There is an old joke about all of the body parts having a meeting to decide which one was the most important and should therefore be the boss.*
The Brain said, "I should be the boss because I run the body's systems. Without me nothing would happen."
The Blood declared, "I should be the boss because I circulate oxygen and nutrients all over the body. Without me you'd waste away."
The Stomach said, "I should be the boss because I process food that gives all of you energy."
The Legs said, "I should be the boss because I carry the body wherever it needs to go."
The Eyes said, "I should be the boss because I allow the body to see where it goes."
Hearing all of this the Colon protested, "I am the boss because I’m responsible for waste removal."
All the other body parts laughed at the Colon and insulted him. So in a huff, he went on strike and refused to work.
Within a few days, the brain had a terrible headache, the stomach was bloated, the legs got wobbly, the eyes got blurry, and the blood was toxic.
All the body parts conceded. The Colon really was the boss!
*This story was cleaned up for the purposes of this blog
If you have ever experienced a colon that has gone on strike for a few days, I’m sure you appreciate the value of a happy colon. But your colon does much more than waste removal.
In fact, research is tells us more and more about your amazing colon and its importance to your overall health and well-being. Yep, it’s time to give your colon the recognition it deserves.
So let’s talk about your beloved colon, what it does and how you can keep it happily working so that all your other body parts can do their jobs well.
Basic Colon Function
As you know, the food you eat travels through your small intestine where most of your nutrients are absorbed into the blood stream. What remains of the food you have ingested after the small intestine does its job is mostly fluid.
When this fluid enters the colon much of the water and salt is reabsorbed into the blood stream. As this process occurs the material in the colon becomes more solid and then is finally excreted via the rectum.
Is that it?
NO!
You see that is what we traditionally think of – assuming we ever actually think about the colon. There is so much more. I am just going to touch on the highlights here.
What is a “Microbiome”?
Everybody is talking about the “microbiome” these days. Well maybe not everybody. Just wellness nerds like me. But when you see all those ads on TV for probiotics, they are addressing your microbiome.
Your colon’s microbiome is a community of bacteria (both good and bad), along with some viruses and fungi. Your colon’s microbiome actually has trillions of resident bacteria. Just as in any community, there are different families of “good bacteria” that work together to keep your entire body healthy. These good guys also police the bad guys, which is important to keep those bad guys from wreaking havoc with your immune system.
That’s right. 75% of your immune system in your gut.
The “good guys” in your gut are a significant part of your first line of defense against pathogens such as viruses, bacteria and other organisms that can cause disease. The Human Microbiome Project (HMP) continues to find out more and more interesting information about these good guys.
Earlier we thought the number of species of bacteria in the gut was a few hundred. Now we know, that like any thriving community, your gut bacteria community needs diversity. There may be over 5,000 species of bacteria working on your behalf in your colon.
Wait there’s more!
Your gut is important to another branch of your immune system, called the adaptive immune system. This portion of your immune system is responsible for “remembering” pathogens that have been infectious in the past and responding to prevent them from causing disease again.
One last point about the gut and the immune system.. Autoimmune Disease
That’s right Autoimmune Disease.
This research was clearly explained by The Center for Ecogenetics:
“Autoimmune diseases such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, and bromyalgia are associated with dysfunction in the microbiome. Disease-causing microbes accumulate over time, changing gene activity and metabolic processes and resulting in an abnormal immune response against substances and tissues normally present in the body.
Autoimmune diseases appear to be passed in families not by DNA inheritance but by inheriting the family’s microbiome.”
What else can these little critters help with?
Introducing the Enteric Nervous System (ENS). The ENS is like a second brain that governs the function of the gastrointestinal system. The gut “talks” to the brain via the huge vagus nerve.
Your gut has the ability to “sense” things in your environment just like your eyes, ears and skin. If you have ever had a “gut reaction” or gut instinct”, you are experiencing the ENS.
Interestingly, the ENS produces hormones and neurotransmitters, just like those found in the brain. In fact, 95% of the serotonin found in the body is in the ENS.
Research continues to emerge that shows a link between mood disorders and the gut microbiome. These include depression, ADHD, autism, bi-polar disorder and anger disorder.
Imagine the possibilities of improving mood disorders by colonizing the gut with a population of healthy diverse bacteria!
Oh yes – there’s more!
Weight loss. Yep weight loss.
More and more research emerges that the good guys of your gut influence body weight. Having the right balance of two types of bacteria in your gut will affect your ability to establish and maintain a healthy weight.
The type of bacteria in your gut can also affect your body’s ability to regulate cholesterol and blood sugar levels, as well as inflammation. In other words, your gut flora can also be involved in the development of or resistance to diabetes and heart disease.
Wow! That’s a lot of work these little creatures do on our behalf. And we have only just scratched the surface in this article.
The questions you must be asking yourself at this point are:
How to I make sure my gut is healthy and how do I keep it that way?
Here is a list of things you can do to help your good guys do their job:
Do’s
| Eat a well balanced diet with a wide variety of vegetables. | The good guys love the fiber and nutrients in vegetables of all colors, shapes and sizes. |
| Avoid sugar. | The bad guys LOVE sugar. They will eat it and flourish! |
| Avoid artificial sweeteners. | Your body simply senses “sweet”. Artificial sweeteners can be equally if not MORE destructive that sugar. |
| Avoid antibiotics. | Antibiotics do just what their name says – kill bacteria. They will kill your good guys. Only take antibiotics when absolutely necessary. When you must take an antibiotic be sure to repopulate your gut with a high-quality pro- biotic supplement. |
| Limit alcohol. | Like sugar, alcohol feeds the bad guys in our gut. In addition to that bad news, alcohol can also damage the mucosal lining of your colon. That this means is that your good guys are not as available to fight off pathogens and because your gut lining may be damaged, those pathogens have a greater likelihood of entering your blood stream (YUK!). |
| Take a high-quality Probiotic supplement. | What constitutes a “high-quality” probiotic? Look for something that has a wide variety of bacterial strains. Also, look for one that promises that their bacteria can survive the acidity of the stomach and actually arrive at the colon intact. Probiotics are fragile considering how much work they do. So you also need to find one that can survive a reasonably long shelf life. Note: Because of the fragility of these little guys, you will find many probiotics that require refrigeration. Be aware that if you choose these, they will not survive unrefrigerated conditions, such as travel. |
I know this seems like a lot to have to consider – but here is some GOOD news! The folks at Reviews.com have done some helpful research on your behalf to find what they believe are the best choices in probiotics. You can take some of the worry out of your choice by clicking here to see their recommendations.
Whew!
I know this seems like a lot of information, but we have really only scratched the surface. Keep your eyes open for more interesting information on your colon and how to keep it healthy. As you can see from this article, it really does seem to be the boss!
Until next time…
May you (and your colon) be well!
P.S. My new book, From Overwhelmed to Inspired ~ Your personal guide to health and well-being will be up on Amazon soon!