety, irritability, depression

  • Skin rash (dermatitis herpetiformis)

  • Failure to thrive or short status in children

  • Delayed puberty

  • And much, much more

Symptoms in adults tend to be those other than gastrointestinal in nature.

Celiac disease is a serious medical condition where your immune system attacks your own body tissues when you eat gluten, in particular the fingerlike projections that line your small intestine. These villi as they are called are responsible for the absorption of nutrients. As they are destroyed in celiac disease, you become unable to absorb nutrients from foods you eat. If left unaddressed, over time, additional serious health conditions can result, including other autoimmune diseases, multiple sclerosis, anemia, osteoporosis, infertility and miscarriage, neurological conditions, migraines, and intestinal cancer.

We address celiac disease by eliminating gluten from the diet, and lifelong adherence is important. It is also important to identify and supplement any nutrients that may be deficient, as well as to assess overall gut health given there are a number of comorbidities which occur with celiac disease.

Crohn’s disease leads to inflammation of the digestive system and is classified as an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). While it can affect any area in the digestive tract between your mouth and anus, it often affects the ileum, the lower part of your small intestine.

I had a cousin with Crohn’s. She passed away at age 40 (a few years ago now) after a battle with Mantle Cell Lymphoma. I had my genetic testing done recently (nutrigenomics, so genes that can be impacted by food and nutrients) and found that I am heterozygous for a gene that makes me more susceptible to GI inflammation and Crohn’s disease. Heterozygous means I have one bad copy of the gene and one good copy, so I may or may not have issues. I do have GI issues, however I have not been diagnosed with Crohn’s.

Because Crohn’s most often affects the small intestine, it can interfere with your ability to absorb nutrients. Symptoms of Crohn’s include abdominal pain, diarrhea, malabsorption of fat and fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E and K), electrolyte and fluid loss, rectal bleeding, fever, and weight loss and malnutrition (leading to problems with bone health, anemia, growth retardation in children, and more).

There is no cure for Crohn’s disease. While there are natural interventions that can help, appropriate medical management of the condition is necessary to avoid further health complications, and to make sure your body has the nutrients it needs to survive and thrive.

SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) is one of the most common GI infections I see. We are supposed to have a lot of bacteria our large intestine/colon. Sometimes the bacteria end up in our small intestine in abnormally large amounts, and it doesn't belong there. This leads to symptoms like abdominal pain, gas, bloating, belching, constipation, and diarrhea, in particular when we eat foods that SIBO feeds on. This tends to be certain types of fermentable carbohydrates.

SIBO is an extremely complex condition that requires a complex solution. I know this personally and have been able to significantly improve my own symptoms through using a holistic and comprehensive approach. To learn more about SIBO, click here.

Peptic ulcers are basically like a sore in the lining of your stomach or duodenum (first part of your small intestine). Symptoms are most often a burning stomach pain that occurs between meals or at night, and improves if you eat or take antacids. The pain may last for minutes to hours, and it may come and go for days or weeks at a time.

The most common causes of peptic ulcers are H. pylori infection, and use of NSAIDs (aspirin or ibuprofen). Diet and lifestyle factors, like eating certain foods and stress, can make the problem worse. Peptic ulcers can get worse if not addressed, so it is important to find out if you have an infection, and to make diet and lifestyle changes.

H. pylori infection can be addressed naturally, and/or with antibiotic treatment. Regardless of the route you choose for eradication, taking a holistic approach is important in order to address the issue at its core so that it doesn’t come back, and so that other problems don’t arise over time. Too often we only address one aspect of an issue. This is a reason why health problems and conditions become chronic. Chronic and complex health issues are multifaceted. We need to look at all of those facets.

Whenever we have a condition such as the examples noted here affecting the small intestine, we need to resolve it to avoid malnutrition. Remember that the majority of the nutrients from the foods we eat are absorbed through the small intestine. Dysfunction here can have widespread, detrimental effects on your body.

If you suffer from conditions associated with digestion like these, you can schedule a free 15 minute consultation with me to learn more about what you can do heal, click here to get on my calendar.

Remember that at any time, if you have questions for me, contact me! It’s literally me on the other end of this technology, waiting to hear from you to learn what I can do to support you on your health journey.

P.S. If you know someone that might benefit from this information, please share the love (forward them this link) <3

Your partner in health,
Jennifer, MPH, MS, CNS
Functional and Clinical Nutritionist