Due to my recent acquisition of a library card, I've been ordering all the books that I've wanted to read for quite some time without one. I had put them on my Amazon wish list, in hopes of buying them someday but then ended up being able to get quite a few of them through our local library system. I'm a nutrition junkie who is always so curious about how the body works and what makes things better and worse, that sometimes I wear myself out. (I also wore out my nursing school instructor with my millions of questions of how's and why's. She'd say, "You don't need to know that, Rachel. You'll have to stay after class if you want to learn more." So I did. Almost every day.) Anyhow, I am going to try to share the wealth that I'm learning in case some of it may be of help or interest to you too. These books are available in the Fort Vancouver system, for you locals.
Digestive Wellness by Elizabeth Lipski (4th Edition)
"Strengthen the Immune System and Prevent Disease Through Healthy Digestion" is the motto on the front of the book. That sums it up, but I'll add my favorite information too!
She starts out by explaining how your gut is at the center of all body functions, and if it isn't working properly, you'll end up with a host of different problems. From allergies, fibromyalgia, autoimmune disorders, weight loss struggles, these all can be traced back to digestive roots, even if you have never had digestive complaints. The saying that the gut is the second brain of the body holds true.
She starts at your mouth and goes through the digestive system to the other end, explaining all the nutrients extracted at each point, and then what happens if that piece isn't working properly, and how to fix it (most of the things you can do at home). She talks about pre- and probiotics and how essential they are to all diets (due to our increase in "dead" foods), how we need to eat real food (quit reading labels so much and just eat meat, veggies, fruit, good fats). Her idea is to eat 90% nourishing food and then let the last 10% be "fun" food. If the food isn't nourishing your body, then what is the point of eating it? And she explains that cravings are your body telling you of a lack, so listen up. If you are craving fatty foods, you likely need some good oils/fats (not the doughnut that you think you want!)
She explains what a "leaky gut" is and how people get them and what to do if you have one. (Most Americans do these days for various reasons) She gives many ways to heal it too.
There is also a few page checklist to see where your digestion may be lacking, and then a section to find out how to heal and improve it. She talks about pH too. (Acid/base balance) What is good for your body's pH and what is not. One quote that I thought was interesting was about soda. She says how a can of cola has a pH of 2.8-3.2 and our body cannot excrete urine more acidic than 5.0. This means that our body has to bring the pH up to 5.0 and it would take 33 litres of urine to do this (to dilute the cola). Since nobody drinks that much water to do so, our body then has to pull alkalizing mineral stores from our cells (potassium and magnesium). If there aren't enough there (which there rarely is in the standard diet) then our body will pull calcium from our bones and teeth (hence the dental epidemic these days). Sugar has the same effect as cola in that our body has to use it's precious minerals to break it down, thus depleting our body of essential minerals.
I guess the sum would be how we can all improve our digestion since most of us are probably lacking in some way or another. She follows an algorithm for healing the gut which is pretty straight forward and easy to do as well. If you go to her website you can find out more, since I can't write too much due to copyright issues. A very informative, educational read for a nutrition geek like myself!
Under "extras" she has her 10 food/diet guidelines and some quizzes to see what direction you should take with your own digestion. Also look up "functional medicine" which is in that same section. She explains how to find a good practitioner and what the differences are between it and conventional medicine (which is what most of us are used to). She likes them to all work together, rather than in separate entities for overall good health.
