When you diet and exercise and still have a hard time losing body fat, you have to dig deeper as to why. Eating clean food is great, as is doing HIIT workouts and strength training, but you don’t stand a chance if your digestive system is not functioning properly. Find out why in this video..
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First, to find out the role of the digestive system as a whole, check out Part I of this three part series here.
There are many organs in the digestive system. These are the first four:
1. The brain. Yep. When we begin to think about, see and smell food, the brain gets the digestive ball rolling. Because of the brain, the stomach begins to produce acids and enzymes, the liver and gallbladder begin to produce and release bile, hormones start getting released from all of their organs of origin and blood begins being diverted from the limbs to the GI tract.
2. Next up is the mouth, where the food actually goes first. Our teeth crush the food into particles and our saliva contains two digestive enzymes, amylase and lipase, which soften and lubricates the food. These two steps are very important because if food is not broken down into small enough compounds, it can cause digestive stress, like bloating, gas and even leaky gut. So take your time to chew your food.
3. The esophagus. This organ connects our mouth to our stomach and has two sphincters – the upper and lower. Think of them like trap doors as they lets food go through one way, but not the other. Think of it like this – if you dove off of a diving board and through a trap door passageway that kept the pool water from splashing back up. It’s important for these sphincters to be working correctly so stomach acid does not splash back up, which can happen due to certain foods and/ or medications – this is called heart burn or GERD. It’s not that your body has too much acid, it’s that it’s in the wrong place.
4. The stomach. This organ connects the esophagus and the small intestine and is the holding cell for food, for 2 – 4 hours. This is where that food meets bile, enzymes and acids to break it down further. The only things absorbed into the body directly from the stomach are aspirin, alcohol and water.
The stomach contains these cells that make hydrochloric acid. This acid has a PH level of TWO. The rest of our body is a seven, so you don’t want this stuff splashing back up through the esophagus. Our stomach lining is meant to handle it which is good because we need it to digest protein, kill bad bacteria and protect us against yeast infections and UTI’s. These same cells also make something called Intrinsic Factor that help absorb vitamin b12. These cells decrease with age, stress, poor diet and acid blocking drugs, yet another reason we need to take care of ourselves and eat clean food!
Lastly, the stomach is responsible for the production of ghrelin, gastrin, pepsinogen and motilin.
Find out what happens next: https://kyrawilliamsfitness.com/the-digestive-systems-impact-on-fat-loss-part-iii/
Do you need help figuring out the right clean eating meal plan for you?
Go to Commit2FitCoaching.com/freeassessment and let me help you.
Your Coach,
Kyra
P.S. Everyone is different. Some people need more carbs, more food, different workouts from others. It’s all individualized which is why I run #Commit2Fit with personalized clean eating meal plans and workout plans. Everything should be custom and designed specifically for YOU.