Your digestive tract is the pathway to your overall health. As Hippocrates said: “all
disease begins in the gut”. So, if you are someone who wants to lead a long and healthy
life then it is critical that you avoid foods that are going to cause problems in your gut.
So in today’s video I’m going to give you the Top 10 Absolute Worst Foods For Digestion.
And make sure you stay around until the end of the video because I give an additional
food that I believe is one of the worst around to put into your gut on a regular basis.
And very quickly before we jump into the video just a quick reminder as always that I am
now offering the SIBO test, organic acids, stool test and consult via my website. So
if you have any health or digestive issues then consider taking these tests as they will
provide a lot of useful information upon which you can start making informed decisions and
then start getting your health on track, and on that bombshell, to the video.
Number 1: Fried & processed foods. These type of foods can generally affect 6 main areas
in the gut that you can see on screen. So the stomach and oesophagus, the gallbladder,
the small intestines, the large intestines and your microbiome and also your bowels.
So lets quickly run through these.
So in the stomach you have stomach acid to help liquify the foods that you are eating.
Fried foods usually contain high amounts of fats that make it more challenging for the
stomach to break down.
As a result, the food can remain in the stomach for longer and this can cause migration of
the food back up into the oesophagus and this can start triggering indigestion and acid
reflux.
Next up we have the gallbladder. The gallbladder is a small push-like organ in the upper right
part of the abdomen that stores bile that has been produced and sent from the liver.
The purpose of bile is to emulsify the fat in your diet. So you eat food, it goes into
the stomach to be liquified and then this liquified food is passed onto the small intestines
where it is mixed with bile and digestive enzymes to further breakdown the food so that
you can digest and absorb the nutrients.
When you are eating a high amount of fried foods it makes it challenging for the gallbladder
and liver to produce enough bile to emulsify the fats and as a consequence you can get
a lot of unwanted fats that have not been broken down correctly travelling through the
small intestines and colon and this will cause all manner of issues such as gas and bloating
and also loose stools and diarrhoea.
Next up is the small intestines, like I said just now if you are getting a lot of fat run
off from the stomach when foods have not been liquified correctly then they can cause a
lot of gas and bloating in the small intestines.
Next up is the colon which homes the vast majority of your microbiome. So if you are
eating a lot of fried foods then this can significantly impact on the types of bacteria
in the colon.
Now your microbiome is very dynamic so if you were to eat high amounts of fried foods
for just one week then you could see upto 1 third of your microbiome disappear and many
of the remaining bacteria would not be conducive to gut health.
These remaining bacteria will take the foods that you are eating and produce highly inflammatory
compounds in the gut such as endotoxins and this whole process can make you very suggestible
to digestive issues such as gas, bloating, constipation or diarrhoea.
So the last area that fried foods can cause problems in the gut is the bowels. So if you
have lots of processed refined foods and fats travelling through your digestive tract that
your body is struggling to break down then it is very likely to impact on your bowel
movements.
So people who tend to eat higher amounts of fried foods tend to have much higher rates
of either constipation or diarrhoea and these problematic movements over the longer term
will make you much more susceptible to bowel cancers.
The second worst food on the list is dairy. Now there are many know risk factors in the
scientific literature for eating higher amounts of dairy in your diet.
But the most obvious impact on digestion after the ingestion of dairy is lactose intolerance.
We know as much as 75% of the world’s population is lactose intolerant.
Lactose intolerance is caused when you are producing too little of the enzyme known as
lactase.
Those who suffer with lactose intolerance are unable to fully digest the sugar known
as lactose in milk. As a consequence, the person will experience digestive complaints
such as gas and bloating, nausea as well as diarrhoea.
Lactulose intolerance is what many scientists speculate as being a driving factor behind
many different types of gut cancers such as bowel or colon cancer.
Number 3 on the list is gluten. Yes I know gluten is not a food and yes I am going to
heavily caveat this and say that gluten is generally problematic in the gut if you have
underlying gut issues or if you have something like celiac disease which is an autoimmune
condition where your immune system will target your gut lining and cells after the ingestion
of gluten.
There are a few known mechanisms in which gluten can be problematic in the gut. So if
you have problems with stomach acid production or if your pancreas isn’t producing sufficient
pancreatic enzymes to break down the proteins within gluten then you will ultimately get
a lot of these undigested proteins travelling through your digestive tract which can cause
issues such as gas and bloating.
Another known mechanism in the gut which can cause problems with gluten is a lack of bacteria
in the colon. Now you will have heard me say many times that a healthy gut will have anywhere
from 600-1000 different species.
When you have a good diversity in the gut all of the fibres, grains, carbohydrates and
constituent parts of foods are fermented and broken down correctly and everything generally
runs ok.
When you don’t have a decent range of bacteria in the colon there will be less fermentation
of the fibre and the compounds within the foods such as oxalates and as a consequence
you will be much more sensitive to food intolerances and sensitivities.
So if you have significant issues with gluten in your diet such as gas and bloating, bowel
movement issues and things like skin issues then first rule out celiac disease with your
Doctor.
If this has been ruled out, then you want to work with a nutritionist or dietician to
see if there is a resolvable issue in the gut that can help you eat gluten without too
much of an issue.
Often this can be as simple as a bit off digestive support with hydrochloric acid and digestive
enzymes as well as boosting the levels of diversity of bacteria in the colon.
Number 4 on this worst foods list is processed refined sugars. Now you don’t need the IQ
of Einstein to know that processed refined sugars are not great for your body or digestion
and these issues have been well documented.
But when we are talking about the gut specifically then a very good thing for you all need to
know is that about 85% of bacteria in the gut will help promote digestive health and
approximately 15% of bacteria found in the colon and elsewhere in the gut are known to
have negative impacts on your body.
Now you will often hear many people refer to bacteria as good or bad. And these imbalances
are never really a problem if the good bacteria outweigh the bad by at least 6 to 1.
But if there is a large shift in the levels of bad bacteria in the gut due to things like
antibiotics, alcohol or have a poor dietary pattern then the outcomes of your gut health
will be driven by the bad bacteria and then this is when you are going to start to struggle.
Now this is all very obvious to most people but I’m sure you will be asking what this
has to do with processed refined sugars. Well obviously, just like you, the bacteria in
your gut have to eat and metabolise foods and as a consequence produce waste products.
So, if you are eating a lot of processed refined foods then these foods and compounds will
travel through the gut and as a result the bacterial diversity in your colon will reflect
this very quickly.
Eat a diet high in processed refined sugars for just one week and your microbiome is going
to become an excessively fermenting powerhouse very quickly and you are going to notice a
lot of gas and bloating as well as bowel movement disturbances.
The bacteria in the colon will also shape your appetite. So if you are eating a lot
of refined sugars then your microbiome will reflect this and as a result you will crave
more and more processed refined sugars…..it becomes a perpetual cycle.
Number 5 on this list is red meat. Now I think most people will acknowledge that fruits and
vegetables are good for you and high amounts of red meats are bad for you……I don’t
think there is anything controversial in those statements.
And I think we can also say without too much controversy that it’s all about context
of what you are eating and the amounts of what you are eating.
If we park the ethical and environmental concerns for 1 second, eating a steak intermittently
is unlikely to do you much harm.
The issue today is that people aren’t having an occasional steak they are loading up on
a lot of red and processed refined meats.
Now while there is a lot of ongoing research in this area I think that we can say with
a certain degree of confidence that eating higher amounts of red meat will impact on
your gut bacterial diversity very fast and as a result will increase the bad species
and decrease the species that you want in abundance.
The other problem with red meats that we see in many countries is the antibiotics and growth
hormones that find their way into the animal food chains. If you want good gut health then
antibiotics, growth hormones, pesticides and other chemicals are not things you want in
the gut on a regular basis.
Number 6 on this list is technically a beverage but I’m still going to include it in this
anyway that is tap water. Now please listen to what I say before you rush to the comments
and start bashing.
Your health is not damaged by eating one food or drinking one type of drink. A person’s
health is usually damaged by the cumulative effect of lots of different areas in a person’s
lifestyle. Poor diets, exposure to toxins and pollutants through the food chain and
environment, a lack of exercise, stress and so on.
Drinking tap water in itself is unlikely to harm you unless there is a lot of pollution
present. That being said I am including tap water in this list because many water supplies
around the world contain a cocktail or chemicals and pollutants.
So if you are following a dietary pattern with a lot of processed refined foods and
sugars, high amounts of meats and you are drinking tap water then the cumulative effect
of all of this on the gut isn’t great.
Now whist our dietary patterns and their impacts on our guts have been heavily researched,
drinking tap water and its ability to impact on our gut flora has been surprisingly overlooked.
There are however a growing amount of studies that do show associations between tap water
and gut microbiota compositions and many of these types of studies suggests the gut microbiome
as a potential mediator of health differences linked to tap water.
Now the strength of this evidence is fairly weak and more research needs to be carried
out. And as I said before I am not for one minute saying that tap water is dangerous
to human health or the gut.
What I am saying is that the more toxins and pollutants you put in the body the more of
a negative cumulative effect it will have.
Number 7 on the list GMO foods. Now again let me caveat this and say nobody can say
with confidence and definitively at this point in time that GMO foods cause health problems
in humans as the research is still ongoing. The main cause of concern that I put on GMO
foods is the negative effects that glyphosphate can have on the microbiome. Glyphosphate is
a common herbicide used in the growing process of many GMO foods.
Another cause for concern with glyphosphate that some studies are demonstrating is that
when we digest GMO foods, the artificially created genes from these foods can transfer
into the bacteria located in our colons and significantly alter their function within
the gut, often with negative consequences. Number 8 is Alcohol and while it’s another
fluid rather than a specific food it is absolutely going on the list just because how widespread
its use is and how destructive it can be. So many people use alcohol for its ability
to relax the body. Unfortunately for many of these people who regularly consume alcohol
it also relaxes the oesophageal sphincter which as discussed before can trigger heartburn
and acid reflux. We also know that drinking on a regular basis
can cause inflammation in the stomach lining which creates additional problems for the
person in that potentially they can suffer with impaired digestion and absorption of
key nutrients from the diet. Beyond this too much alcohol can also trigger
digestive issues such as gas and bloating, cramping and as you would expect as alcohol
can kill a broad range of bacteria at concentrations from 40-90%, alcohol has the potential to
decimate your microbiome. Obviously not good if you are seeking a good quality of health.
Number 9 on the list is artificial sweeteners. Now the reason these are going on the list
is the impact that they can have on changing the balance of your gut bacteria.
The common artificial sweeteners used today in the food industry are aspartame, sucralose,
saccharin, neotame and acesulfame potassium. Now like any food, drive or additives on this
list it is about context. Is having a fizzy drink with aspartame every once in a while
going to kill you, no. But if you regularly use artificial sweeteners then they maybe
having unwanted effects that you are not aware of.
So in general most artificial sweeteners are partially digested sugar alcohols that will
travel the length of your digestive system and pass out of your body undigested.
Some recent studies have found that artificial sweeteners can change the amount of bacteria
in the colon as well as the different types of bacteria that dominate in the gut.
Common issues for many people who consume artificial sweeteners are gas, bloating, reflux,
bowel movement disturbances as well as inflammatory responses in their digestive tracts.
Number 10 on this list is sweetened breakfast cereals. Now we have already discussed processed
sugars and breakfast cereals often contain a lot of these. Above and beyond the sugars
though many of these type of cereals contain nitrates, phosphoric acids and other ingredients
that can cause irritation to the lining of the gut.
So if you have any form of IBS or other digestive complaints these are some of the worst types
of foods that you put into the gut as they have a very low fibre content and they can
trigger gas, bloating, cramping, bowel movement issues and even acid reflux.
Now again if you have the occasional bowel of a sweetened breakfast cereal is it going
to destroy your digestion. Absolutely not. But I have added this food to the list because
I genuinely believe it is one of the first processed refined foods that kids are exposed
to that will set them on a path of poor dietary patterns and overall poor digestive health.
Number 11 and the bonus is any foods that contains a lot of additives and preservatives.
Preservatives are designed to stop foods degrading. Your digestive tract is obviously in place
to help you breakdown foods to extract nutrients and calories.
So if you constantly put foods into the gut that because of the preservatives don’t
want to be broken down then you are at an increased risk of inflammation in the gut
as well as disturbances to your gut flora. Again it is why there is growing evidence
now that shows additives and preservatives can be particularly destructive if eaten at
higher levels. If you liked this video then be sure to watch
this one here because I discuss the top 10 foods that you should avoid at all costs and
these foods go way beyond the impacts just on the gut.
Any beyond this the only thing that is left for me to say is to remember to look after
your body because it’s the only place you have to live….and I’ll see you next time.