Today, I’m going to get into why snacking could be wrecking your gut and your digestion and leading to unwanted bloating and discomfort. Yes, I’m so serious. I get it. There is a lot of information out there. Some people recommend six small meals a day to increase fat burning, some people say to intermittent fast and only eat one meal a day. To say that the information can feel like you’re never making the right choice would be an understatement. As a holistic health coach and gut health expert, I see loads of people with gut dysfunction. They’re having trouble digesting their food properly. They’re always bloated. They’re suffering from acid reflux. They have really bad skin conditions like cystic acne or eczema. Maybe they’ve been diagnosed with IBS. I look at the body through the lens of the gut as I believe this is truly the epicenter of our health.
The hard truth is snacking can have a negative impact on your gut and could be the source of all of your unwanted gut health issues, especially bloating and poor nutrient absorption. So why is this the case? It comes down to the extremely underutilized MMC pathway, the migrating motor complex. So let’s get into a little bit of the science. Migrating motor complex or the MMC is a cyclical recurring motility pattern that occurs in the stomach and small bowel. Let’s break this down a little bit. The MMC is basically a cleanup crew for your gut: pushes left behind food particles and bacteria out of the small intestine. Unlike regular peristalsis, which is a series of muscle contractions that helps move food through the gut. The MMC is initiated when you haven’t eaten. It stimulates the small intestine, pancreas and gallbladder to sweep out the excess bacteria and kind of ‘clean house’.
The entire process takes about three hours and 45 minutes. The key takeaway here is that the MMC pathway only activates in a fasted state when you haven’t eaten in awhile. This is typically between meals or overnight. It relies on nerve cells to turn it on and it automatically turns off as soon as food enters the system. So what happens when the MMC pathway can’t do its job? The MMC pathway can’t do its job if you’re eating six small meals a day or just snacking on random things all the time. Conditions like gastro-paresis or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth can come about. This is because the bacteria and these small food particles can be left in your small intestine longer than they should. This can make you feel super lousy and really heavy and then potentially really bloated after eating. Again, a slowed MMC leads to bacteria and fungus digging in the gut too long, which can create a bacterial overgrowth.
Here’s the thing, we know how good the good bacteria are for us, right? Yay probiotics, but there’s a really important distinction to be made. We want the majority of these good bacteria hanging out in the large intestine where most of the nutrient absorption occurs. We don’t want too much of this bacteria hanging out in the small intestine. Having built up bacteria in the small intestine can lead to things like bloating and potentially even small intestinal bacterial overgrowth or SIBO down the line.
Disruptions in MMC can be caused by food poisoning or other bacterial infections leading to disruption of the gut microbiome, which then messes up the pattern and signaling of the bacteria to turn on the MMC pathway. After years of chronic dieting, a serious infection, food poisoning and too much stress, harmful bacteria may get to the small intestine often as a result of low stomach acid. They release a toxin that damages the nerve cells that trigger your MMC.
Studies show that people that have been diagnosed with IBS typically have an issue or disruption with their MMC pathway. Another big MMC offender are inflammatory foods or foods that you’re really sensitive to. It can cause nerve damage in the gut, which then affects the signaling of the MMC. Our bodies love bacteria! We’re comprised of more bacteria than we are human cells. A lot of scientists are saying nowadays and of course they love the good, healthy, nourishing foods, but we have to make sure that these foods are flowing through the system properly and not getting stuck where they shouldn’t be. This should happen naturally for most of us, but things like low stomach acid or physical obstruction and never allowing that digestive system to relax and turn snacking all day can really disrupt this process. Now let’s get into the connection that it has with bloating.
The thing is our bodies don’t create bloating. It’s the bacteria in the gut that creates the bloating. This is because the bacteria feed off of the food that we eat and then release these gases in the process. The leftover food that gets stuck in the small intestine from something like a sluggish MMC feeds the bacteria and releases a gas byproduct. This gas is bloating. Not only is bloating uncomfortable and potentially embarrassing -enter unbuttoning your pants come 1:00 PM at the office, but it can lead to more serious conditions down the road like acid reflux, GERD, and even nutrient deficiencies. It can also be your body signaling that something serious is going on. “Hey, I’m creating this bloating because I need some TLC. Look at me. I’m trying to get your attention.” A really important distinction.
A little bit of bloating after like a wine and pizza night is probably okay, bloating after every single meal that you’re eating? Not okay, so what’s the fix? How do we get our MMC pathway working on our side? Again, here’s what you can do today to harness the immense power of your MMC naturally.
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#1: FASTING. This means in between meals and or overnight. It’s really whatever works best for you. Get rid of those snacks between meals. Remember, the MMC pathway takes three hours and 45 minutes to run its course. So if we’re disrupting this constantly, all day, every day by this never ending stacking or never letting this thing run its course and do its job, but how do we get over the snacking if it’s like such a part of our DNA at this point?
The key is make sure that you have the right nutrients at every single meal. I’m talking healthy proteins, healthy fats, greens and fiber.
These four essential ingredients are going to turn off over 800 hormones in the body and make sure that you’re actually, satiated enough to make it from breakfast to lunch and from lunch to dinner. You won’t need a snack. And if you feel like you can’t make it in between meals without a snack, chances are you are living on a blood sugar roller coaster that isn’t supportive for your overall health. It’s really important to make sure that our meals are supporting our blood sugar levels so we can A, make it from meal to meal and B, reduce the anxiety and reduce the amount of insulin that’s being pumped out into the body. This could also mean that you’re simply not eating enough, so this doesn’t give you free rein to go eat an entire pizza. I mean, unless you want to, but this may mean that maybe you need a little bit more avocado on your salad, or maybe you need another tablespoon of almond butter in your smoothie, or maybe you need another handful of greens or a tablespoon of chia seeds.
There are different things to experiment with here and it’s really important to find what works specifically for you. But in my three day gut reset below, I walk you through the formula to building the proper smoothie so it actually keeps you satiated and supports your blood sugar levels. It comes with tons of yummy recipes and that exact formula so you can start your day off properly and actually make it to lunch without needing a snack. Yes, I know all of our hands go dipping into the M&Ms on our coworker’s desk from time to time. Let’s try to avoid that, right?
Are you already experimenting with intermittent fasting? Stick with it. If you’re not, try getting in a fasting window, starting with like 12 hours in between dinner and breakfast, so if you’re eating dinner at 6:00 PM then don’t eat anything after dinner until 6:00 AM the next day.
You’re sleeping most of the time, so it’s super, super simple to fast during that entire time. Herbal tea can be enjoyed after dinner. Water of course, but that’ll give you a solid 12 hours between meals where your body can kind of do its thing, right? It can process all the food that you’ve put in. It’ll turn on that MMC, they’ll clean house and your gut has some time to repair and rebalance. There are loads of intermittent fasting techniques available out there, but I always recommend starting with 12 hours if that feels like a stretch for you or if you’re new to it and you can slowly build up from there, but as always, listen to your body. I think that the sweet spot for a lot of people is 12 to 14 hours because it’s the stainable and relatable and pretty easy.
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#2: MANAGING YOUR STRESS LEVELS. I can not stress this enough. Stress really negatively impacts our gut health. Stress can negatively impact digestion. When our bodies are in the fight or flight response due to stress, blood flow is actually taken away from digestion and yes, this includes devouring your salad while frantically responding to all those work emails! There’s not necessarily a ‘tiger’ needed in the situation for the body to be turned on into fight or flight mode. With this, digestion is slowed down and this negatively impacts the MMC pathway. It can also potentially cause diarrhea or constipation depending on how you and your body is actually reacting to that stress. Let’s be real. For most of us, stress isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Life is constantly throwing us curve balls, so it’s super important to make sure that we have these stress management practices and tools in our toolbox to help us combat the negative effects. The key is to learn ways to better cope and better manage the stress.
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#3: SUPPORT YOUR VAGUS NERVE. I’ve written a lot about the Vagus nerve and I’ll add a link in the description below to an article that I was featured in as an interview resource all about the power of the Vagus nerve and how you can support it. I talk a lot about the gut-brain connection and all of my programs with my clients because gut health isn’t all about the food. The Vagus nerve plays an integral piece in this connection. It’s also known to affect the functionality of the MMC. It’s critical to nurture this connection if you want to get the MMC back on your side and ditch the bloating for good, so I’ll review a few simple ways to support your vagus nerve. The first one is diet.
Eat a diet that’s rich in vegetables, high quality proteins, healthy fats and is low in sugars and refined carbohydrates and processed foods. This will help support the Vagus nerve given that it helps support a healthy gut microbiome. The second way is fasting. Who would have thought? I’m talking about it again, fasting has been shown to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. Digestion is energy intensive. Giving the body a little bit of a break from digesting food all the time can actually help it kind of recover and repair on its own. Number three, singing and chanting. I love to sing. A personal favorite of mine is actually shown to activate the vagus nerve and strengthen its power. It’s also just fun and makes us feel good. Therefore, it naturally lowers our stress levels, so it’s time to bump up the jams.
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#4 MEDITATION. Meditation has been shown to increase vagus activity and actually reduce the sympathetic nervous system activity.
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#5 COLD EXPOSURE. When the body adjusts to cold temperatures, the sympathetic nervous system or the fight or flight response, naturally it declines while the parasympathetic nervous system increases, and this is mediated by the vagus nerve. Remember, everyone’s body is a little different, so there’s not really a one size fits all. If you can’t seem to get over your chronic bloating, try utilizing the immense power of the MMC. Stop the snacking and sing it out, and take some good deep belly breaths. I know it’s crazy. You’ve been told to snack all day, every day to increase your metabolism and boost fat burning. But this could be doing the exact opposite as always.
It’s so much fun sharing this information with you guys, and if you want to check out my FREE three day gut reset to help get your gut microbiome back on your side in as little as three days. Yes, I’m so serious. Until next time!
