The Stomach – How Digestion Works

The stomach is the second organ involved in the digestive process after the brain. This is the second post in our How Digestion Works series! We will be looking at what how the stomach functions, how it interacts with the rest of the digestive system, and what you can do to keep it healthy and functioning correctly.

Food enters the stomach after you chew and swallow. Once food leaves your mouth and enters your esophagus, it’s called a bolus. The bolus moves down the esophagus by peristalsis (peristalsis is the contracting and relaxing of digestive muscles to move food through the digestive tract) and into a highly acidic substance inside the stomach. This substance is made up of Hydrochloric acid, water, potassium chloride, and sodium chloride. This is called your stomach acid or gastric acid. Stomach acid is produced during the anticipation of food, when the bolus enters and the stomach expands, and a small, final amount when the small intestine expands as the bolus is leaving your stomach. The main roles of stomach acid are to disinfect your food, breakdown protein and free certain nutrients from food complexes. Disinfecting your food protects your body from infections. The highly acidic environment naturally breaks down protein.

Enzymes like protease (breaks down protein) and lipase (breaks down fats) are also present and working in your stomach. Pepsin is another enzyme made in the stomach that breaks down proteins. Gastrin (the hormone that regulates the production of stomach acid) is released by the cells of your stomach lining and controls the acidity of the environment.

The muscles of your stomach mix your food with your digestive juices for 1 to 4 hours depending on what the food is. Carbs move through quickly while proteins and fats take longer.

How The Stomach Is Affected By Northern Digestion

30% of stomach acid is produced just by the anticipation of food. That means thinking about, preparing, and smelling your food is an important part of digestion. The next time your body triggers stomach acid production is when food is already inside your stomach.

Your brain is what triggers peristalsis. It communicates to the stomach through hormones. The entire digestive process is affected when you are scared, sad, angry, etc. That includes the stomach. Digestion is a parasympathetic process. That means it can only happen correctly when your body is relaxed.

The mouth physically breaks down pieces of food into manageable food particles. The smaller the food particles, the more thoroughly your stomach acid is able to disinfect them. The chemical breakdown of food via the enzymes in your saliva also make the stomach’s job easier as it continues the breakdown of fats and carbs. These benefits are only present when you chew your food thoroughly.

We talked about how the brain and mouth are involved in digestion in the first post of our How Digestion Works series.

How The Stomach Affects Southern Digestion

The stomach disinfects your food so it doesn’t cause infections further down in your intestines. It frees certain nutrients from food complexes so your intestines can absorb them. It also starts the process of breaking down protein into amino acids.

If the stomach is not able to do it’s job properly because of too little stomach acid, too much stomach acid, or delayed emptying (due to being in a parasympathetic state), it can damage your intestines. Larger food particles are more likely to slip through the gut lining of people with leaky gut. This can trigger an immune response that leads to food sensitivities.

You’re also at a greater risk for infection and bacterial overgrowth. Delayed emptying of the stomach can cause food to ferment within the stomach. While fermentation in a controlled environment breeds good bacteria, your stomach is not a controlled environment. Any bad bacteria that breeds in the stomach can contribute to or create imbalance in your gut’s microbiome.

You will not be able to digest and absorb nutrients as well because your stomach wasn’t able to properly breakdown food complexes or start protein digestion. As I’m sure you can imagine, this can become super problematic because nutrient deficiencies can cause a ton of different symptoms.

Practical Dietary And Lifestyle Changes

• Eat a wide variety of properly prepared, nutrient dense foods
• Eat enough protein
• Stay hydrated
• Take deep breaths before you start eating
• Stay seated while eating
• Concentrate on your food while you eat (avoid distractions)
• Chew your food thoroughly (30-40 chews)
• Stay in an upright position for at least 2 hours after eating
• Stop eating 3+ hours before bed

We always start with a wide variety of nutrient dense, properly prepared foods. This is foundational to our health as a whole. Diets that have a lot of ultra processed foods that are high in harmful fats and sugar cause inflammation in the body and will lead to nutrient deficiencies. Eating a wide variety of colorful foods gives us the nutrient we need, and properly prepared foods that are minimally processed will cause us less inflammation.

An adequate amount of stomach acid is only triggered when your diet has adequate amounts of protein and fat. Diets that are low in protein make the stomach think that it doesn’t needs to break down protein, it won’t regulate the pH of your stomach acid. That means when the pH of your stomach rises because of food and water, your stomach won’t work to bring it back down.

Hydration is essential for the entire digestive process. Your body uses water to absorb water soluble vitamins, minerals, to soften stool, to create the digestive juices in your stomach, etc.

Stress management is necessary stomach acid production and for timely emptying of the stomach. Deep belly breaths, staying seated while eating, and avoiding distractions while eating can all help decrease stress while eating. Be sure to use your mouth! Chew your food thoroughly to help your stomach better breakdown and disinfect your food.

Your body will use gravity to help move food through the digestive system. To prevent delayed emptying of the stomach, try to stay in an upright position during and after eating. It takes 1-4 hours for your stomach to completely empty. I usually recommend waiting at least 2 hours after eating before laying down or reclining. Because digestion slows during sleep, I also recommend you stop eating at least 3 hours before bedtime.

Acute stress, medical conditions, infections, and increased histamine can all contribute to high levels of stomach acid. Medical conditions and infections should b looked at by your medical doctor. But, stress relief techniques and lowering the amount of histamine you consume in your diet can help with the other contributors.

Do You Have Low Or High Levels Of Stomach Acid?

Low stomach acid is actually a much more common issue than most people think. Often, people think their symptoms are caused by too much stomach acid when in fact too little stomach acid is the culprit. Acid blocking medications are often what people turn to when the have heartburn. However, heartburn is also a symptom of too little stomach acid. In fact, there’s a lot of symptomatic overlap between too much stomach acid and too little. Acid blocking medications can make low stomach acid even worse.

There’s a simple test you can do at home to help determine what your level of stomach acid is. This test is called the baking soda burp test. This test should be done in the morning before you eat or drink anything.

Mix 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda with 1/2 cup (4 ounces) of room temperature water. Drink this mixture and time yourself.

You should start burping due to the reaction between your stomach acid and the baking soda. Sort of like a kindergarten project baking soda and vinegar volcano. Between 1 and 2 minutes is a sign of optimal stomach acid levels.

• If you start burping before 1 minute has past, it could be an indicator of too much stomach acid.
• Burping between 2-3 minutes indicates that your stomach acid might be a little low.
• 3+ minutes indicates very low stomach acid.

This test is not intended to diagnose any condition. It is simply a tool to be used for educational purposes.

Summary

The stomach is essential for digesting protein, vitamins, and for disinfecting your food to keep infection away.

The stomach and it’s ability to produce stomach acid is highly affected by stress. It is also affected by hydration levels, how much dietary protein we’re getting, and nutrient deficiencies. The simplest, most helpful recommendations I can give are to eat a wide variety of nutrient dense, properly prepared foods, lower stress levels, and stay present when you eat your food.

This is my challenge for all of you today: Try to be present for all your meals and snacks. Put away your phone. Don’t watch TV. Sit down and actually enjoy your food as you eat it. This small change is incredibly beneficial to the digestive process. Your involving the brain, which triggers everything else south of your digestive system to start running.

Have a wonderful week!