FOOD AS MEDICINE

Food as medicine. What we eat has a much greater effect than we realize. Do you eat for fuel, do you eat to dampen emotions ( pain, fear, sadness ), do you eat out of boredom? And how does this affect your further well-being? The scientific evidence of the relationship between the gut and the brain is rapidly accumulating. The “brain-gut axis”. This term indicates that the gut and brain communicate with each other continuously and bilaterally.

Finding opportunities to improve this communication can contribute in many ways to, for example, intestinal complaints, over or underweight, IBS, Crohn’s, Colitis, but also to mental complaints, burnout, depression.

The signal substance serotonin, which is located for more than 90% in the intestine and in the brain, plays a very important role in the regulation of the signal transmission between the intestines and the brain. An altered activity of serotonin can therefore cause disturbances in both intestinal and brain function. This explains the connection between psychological problems and intestinal complaints.

The communication between the gut and the brain takes place subconsciously because the autonomic nervous system connects the brain with the gut’s own nervous system, the so-called “enteric nervous system”. Signals are sent “upwards” from the gut, and the brain also sends signals to the gut. This can be compared to the interplay between a pianist (the brain) and the piano (the gut).

Personally, I find science interesting but not decisive. Questions like, How are you feeling? And what can we do to make you feel better? Are far more interesting. The answers to these questions are different for everyone.