Simple House Keeping for Your Gut

When your tummy rumbles it could be your small intestine doing some housekeeping for your gut lining. Just like those people who like to wipe down the surfaces and clear up the kitchen after cooking, this is what your intestine does after your food has passed through. The scientific term for this is ‘migrating motor complex’.

It is a powerful wave sweeping everything along with it—hence the noise we hear when it happens—which is about one hour after the food has passed through. This is why it is a good idea not to snack between meals—if the housekeeper has not finished the process stops so that the next lot of food can be digested and absorbed. The sweeping process will also take with it bacteria and hopefully the unhelpful ones that have recently acquainted your gut and not latched onto the lining.

So avoiding snacking between meals enables this process to happen more frequently. If you find it difficult to not snack between meals try eating some clean food that does not make such a mess in your guts for example carrot slices, celery sticks or even sauerkraut (real unpasteurised version). Sauerkraut also cleanses your gut as it passes through anyway so eating it on its own between meals can be very beneficial. It also can help lay down the good bacteria for the next meal to be digested more easily.

Once you have established this first stepping stone and your body has adjusted to this new routine you could then substitute your veg snack with a drink of water or gaseous nutrition (light exercise such as a 2 minute qi gong or yoga routine, fast walking up stairs or even go outside for some real fresh air if you can). Over time you may discover that your sensory perception of hunger is not always reliable. Our rumbling tummy is really our small intestine doing its house keeping and we are really not actually hungry, our desire to eat between meals eventually dissolves.

Try it and see for yourself, remember the stepping stones so you gradually adjust and get a more reliable sense of what really hunger is and also avoiding any sudden low blood sugar levels.