The digestive system is home to so many moving parts. One breakdown along the pathway won’t result in terrible symptoms right away but will eventually cause dysfunction that can snowball over time into bigger problems.
Take a look at the many responsibilities and organs involved in digestion.
The digestive system works like a well-oiled machine where every process depends on the success of the prior process. If you have dysfunction at any point in the digestive process, it will not only affect every process that happens afterwards but can also impact organ systems outside of the digestive tract.
Did you know that the digestive system serves as a transportation highway for ingested food to move through the entire digestive system so that the following things can happen?
- It can chemically and mechanically break down food
- It can extract and absorb nutrients
- It provides a huge immune barrier for antigens coming into the body and is home to roughly 70% of our immune system
- It helps facilitate the removal of waste from the body
- It can activate hormones
- It also communicates with the central nervous system
- It works to maintain balance in our microbiome
Dysfunction in the digestive tract can lead to a breakdown in these mechanisms, leaving us wondering why we feel off.
So, the number one thing we can do when we have symptoms, regardless of what they are or where we feel them in our bodies, is to look at the gut, in its entirety.
We use a top to bottom or north to south approach in the digestive system for anyone dealing with health related issues. Why the gut? It is the system that fuels the body and if it isn’t working well it will affect all other systems in the body.
This means that even if you have Ulcerative Colitis (like me), we won’t simply focus on the large intestines (UC affects the large intestines), instead, we will look across the entire digestive tract, starting at the top – the brain and then work downwards through the entire system.
Not using this North to South approach means you will miss potential issues that are contributing to the onset of UC to begin with. Focusing only on the area that has been effected leads to unidentified problems and this means you will likely never feel optimal and we strive for optimal health outcomes.
You might be thinking, “that’s a lot of information to collect” and you would be right. It takes an in-depth look at truly comprehensive blood work and stool testing as well as a lengthy amount of time with a practitioner asking all the right questions.
This top to bottom approach we use uncovers real answers and allows us to work on imbalances in many areas of the body which results in you feeling just as you should….amazing!
I hope you find this helpful in your endeavor to prioritize your health related issues.