Mother Nurture: On the stomach of a parent
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Rick Hanson, PhD and Jan Hanson, MS
Parenting is a lot of work! But to be the best parents we can be, we have to take time to nurture ourselves as the people we are outside of being Mom or Dad. Psychologist Rick Hanson, PhD, and acupuncturist & nutritionist Jan Hanson, MS, authors of Mother Nurture: A Mother's Guide to Health in Body, Mind, and Intimate Relationships, are here to help!
Your health and its effects on parenting
There is an old saying that an army travels on its stomach, which means that
all the fancy rockets and computers in the world are worthless if its
soldiers are not well fed.
The same is true for a parent. If your gastrointestinal system -- the stomach and more -- is not in top working order, then you are less able to get the nutrients you need -- the bricks and mortar of the body -- to handle all the work that comes with making a family.
Additionally, your chances go up of developing mental or physical health problems. In particular, there is growing scientific evidence that disturbance in the gastrointestinal system (GIS) is one of the factors that can contribute to low mood and depressive feelings, which are common among parents.
The GIS is easily disturbed by stress -- a parent's daily diet -- so it makes sense for a mother or father to take extra steps to support its health. In our experience, a disturbance in the gastrointestinal system is extremely common among parents, especially mothers.
For several columns we have explored psychological factors that lower a parent's mood. In this and the next few columns, we will describe some of the physical causes of low mood -- and what you can do about them -- starting with the gastrointestinal system. (Please contact us if you are interested in our reference sources.) Of course, the methods we discuss are no substitute for professional advice if your mood is highly depressed or unstable, and you should always consult with a licensed health professional in that case.
A tennis court in your tummy
Alan Watts, the spiritual philosopher, once wrote that the body is rather
like a tube: our lives are a lot about getting enough to put in one end and
avoiding problems with the other. Most of us do not think much about what
goes in within that tube, but it is really quite extraordinary.
For one, the surface area of the small intestine would cover an entire tennis court if all the millions of microscopic folds in its walls were laid out flat. For another, your GIS contains a complex ecosystem involving trillions of microorganisms, more than all the mammals on the continent of Africa; these little critters are so prevalent that they comprise roughly one third of the dry weight of a person's solid waste.
Imbalances within this microscopic ecosystem can affect one psychologically as well as physically. For example, Jan recently had a patient who complained of low mood, irritability, and fatigue -- as well as some digestive difficulties -- that began soon after she had her baby, about a year ago. A laboratory analysis revealed abnormal levels of yeast in her gastrointestinal tract. As treatment lowered the yeast down to a manageable level, her energy and mood improved, in addition to her digestive symptoms. Why would this be?
Good bugs and bad bugs
There are hundreds of types -- individual species -- of microorganisms in
the GIS. As in any ecosystem, they compete with each other for food and
habitat (preferred places to live within the gut), and some are predators to
each other. Some of these "bugs" benefit us by breaking down the food we eat
into digestible particles, synthesizing vitamins or aiding the immune
systems that within the lining of the GIS. Some harm us by consuming
nutrients we need or attacking beneficial microorganisms. And some are
neutral, as far as we know.
Healthy people may have some harmful microbes in their digestive tracts as long as (1) their numbers are low, and (2) the numbers of beneficial microorganisms are high. It's like a lawn -- a few weeds are inconspicuous and easy to pull, but if the crabgrass takes over, it makes the whole lawn unsightly, plus it's really hard to remove. Because of foreign travel and other causes, there appears to have been a substantial increase in the number of Americans carrying significant loads of harmful microorganisms in their digestive tract.
Your very own toxic waste manufacturing plant
Additionally, imagine a weed that also poisons your soil. Certain microbes
do exactly that by secreting toxic waste products. For instance, some yeast
produce tartaric acid, which interrupts the "krebs cycle," the primary
source of energy production in the body. If you have an overgrowth of yeast
that is making this acid, your body will be less able to generate energy,
and you will feel fatigued as a result. High levels of tartaric acid are
also associated with depression, cloudy thinking and fibromyalgia (a
diffuse but often disabling muscle ache).
Another example is the bacteria, Clostridia, which has a nasty one-two punch. First, clostridia consume the amino acid, tyrosine. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, and tyrosine is especially important for energy and mood. It helps make thyroid hormone (the key regulator of energy in your body) and many of the stimulating neurotransmitters that maintain positive mood and high energy.
Second, clostridia use tyrosine to make dihydroxyphenylpropionic acid (DHPPA), a neurotoxin. An overgrowth of clostridia is rather like having your very own nerve gas factory -- but located inside your belly. Moderately high levels of DHPPA cause depression and fatigue, and at very high levels it can cause psychosis. In essence, clostridia bacteria steal a nutrient needed for emotional well-being and then turn it into a substance that is toxic to your brain: It's like robbing the Thanksgiving turkey and leaving arsenic on the platter!
Certain microbes also wear away at the linings of your intestines, in part through their waste products, creating overly porous membranes that allow toxins and incompletely broken-down food particles to get into the rest of the body; this condition has been termed "leaky gut syndrome."
Excessive permeability is sometimes indicated by food allergies or sensitivities, since the leakage of not fully digested food particles can lead to allergic (ie. auto-immune) reactions within the body. And since the food is incompletely digested, the body gets fewer of the nutrients it needs to repair the intestinal linings, so the gut continues leaking in a vicious cycle. Finally, a related problem can occur when microbes irritate the linings to the point that they become less able to absorb nutrients, a condition of intestinal malabsorption.
Know the enemy
If you suspect that something might be awry with the populations of
microorganisms teeming in your gastrointestinal system -- perhaps because
you have recurring digestive symptoms such as diarrhea or constipation, or
you feel markedly glum, irritable or anxious -- the first thing you should
do is to have some simple tests done by an experienced medical lab. A stool
sample may be used to directly check for microorganisms.
Also, the organic acid urine test may be used to check for the toxins the critters emit, like tartaric acid and DHPPA. Contact a health practitioner who is knowledgeable about gastrointestinal pathogens; we can refer you if you like. Hopefully, you will get a clean bill of health, but if not, you'll know exactly what you need to target in order to feel better.
What you can do
Effective treatment of pathogenic microorganisms in the GIS takes an
ecological approach that aims at restoring balance in four related ways:
Out with the bad
The methods used to kill harmful microorganisms will depend on the
particular ones you have and how deeply entrenched they are in your body.
Antibiotics and herbal treatments are commonly used, and each method has
pros and cons. Antibiotics have the advantage of acting quickly and being
well researched.
On the down side, antibiotics are a broad sledgehammer that kills beneficial microorganisms as well as harmful ones. In fact, many pathogenic microbes, including yeast and some bacteria and parasites, are more resistant to antibiotics than beneficial microbes, so over the long term antibiotics can actually help the bad bugs get the upper hand over the good bugs.
Herbal treatments are more readily tolerated by many people so you can sustain them long enough to do some permanent good. Herbs that are often used include concentrated garlic, oil of oregano and the tannins found in the bark of trees. On the other hand, they are less researched (in part because drug companies have no economic interest in paying for studies on a substance they cannot patent), and they are generally not as immediately powerful as antibiotics.
In with the good
Beneficial microorganisms are often termed "probiotics" (literally
translated, "for life"). The most commonly used are lactobacillus
acidophilus and bifidobacterium bifidum. These are available in health food
stores, although the quality in not consistent. They should be kept in your
refrigerator. One capsule can have millions of microorganisms, so each time
you take a probiotic, you are seeding your GIS with living creatures that
can help its functioning.
Improving the internal habitat
The principal origin of problems in the digestive system is what we put into
it. Harmful microorganisms flourish on sugar and white flour, and the
nutrients the GIS needs are mainly contained in whole foods and fresh fruits
and vegetables. Therefore, a diet that promotes a healthy digestive tract is
high in vegetables and whole grains, moderate in fruit and animal protein,
and low in all forms of sugar (including honey, fruit juice, etc.) and
refined grain products (products made with white flour, including bread and
pasta).
Some people may need to go a step further if they have a significant intestinal imbalance. For a period of time, they could adhere to a more stringent, therapeutic diet with these elements:
- Totally eliminate all forms of sugar and refined carbohydrates. Eat
grains as the whole grain, unprocessed and not made into flour (ie. brown
rice, bulghur wheat, millet). Eliminate alcohol.
- Eliminate or drastically reduce fruit, because of its sugar content.
- Increase fresh vegetables.
- If yeast is an issue, eliminate or drastically decrease all forms of yeasts or molds. This includes all yeasted breads, even if whole grain; vinegar products; all fermented products.
Repairing intestinal linings
Nutritional supplements can help heal and maintain the integrity of the
digestive tract. A high potency multi-vitamin and mineral supplement is a
basic step that promotes any needed healing, and it also compensates for the
possibility of malabsorption.
It is very important to consume adequate amounts of essential fatty acids, particularly the omega-3 type found in flax oils and fish oils. These oils support the health of all membranes in the body, and particularly in the GIS. Vitamin A is also important for the lining of the digestive tract. (Vitamin A is toxic for pregnant women in excessive dosages; the recommended daily allowance of 5,000 I.U. is normally safe.) Additionally, glutamine is an amino acid that is the primary energy source for the small intestine. Supplements of 1,000 to 2,000 mg. per day are commonly included in programs to heal the GIS.
Cultivating your own garden
Improving the health of your gastrointestinal tract can be complex and take
time. It's a little like converting a yard overrun with weeds to a beautiful
garden. You can't do it all at once. But if you stick with it, you should
see good results!
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About the authors: Rick Hanson, PhD and Jan Hanson, MS, are the authors of Mother Nurture: A Mother's Guide to Health in Body, Mind, and Intimate Relationships (Penguin, 2002; with Ricki Pollycove, MD). Rick Hanson is a psychologist who works with couples, individual adults and children. Jan Hanson is an acupuncturist and nutritionist whose private practice focuses on women's health and on temperament problems in children. Find out more about them here, or visit their web site at NurtureMom.com. For more from Mother Nurture, click here.
