A lot of us underestimate the value of the gut. I preach a lot about hormones, diagnostics and adrenals, but the gut is truly the center to everything. If the gut isn’t functioning correctly it effects our entire bodily system. What we digest and assimilate is what’s used to make a baby. This may sound obvious to you, but a lot of people do not consider this.

If our gut is not functioning properly, we will not be able to absorb and utilize much of the nutrients we are putting in our body.

There are lots of people who eat a very clean and healthy diet, yet can’t kick certain health issues, and often the gut is the issue. In this case you may be eating all the best food, but if your body isn’t digesting and absorbing them properly, than it’s a big waste.

The gut is the basis for many of the degenerative and immune diseases that are so widespread today. We need all parts of the 20 foot gut to be working optimally. The gut begins in the mouth with saliva and flows down through the stomach, to each part of the small intestine, the colon, and ends in the anus. The organs including the liver, gallbladder, spleen, and pancreas also play important roles in the digestive process.

Making sure the gut is functioning the best it can should be the foundation to any fertility program.

Here are some things you can do to support your gut:

1. Chew your food. Chew your food slowly for sensory appeal, to absorb flavor and breakdown all food particles.

2. Make sure your stomach is super acidic. If you have symptoms such as acid reflux, heartburn, burping, gas, bloating, or nausea after eating then it’s very likely you have stomach acid issues. Your stomach works best when it has a pH of ~2, so it breaks down the nutrients into absorbable particles. This is very crucial. If its not operating ideally, you may need to supplement with Betaine HCL to increase your stomach acid.

3. Do you have adequate levels of digestive enzymes? If you see undigested food in your stool, you feel bloated or you have stomach pain, you may need to supplement with digestive enzymes. These can be miracle workers for those with a compromised digestive system. Remember, you need to digest and absorb optimally to reap the benefits of what you are putting in your body!

4. How many bowel movements do you typically have per day? 1 – 2 good bowel movements is ideal. When I say ‘good’ bowel movements I mean poop with volume, solidity and formation. The bowel movements should represent the quantity of food consumed the past day. I know talking about poop isn’t necessarily the most enjoyable, but it’s Very telling and since we can see it with our own eyes on a regular basis we need to use it to our advantage. *We can get more into depth later if you are interested, but I’ll save the rest of us from detailed description.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Gut Wisdom..thank you Amelia Hirota

In TCM there are two beliefs. One, is that we are born with a bank account of essence that is supposed to last us a lifetime. This is called jing. The kicker is that you get your account of jing and that’s all you get. How judiciously we use this jing can determine the length of our life and the quality of our health. One of the most effective ways to keep jing in the bank account is to create what’s called, Gu Qi. Gu Qi is the Qi that comes from food. In order to extract the most Gu Qi from our food, we need to eat clean, nourishing food and we need to be able to digest and assimilate the nutrients.