Serotonin And Gut Health Answered
“Someone who has a lot of GI pain, is going to be more prone to depression, more prone to anxiety,” says DR. Jillian Teta, ND. She links the source of the reason to many factors including inflammation causing foods, pathogenic bacterial overgrowth and disruption of basic functions.
Teta is a Naturopathic physician, food educator and President of the North Carolina Association of Naturopathic Physicians (NCANP). In her book, Natural Solutions for Digestive Health, she says, “The term digestive fire describes the body’s ability to produce adequate amounts of acid, enzymes and bile to break down food into tiny constituent particles of amino acids, sugars, starches and fatty acids. All other digestive processes hinge on this ability. (p2).”
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“About 90% of the production of serotonin actually resides in the gut, in the tissues. Not only is serotonin the target for many different psychotropic drugs it’s very well recognized as a feel good hormone, a feel good neurotransmitter. In the gut it also initiates peristalsis,” she says.
Peristalsis is a series of rhythmical wave-like contractions of the muscles in the digestive tract pulling food down and out of the intestines.
She says, “Because you are constipated, you are not pooping out all the spent estrogens that your liver has already metabolized, packages and sent to the colon. As the stool sits in the large intestine, those waste hormones are reabsorbed into the blood. Your liver has already dealt once with the estrogen you have just reabsorbed, and now it has to deal with it again in addition to the usual daily load (p 11).”
Teta says, “There are dozens of different serotonin receptors in different tissues of the body. In the gut alone there are seven receptors that have been discovered.”
She goes on to say, “B6 and B12 are serotonin receptor sensitizing agents meaning they allow the body to hear serotonin’s message more clearly and more easily. St. John’s Wort helps boost serotonin and serotonin sensitivity.”
The challenge with St. John’s Wort is most manufacturers add ingredients to their product that feed the pathogens that cause the problem in the first place. For example “> Breaking The Vicious Cycle polysaccharides are too complex, too big molecularly, for those with a damaged microbiome to digest. Polysaccharides feed pathogens. Cellulose is made up of chains of glucose monomers, a sugar-like substance.
Cellulose is not food. If it is not food, don’t put it in your mouth.
Scientific Steering Committee of the European Commission as, “A chemical (CaHPO4.2H2O) obtained from degreased bones which are demineralised by hydrochloric acid treatment and precipitated by a saturated lime solution.” Again, not food since it is derived through high processing treatments that cause damage to the microbiome. If the bones had been cooked down and left to dry then powdered that’s a different story, that’s food.
When toxins are trapped in the bowel due to slow motility or constipation they can be reabsorbed. The liver gets backed up when it is dealing with today’s issue on top of yesterday’s reabsorbed toxins as well as the day before’s reabsorbed toxins, and the day before that and the day before that. The decline begins to escalate when this situation is present.
Sleep, rest, setting boundaries for emotional protection, meditation and proper food all work together to create a properly flowing tract. With proper support,
proper food and proper care the body will heal on its own.
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*Nourishing Plot is written by Becky Plotner, ND, traditional naturopath, GAPS who sees clients in Rossville, Georgia as well as through Skype and phone consultations. Most of her clients have Leaky Gut, histamine issues, autism or autoimmunity. Since her son was delivered from the effects of autism (Asperger’s syndrome), ADHD, bipolar disorder/manic depression, hypoglycemia and dyslexia through food she continued her education specializing in Leaky Gut and parasitology through Duke University, finishing with distinction. This is not a news article published by a paper trying to make money. This blog is put out by a mom who sees first hand the effects of nourishing food vs food-ish items. No company pays her for writing these blogs, she considers this a form of missionary work. It is her desire to scream it from the rooftops so that others don’t suffer from the damaging effect of today’s “food”.
Dr. Jillian Teta spoke at an online conference on June 21, 2015.
