Something that’s as important as food quality is food absorption. We often don’t give food absorption the importance it deserves. There’s that saying that goes, “You are what you eat”, however, more precisely, “You are what you eat, what you absorb, what you digest, and what you eliminate or don’t eliminate”!
Therefore, a lot goes into optimal health besides what one eats.
One of the most common things I see in practice is low stomach acid. A lot of people take antiacids like Tums or Rolaids or PPI (proton pump inhibitors) which all reduce hyrdochoric acid in the stomach. With less stomach acid, you will have a harder time breaking down your foods, ex: proteins. Your body depends on you having a very acidic stomach to break down your foods and protect you from infections like bacteria and other pathogens.
The other items listed below are just as important and need as much attention as stomach acid. Some require adjustments in how you prepare your food. For example; phytic acid is found in grains, nuts, seeds and legumes. Getting back to habits of our ancestors can go a long way here. Soaking legumes for 24 hours followed by rinsing and cooking them in a pressure cooker can help reduce phytic acids dramatically. Phytic acids are responsible for the malabsorption of important minerals like calcium, zinc, iron and magnesium. Just soaking them and pressure-cooking them can go a long way in the breaking down the anti-nutrients.
Bacteria/yeast and other chronic infections like viral or parasitic can be extremely problematic. For this one, you’ll really want to meet a functional health practitioner for a mix of herbs best suited for you to get rid of them. I remember hearing a doctor say, if you are alive and breathing, then you have parasites. And I tend to agree, we all have them. The problem is, do you have too many? We live in harmony with plenty of bacteria, parasites, etc. but with our low stomach acid, dysbiosis and other issues, its no wonder parasites have taken over.
