There is something you may not know about your body and its relationship to food. Your body has no defense against overeating. Your body has armies of cells prepared to fight off bacteria, viruses and a multitude of other invaders but no weapon against eating too much. When you eat too much your body’s defenses, throw their hands up. This reaction, this inability to adapt, I term IMPACT.
[Tweet “IMPACT: The Signals Your Body Is Sending. “]
Food is not intended to have an IMPACT while moving through your system. You are designed to assimilate what you ingest with very little notice by your body. Bloating, fatigue and gas are not the healthy signals of digestion.
So what is happening? When you overeat, your natural enzymes have a difficult time gaining the access they need to each food particle. As a result, your stomach distends, and the natural timing of food passage is slowed significantly. This leads to fermentation of what you ate and gas production. Next, when you are trying to push a large amount of food through the intestinal tract, it is difficult for that food to come in contact with the appropriate percentage of probiotics (gut bugs that break down food). These probiotics are essential for the proper absorption of your meal. If food is not properly broken down, it can eventually lead to food molecules that are too large passing through the gut lining. Once these larger molecules have passed into the bloodstream your body senses foreigners (blood not used to seeing such massive molecules), and it does what it does best; it harnesses an attack. Hello, food sensitivities and eventually Leaky Gut Syndrome. With either of these two at play, you have foods that your body recognizes as adversarial, and you react more intensively. Now these IMPACT symptoms happen more frequently and not just after overeating.
[Tweet “Farty, Gassy, Bloat – Your Body Is Telling You Something.”]
Think of a meal that you ate after which you noticed nothing. I mean nothing. Not full, not bloated, not gassy…nothing. The size and make-up of what you ate were probably appropriate for your body. Pay attention to this! Watch for IMPACT after your next few meals. These symptoms could take the form of gas, bloating, fatigue, fogginess, headache, pain, constipation, diarrhea, heat flush, itchiness and many other signals. Listen, and tune in to what your body is trying to communicate to you. Journal these symptoms until you learn to recognize the size and content of meal that tips you over the edge.
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5 Responses
I didn’t realize the IMPACT food was having on me until I went to walk my dog and came back winded after a quarter mile walk. I realized enough was enough and that it was time to make a change.
Changing my behavioral patterns of eating has been a challenge, but worth it.
I will be adding these signs of IMPACT to my journal and will keep you posted on my progress.
Thank you!
How is it going so far Erin?? 🙂
I love that thought… that you feel nothing after the meal. I recall those light meals where you feel satisfied but “not full” and how you always link that with the statement “I love that feeling.” I will work hard over the next few weeks to focus on those feelings and the power of making positive choices around those particular meals. Thank you for raising the awareness that being satiated can be attained by not being “full”.
I wish I would’ve realized this in my undergraduate days! I wasted too much time feeling terrible because I didn’t listen to my body!
Me too, Mirium. I struggled with this a lot in college and not understanding what it all meant. It is unfortunate it takes a lifetime to understand our bodies!