The UltraMind Solution (65 page)

You would think by now we would have a clear understanding of the causes of irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, diarrhea, reflux, and inflammatory bowel disease, just a few of the common problems experienced by millions. You would also think we would have developed effective treatments to fix these problems.

Unfortunately, our understanding and treatments of this highly sophisticated and integral part of our body are still quite primitive despite the explosion of scientific research on what
Science
magazine called “the inner tube of life.”

Over the last fifteen years of practice and research, I have found the gut to be the source of inestimable suffering. And I have found remarkable discoveries and cures that hold the promise of getting relief not only from common “functional” gastrointestinal symptoms (and most allergic and autoimmune diseases that originate in the gut) but from everything from depression to autism, to OCD, to ADHD, to dementia and Parkinson’s disease.

Let’s start our exploration of the inner tube of life by discussing what it does. Then we will review what the research has to say about how gut function is connected to brain function, how the gut is put out of balance, and how you can restore balance to achieve an UltraMind and UltraWellness.

Your Gut’s Job: A Day at Work

The gut plays a number of remarkable roles in our overall health. Here are just a few of the main jobs:

Breaks Down Your Food

Breaking down and digesting our food with the help of adequate stomach acid, digestive enzymes, and bile.

Lets in the Good Stuff

Absorbing only the molecules we need, such as amino acids, fats, sugars, and vitamins and minerals through a one-cell-thick layer barrier to keep us properly nourished.

Keeps Out the Bad Stuff

While letting in the nutrients essential for life, it must prevent, block, or neutralize nasty toxins, bugs, and chemicals that flow through our inner tube of life.

Makes Stuff

Bacteria that live in your gut (about three pounds’ worth containing five hundred different species) produce vitamins and health-giving molecules that are all part of your gut ecosystem.

Protects You

Your gut immune system makes up 60 percent of your total immune system and is called the GALT (or gut-associated lymphoid tissue). It lies under that one-cell layer I mentioned above through which nutrients are absorbed. Its job is to protect you from illness. When it is in balance, you are well. When it is out of balance, a host of problems can occur, including those discussed in the last chapter as well as others I will outline in this chapter.

That’s a lot of work. And it all has to function seamlessly for you to be properly nourished, to have a balanced immune system, and to adequately detoxify.

The gut has to be completely in balance for your brain to be in balance. The brain experiences everything that happens in your gut directly through nervous system feedback, immune activity, cytokines, and other assorted mischievous molecules made in your gut.

Despite its critical importance, few people look to the gut as the seat of health and happiness. Nowhere is this truer than when it comes to our broken brains. Who would ever think that problems in your brain originate in your gut?

When it comes to the gut, most physicians and scientists miss what is right in front of us, because we are looking for solutions in the wrong place. How could the cure for autism start in the gut? How could depression be rooted in bacterial imbalances in the gut? How could dementia occur from eating wheat?

We have no model for seeing this. So we don’t.

Luckily, a few revolutionary doctors and scientists are looking at how the gut is connected to the brain. And what they are finding is astonishing.

The Brain-Gut Connection:
Your Gut Is Your Second Brain

Dr. Michael Gershon, of Columbia University, has called the gut the “second brain.” In fact, your gut has a mind of its own, literally. While it is connected to the brain through an extensive network of wiring and communication systems, it is also the only “organ” besides the brain that has its own nervous system.