Pie Hole to Poop Chute

[TrainHard]

Interesting Read, I attached the gut table at the bottom.

From Pie Hole to Poop Chute
by Dr. Bryan Walsh

As a fly-on-the-wall of sorts in the bodybuilding and fitness community, I get to hear all kinds of chatter about The Next Big Thing. New training methodologies, new drugs, new supplements, you name it. It's pretty cool.

Well, lately there have been two such things creating a lot of buzz. The first one is something you may have gotten wind of: the next level of peri-workout nutrition and the application of the 3rd Law of Muscle. The second is wait for it, wait for it! gut health.

No, really. Gut health.

Industry bigwigs, research scientists, bodybuilders, athletes... all talking very excitedly about gut bacteria, hydrochloric acid, and poop.

Yeah, poop.

It's disturbing... and fascinating. Because if you have an issue with your gastrointestinal tract, then you ain't gonna grow much muscle or be able to lose a significant amount of body fat. And these issues are more common than you think.

From pie hole to poop chute, Dr. Brian Walsh gives you the lowdown.

CS


It's Not About the Diet
Thousands of diet and exercise programs have been written in the past decades, but are all those programs really necessary? Shouldn't a handful of basic nutrition and training principles work for the vast majority of the population?

There's a basic principle that isn't talked about enough in the diet and muscle-building industry and that is:

Your physiology dictates how well your body will respond to diet and exercise.

Seriously. Don't gloss over that point. Diet and exercise are merely tools that work only as well as your body will allow. This is critical.

The gastrointestinal tract is one such system in the body that, if dysfunctional, can make your fat loss efforts more difficult. Need some examples?

1. Gut exposure to any type of antigen (foreign substance leading to antibody production) leads to cytokine production (inflammatory protein messenger), which leads to an increase in ACTH and cortisol production.

This can lead to pituitary suppression (lowered Testosterone!), overload of hormone detoxification in the liver, underconversion of T4 to T3, and suppression of secretory IgA, which ultimately leads to an increased sensitivity to antigens, creating a vicious cycle.

2. An increase in inflammatory cytokines has been shown to increase lipogenesis (fat storage) and decrease lipolysis (fat breakdown) via a decrease in hormone sensitive lipase.

3. Twenty percent of inactive thyroid hormone is converted to active T3 by healthy gut bacterial. Without healthy gut bacteria, you may be missing out on the fat-burning effects of optimal T3 levels.

In other words, if your guts aren't working properly, nothing will.


The GI System
The digestive process doesn't begin in your stomach, or even your mouth. It begins in your brain. When you think of, see, or smell food, the salivation that occurs is evidence that digestion starts as a cerebral process.

But let's talk about the tangible stuff. Here's a breakdown of the digestive tract, what can go wrong, how it can impact your efforts to get ripped for a bodybuilding competition or just shredded for the beach, and what to do about it:


The Stomach
What It Does: The primary role of the stomach in the digestive process is to secrete hydrochloric acid, or HCl. HCl doesn't digest food on its own, but rather creates an environment for digestion to begin.

Hyrdocholoric acid has a number of important functions including, 1) sterilizing food, 2) converting pepsinogen to pepsin, which begins the breakdown of protein, 3) aiding in the absorption of key nutrients such as vitamin B12 and zinc, and 4) preparing the rest of the digestive tract for action.

Specifically without adequate hydrochloric acid, pancreatic enzymes won't be optimally secreted, nor will the gall bladder store adequate amounts of bile to assist in emulsification of fats for digestion.

What Can Go Wrong: The most common problem in today's society with regard to hydrochloric acid secretion is deficiency. A number of factors can contribute to a deficiency of HCl production including aging, infection, and nutrient deficiency (ironically zinc and histidine are required for HCl production, yet zinc and histidine absorption are dependent on adequate amounts of HCl secretion).

What To Do: Firstly, there are a number of ways to assess HCl adequacy ranging from the somewhat strange, to the more scientifically valid.

Testing:

HCl test The first test, and one I don't necessarily recommend for a number of reasons, is the HCl test. According to some people, taking an increasing amount of betaine HCl until a "warming" sensation occurs in the stomach, and then backing off one capsule, indicates one's requirement for HCl supplementation. Though I've seen this work clinically on occasion, it has its flaws.

Heidelberg test This test has a little more scientific data behind it and consists of swallowing a capsule, which sends signals back to a machine as to the level of acidity in the stomach. It's a good test, but sometimes difficult to find a practitioner who uses it.

Blood chemistry By far the easiest test is to run a standard blood chemistry. There was a group of researchers that correlated the Heidelberg test with protein and globulin markers in the blood, and found a positive correlation between hypochlorhidria, as measured by the Heidelberg machine, and shifts in protein and globulin in blood work.

Specifically, protein above 7.4 or below 6.9 (G/dl), and globulin above 2.8 or below 2.4 (G/100mL), is suggestive of hypochlorhydria. We've found this to be clinically reliable and have observed these markers changing as hydrochloric acid supplementation has been used.

H.Pylori infection The World Health Organization considers H.Pylori infections to be one of the most common infections in the world, with an estimated 50% of the population being infected. While third world countries greatly contribute to this statistic, we've seen a large number of H.Pylori infections in our practice.

The most effective test is the Urea Breath Test, which used to be over $1,000 to run, but is now a very affordable $100. It's a pretty nasty infection, even contributing to cardiovascular disease, but is fairly easily eradicated. If you test positive for H.Pylori, eradicating it should be your first priority.

Supplementation:

It's not recommended you supplement with HCl without the assistance of a qualified medical professional, despite the ease with which you'll find suggestions online. If you cannot find a qualified practitioner to assist you, you may try supplementing with betain HCl, starting with one capsule or tablet with every meal, and increasing until you feel a "warming" sensation in your stomach, and then backing off one tablet, which will be your maintenance dose for every meal for a period of time.

Ideally you'll be able to back off one tablet at a time until no further HCl supplementation is needed. People who are taking hydrochloric acid shouldn't use ulcer-inducing drugs such as aspirin (or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) or alcohol.


Small Intestine
What It Does: The small intestine is where digestion and absorption largely happen. Through the release of pancreatic enzymes, along with bile from the gall bladder, the vast majority of macro and micronutrients are absorbed here.

Through the stimulation of cholecystokinin, bile is secreted into the small intestines to help emulsify ingested fats, and digestive enzymes are secreted by the pancreas including amylase, lipase, zymogens and nucleases.

What Can Go Wrong: As mentioned above, inadequate HCl production will blunt secretion of digestive enzymes and bile, and thus negatively impact absorption. But there are some other things that can go wrong.

Infection of the small intestine leads to a host of negative consequences systemically throughout the body. Infection typically includes parasites, bacteria, or yeast/fungus. This can lead to cytokine production and an increase in cortisol production.

Inflammation of the intestines is thought to negatively impact the microvili, or brush border, which are small extensions of the vili designed to increase the surface area and hence absorption of the small intestines. Food sensitivities and infection are the most common source of inflammation in the small intestines.

Secretory IgA (SIgA) is the dominant immunoglobulin produced in the small intestine and one important component of the local defense against dietary and infectious agents present in the gut lumen. A number of things can decrease SIgA including cortisol, infection, and inflammation, leading to decreased immune protection in the gut and thus increased pathogenesis of mucosal infections.

What To Do:

Testing: Today one of the most effective tests available is the GI Effects test through MetaMetrix laboratories. This lab has revolutionized stool testing yes, that's poop testing by looking for the DNA of a given microbe, rather than the microbe itself.

In other words, it has taken the needle-in-a-haystack method of stool testing and created a way of actually finding the needle in a haystack.

While two types of GI Effects testing is offered, the microbial panel is all you really need. If HCl and enzyme production is adequate, the more expensive and elaborate test isn't necessary.

Supplementation and recommendations:

Again, supplementation without proper assessment isn't recommended. It isn't necessarily damaging, but without proper assessment, you're merely guessing.

To support gall bladder function, the following nutrients may be helpful: dandelion root, milk thistle seed extract, ginger root, phosphatidyl choline, and taurine.

Saccromyces boulardii, a specific strain of yeast, has been shown to increase SIgA levels in the gut. Incidentally, having intercourse two times a week has also been shown to increase SIgA levels over people having sex less than two times per week.

Removal of infection typically requires specific compounds depending on the type of microbe infecting the gut. While numerous natural compounds have been shown to be effective in eradicating certain microbes, clinical experience has shown that parasites typically require pharmaceutical agents.

By far one of the most effective protocols for improving gut function is an elimination diet for a three-week period. While the details are too extensive to get into here, this means eliminating common food antigens (i.e. gluten, dairy, corn, soy, eggs, nightshade vegetables) while focusing on using gut-healing nutrients including: deglycyrrhizinated licorice root, glutamine, flavanoids (catechin), bismuth citrate, gamma-oryzanol, rhubarb officiniale, mastic gum, gamma-oryzanol, marshmallow root, quercitin, grape seed extract, rutin and hesperiden, evening primrose, and enzymes.

Large Intestine
What It Does: By the time food reaches the large intestine, most of the nutrients have been absorbed. The main function of the large intestine is to concentrate waste by reabsorpting water.

The other key feature of the large intestine is the vast population of bacteria that inhabit it. Healthy bacteria function in our large intestine primarily by synthesizing key vitamins (i.e. vitamin K) and assisting in the digestion of polysaccharides.

What Can Go Wrong: The primary malfunction of the large intestine is dysbiosis, or an imbalance of "good" to "bad" bacteria. When this happens, a number of physiological defects can occur, hampering our ability to lose fat.

A little known fact about thyroid hormones is that, in healthy functioning thyroid physiology, approximately 20 percent of our active thyroid hormone (T3) is activated by bacteria in our gut. Specifically, T3 acetic acid and T3 sulfate are metabolized by gut bacteria, creating active T3 hormone that can enter our cells and exert its metabolic effect.

Dysbiosis can also cause an increase beta-glucuronidase activity, which can reverse hormone conjugation by liver, leading to recirculated deconjugated estrogens back into the system, potentially leading to hormone imbalances.

What To Do:

Testing: Again, one of the most effective gastrointestinal tests available today is the GI Effects test from Metametrix laboratories. If you suspect any type of GI infection, that test is one of the better ones available.

Supplementation and recommendations:

Without testing, a common remedy people use for improving the bacterial balance of their large intestine is the use of probiotics. There are a wide variety of products available on the market today, but selecting professional brands generally means a higher quality product.


Putting It All Together

"See attached link for this section"

The next step is to use objective testing if possible. Guessing should only be reserved for game shows.

When addressing gut function, it's always important to start at the top. Making sure HCl production is adequate, and ruling out an H.pylori infection should come first. Then take a look at every stop on the way down to make sure things are functioning optimally and take the appropriate therapeutic measures as necessary.


Summary
Diet and exercise are merely tools. Effective tools to be sure, but they only work to the degree that your physiology allows them to. The gastrointestinal tract is one such system that if not working properly will make fat loss efforts more difficult, if not impossible in some cases. Fix them and if everything else is in order you'll get lean fast!


References
Crago S et al. Mucosal Antibodies, Food Allergy and Intolerance. 1987:167-89.

Carins J. et al. Aviat Space Environ Med. 2002.73(12)1203-7.

Roubenoff R. Molecular basis of inflammation: relationship between catabolic cytokines, hormones, energy balance, and muscle. J Parenter Enteral Nut. (2008) Nov-Dec:32(6):630-2.

Kossiakoff AA et al. Structural basis for cytokine hormone-receptor recognition and receptor activation. Adv Protien Chem. 1998;52:67-108.

Excobedo G. Parasite regulation by host hormones: an old mechanism of host exploitation? Trends Parasitol. 2005. Dec;21(12):588-93.

Rawls WB, Ancona VC. Chronic urticaria associated with hypochlorhydria or achlorhydria. Rev Gastroenterol 1951;18:267.

Anonymous. A plug for acid therapy. Am J Dig Dis 1948;16:418.

Mahoney AW and Hendricks DG: Role of gastric acid in the utilization of dietary calcium by the rat. Nutr Metab 16:375-82, 1974

Jacobs A and Rhodes J: Gastric factors influencing iron absorption in anaemic patients. Scan J Hemat 4:105-10, 1967

Lehrek M. et al. Serum concentrations of cortisol, interleukin 6, leptin and adiponectin predict stress induced insulin resistance in acute inflammatory reactions. Crit Care. 2008;12(6):R157.



Is gut health the next big thing?


No guts, no glory.


Maybe somebody needs to take probiotics.


The Gastrointestinal Tract.


The Heidelberg Test: Just swallow the pill, Neo.


The large intestine balances out the good bacteria and the bad.

About Dr. Bryan Walsh

Dr. Bryan Walsh is naturopathic physician who's worked with numerous physique competitors and athletes. For more info on his services, visit Maryland Naturopath - Dr. Bryan P. Walsh or Fat Loss | Weight Loss | Dr. Bryan P. Walsh.

 

[jasthace]

Efficient Digestion

By Dr. Herbert M. Shelton
Reprinted from Dr. Shelton's Hygienic Review
A view frequently expressed by medical authors and apparently held by the whole profession, is that if two foods may be digested separately, they may be digested together. They extend this principle to cover the whole menu: if each article of food in a bill-of-fare is separately digestible, then they are digestible if eaten. in a twenty-one course dinner, with the diner partaking of everything from soup to nuts.

Conventional diet causes digestive problems
In a limited way, this view is true, else would conventional eaters die from lack of food. Instead of dying, they thrive after a fashion, many of them even growing fat on the conventional diet with its haphazard mixtures. That digestion is not very efficient, is shown, however, by gas, sour eructations, discomforts, foul stools and the presence of large quantities of undigested food in the stools. At least half of the food eaten by most people is passed out undigested.

It is commonly held that foods may be taken into the digestive tract in the most indiscriminate and haphazard manner, in any possible combination, and in whatever amount the eater may desire will be well and efficiently digested. This view is not based upon physiology, but upon the determination of the profession that the customary practices of the people shall not be distrubed. Every student of physiology is well aware that the digestive enzymes have certain well-defined limitations and that different digestive juices are secreted for use in digesting different kinds of food substances. These limitations should be respected in our eating habits.

Proper food combining does not cause digestive problems
The inhibiting effect upon protein digestion of acids, sweets and fats makes it important to avoid combining these three types of foods. Good digestion depends upon a number of factors, but simplicity of meals with combin ations of foods that do not overstep the known enzymic limitations is one of the most important of these factors.

Vinegar retards digestion
Experiments have shown that as small a portion of vinegar as one in 5,000 sppreciab1y diminishes the digestion of starch by its inhibiting or destructive effect upon the salivary amylase. One part in 1,000 renders starch digestion very slow and twice this quantity arrests it altogether. From these facts it becomes evident that vinegar, pickles (saturated with vinegar), salads on which vinegar has been sprinkled and salad dressings containing vinegir, are unwholesome substances to take into the human digestive tract, especially when taken with starchy foods such as cereals, bread, legumes, potatoes and the like.

Vinegar is not an evil merely because its highly toxic acetic acid content destroys ptylain (salivary amylase), but it also contains alcohol, which precipitates the pepsin of the gastric juice and retards or prevents gastric digestion of proteins. What wonder then that pickles and vinegar have been found useful in reducing weight. They cripple the first two stages of digestion. My readers should know that apple cider vinegar, which is so much lauded today as a "wonder drug" in folk medicine con tains both acetic acid and alcohol and is unfit for use, not alone because it impairs digestion, but also because it contains these two virulent poisons.

Acids destroy digestive enzymes
All acids destroy salivary amylase, the starch-splitting enzyme in the saliva, and thus arrest starch digestion in the mouth and stomach. Even those acids that are valuable as food, such as the acids of pineapples, grapefruit, oranges, tangerines, lemons, limes, tomatoes, apples, grapes, peaches, cherries, etc., destroy the amylase of the saliva and arrest the digestion of starch. For this reason, such foods should not be eaten at the same meal with starches-potatoes, bread, cereals, le gumes (beans and peas), Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, cauliflower, parsnips and similar foods.

Acids inhibit the secretion of gastric juice, hence they suspend or retard protein digestion in the stomach. These fruits should not be eaten with protein foods-such as eggs, flesh, cheese, nuts, etc. They make a better combination with nuts and cheese than with flesh and eggs for the reason that the cream in cheese and the oil in nuts also inhibit gastric secretion, and the taking of acid foods with these foods does not inhibit the secretion of gastric juice more than does the fat. Nuts and cheese still combine better with green vegetables.

Alcohol and cooking ingredients interfere with digestion
I have mentioned above that by precipitating the pepsin of the gastric juice, the enzyme that initiates protein digestion, alcohol impairs protein digestion. There are many other substances that destroy pepsin. Extensive tests have shown that the residues left in bread by baking powders retard the digestion of protein. Although most of these tests were made with cream of tartar powders, no powder seems to be exempt from this effect. Baking soda also destroys pepsin and retards gastric digestion. Many drugs both acids and alkalies, have been used with which to reduce weight because they retard digestion.

Anything that either inhibits the secretion of the digestive juices or that alters their chemistry, or that destroys their enzymes, will retard or suspend the process of digestion. It is important, therefore, that we take nothing with our foods that either alters the acid-alkaline reactions of the digestive fluids, inhibits their secretion or destroys their enzymes. It is also important that we refrain from taking foods at the same meal that either directly or indirectly interfere with the digestion of each other.

Tea, coffee and condiments cause indigestion
Tea and coffee, not alone because of the toxic substances which they contain, but also because of the sugar that is commonly taken with them, inhibit the digestion of foods in-the stomach. They are common causes of indigestion. Condiments of all kinds also, because of the irritation of the stomach which they occasion, inhibit stomach digestion. As they are indigestible and occasion irritation throughout the whole length of the digestive tract, it is likely that they also inhibit intestinal digestion. Salt inhibits stomach digestion, also. There are a number of products widely so1d in health food stores, that consist of powdered vegetables, some of them containing highly salty sea weeds, others with salt added. They are used with which to make broths and they are sprinkled on salads and other foods as seasonings and supplements. They inhibit stomach digestion, sometimes for hours.

Onion family causes digestive problems
There is no reason to doubt that all the members of the onion family-onions, garlic, leeks, shallots, chives, etc. -as well as radishes and all other foods containing appreciable amounts of mustard oil, because they occassion irritation of the stomach and intestines as they occasion irritation of the mouth and throat, inhibit digestion. Horseradish and mustard are especially strong in occasioning irritation, but ordinary white and red radishes occasion considerable irritation. There seems to be no good reason why we should eat such items.

It seems that it is the part of wisdom to refrain from eating practices that retard, inhibit and impair digestion, rather than to eat in the indiscriminate and haphazard manner that is common and then resort to drugs to pal liate the resulting discomfort. To avoid discomfort by avoiding its cause is certainly preferable to deliberately inviting trouble and then seeking to palliate it with drugs that are worse in their damaging effects than the foods, food additives and combinations that are responsible for the initial trouble.

Nature does not mix foods
The eating of complex mixtures of foods is not seen in nature. Animals not only stay strictly with the foods to which they are constitutionally adapted (those to which their digestive secretions and processes are specially adapted) but they refrain from mixing these indiscrimin ately.

Man mixes foods from all sources. He will combine in one meal the diet of the tiger (carnivore), that of the pig (omnivore), that of the sheep (herbivore), that of the bird (graminivore) and that of the primate (frugivore), and expect such a combination of foods to be as speedily and as efficiently digested in his stomach as the tiger's diet is digested in the tiger's stomach and the sheep's diet is digested in the stomach of the sheep. On the face of it, it would seem that however great is the adaptive capacity of the human digestive tube, it would not be capable of adjusting its digestive secretions to so many different types of diet at one and the same time.

Why should we expect the human digestive tract to be able to efficiently digest such meals? It is often asserted that "normal (human) digestive tracts have been coping with such combinations for centuries without a whim per," but such a statement is based, not on fact, but on ignorance of the history of mankind's eating practices as well as upon an ignoring of the facts of contemporary human suffering. Present-day eating practices are not centuries old. The meals of man, until very recent times, have been very simple and have consisted of but two or three articles of food. With several notable exceptions, even the meals of the wealthy classes have been very simple when compared to the eating practices of today.

Mono meals ideal
That the human digestive tract copes with such combin ations today without a whimper is simply not true. Indeed, the whimpering assumes the proportion of a loud national groan. Viewing the eating practices of the lower animals, we observe the utmost simplicity. "Every animal keeps to one dish-herbs are the food of this species-fish of that- and flesh of a third," wrote an early Hygienist, who advised: "Be content with one dish at a meal, in the choice of that consult your palate."

Certainly the human digestive tract, like that of the lower animals, can make a far more complete and efficient adjustment of its secretions to the character of the food eaten if but one food is eaten at the meal. It may turn out in the long run that all of our efforts to work out compatible food mixtures is an effort to stray away from the simple path of nature without suffering.

 

[Solid_Bodyman]

we eat meat and vigetables at a time, so it is harmful? my health instructor tell me that dont eat meat and vigetable at a time. it creates diarhea.