Have you ever been caught up in a dilemma? Put in a situation where you have to make a decision and choose a side, but both sides kinda seem to be right? You feel like you have to battle with yourself because your logic is on the one side but the other part of you does not agree?
You might even do all the math, calculate the possibilities and probabilities and even make a pro-con list to help you make such decisions. Have you ever had the situation where the math, the lists and even the people around will be telling you one thing, but your whole body seems to disagree? Have you???
Well, whenever I´m caught up in such a situation, Rach would always tell me to trust my guts! The German calls it "BAUCHGEFÜHL"!
"What a weird saying!" I would wonder quietly.
"What do my intestines have to do with my decision!?" I would ask myself.
Not until I started the new Job that I got to understand the real meaning of this statement!
I mean, have you ever wondered why when you have an important appointment, may it be an interview or a public speech, your belly starts to get nervous? Some people even suffer diarrhea when they have such appointments approaching. Or have you ever asked yourself why your belly flatters when you are in love?
Well, the answer is simple. Our gastrointestinal system is connected with many other systems of the body. The gut-brain-axis; the gut-immune system- axis...just to name a few.
I know.....
Many of us think that the gut is just there to break-down our carbs to mono/disaccharides, our proteins to peptides and amino acids and lipids into resorbable fatty-acids, but our guts do so much MORE than just digestion.
In fact, 80% of our immune cells are located at the gut. Just imagine what kind of trash passes through the gut every single day. There has to be a powerful system to prevent any possibility of any of that crab from leaving the gastrointestinal tract and getting into our system.
Furthermore, the gut has its own autonomic nervous system, the so-called enteric nervous system (ENS) with over 500 million neurons which function independent of the normal nervous system and controls the peristaltic. The gut also produces, enzymes, hormones, cytokines, chemokines... name it!
And here comes a major one:
There are around 39 trillion bacteria living in our gastrointestinal tract....Ppppuuufff!!! Mind-blowing! Right!? This is more than our body-cells. Wait......shhhhh....we are not alone :-)!
Impairment of the gut has been scientifically linked to various other diseases including; depression, Parkinson, adipositas...etc.
I think its time we showed our guts just as much love as we show other parts of our body. Drink more water, eat more veggies, avoid junks and sugar and do some cleansing rituals now and then.
And with that...I think it´s time for "my vegetarian week" again... :-)
I hope you do the same!
Lots of love,
itsRosebeth
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