The Bowels of Intuition

“Recipes to support the physiology of your gut feelings.”

By Aric Spencer

When we choose to eat, WHO is getting fed?

As science expands our understanding of how the body works, eaters

everywhere are benefiting—for we are beginning to see more and more clearly

exactly WHO is bellying-up to the table when we choose to eat and exactly

WHAT foods are healers that support our optimal function versus what foods

are pathogenic that hasten the breakdown of all our systems’ parts and leads

to early disease and death.

We know it in “our guts” do we not?—that not every recipe nor every food-item at the grocer is food

that heals. What I’m getting at here is something I have had a gut-sense about for a long time and

maybe you feel as I do, and maybe you don’t—that if food does not rejuvenate, it isn’t really food at

all.

As much as I appreciate science and benefit from studies about why healing food heal, I do not

need a study to tell me that bread clogs-up the intestines or that combining fruit and protein cause

internal fermentation and bloating.

Most people realize that:

We eat to feed our brains and muscles--so they will work.

We eat to feed our bones and joints and nerves--so they will work.

And we eat to feed our heart and blood--so they will work.

The WHO, who is bellying up to your favorite recipes when you choose to eat, is trillions of cells

that make our tissues and organs work.

Eating to feed our cells so they will work is vital our health.

But guess what? WE who are the WHO who’s benefiting from the recipes we make and choose to

eat, like it or not, are completely outnumbered by another virtually unstudied and nearly unknown

WHO that live inside of us. This WHO also is bellying up to the table... and if these hungry mouths

are not fed so they will work, science is proving that WE are really asking for some intriguing

trouble.

A healthy gut contains 400 to 500 different species and up to 50 trillion bacteria—adding up to

about three pounds. We are outnumbered 10-to-one! The human genome contains a tenth of the

genes believed to be in our gut bacteria. Gut microbe researchers say they're beginning to chart the

complex symbiosis between the tiny bugs and our health…physically and psychologically. For

example, "Probiotics (pills containing bacteria) have resulted in complete elimination of eczema in

80 percent of the people we've treated," says Dr. Joseph E. Pizzorno Jr.

These bacteria are said to influence every part of our physiology— our genes, our joints, our

immune system, perhaps to the degree of a major bodily organ. Scientists suggest that many

ailments we think of as being caused by genes, like rheumatoid arthritis, are probably primarily

mediated by pathogenic microorganisms; and in addition, our state of mind may be affected by our

gut flora. Personally, I believe they may affect our “gut-feelings” and intuition.

My sense is that once the body’s guts are healthy, eating (when we eat and what we are attracted to

eating) becomes rather precognitive, meaning less thoughtful; part of this means we will choose to

eat only when we are truly hungry and part of this means we will choose, out of “gut-level intuitive

attraction,” foods that are mineral rich and durable in their genetics like wild/weedy food and

heirloom varieties.

What is well documented is that friendly flora helps us digest and absorb what we choose to eat,

manufacture many essential nutrients for our body, including vitamin K, b-vitamins, numerous

helpful enzymes and other vital substances. They protect us from health problems like allergies,

malfunctioning immune responses, and chronic inflammatory diseases. It is speculated that poor

food choices will “rot” the gut, boosting NON-symbiotic gut flora that produce “active” metabolites.

These are pathogenic and hasten the breakdown of all our systems’ parts and leads to early disease.

So, in short, we might also eat to feed our GUTS—or friendly flora--so they will work.

How do we do this?

Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko shares green raw smoothie recipes that are designed to provide

enough vital greens to feed all our cells and the tiny bugs they may depend on—the gut flora—so

that they will work. She writes that, “To experience optimal health we need to have 80-85% of

‘good’ bacteria in our intestines. Such ‘good’ or aerobic bacteria thrive in the presence of oxygen

and require it for their continued growth and existence.” Furthermore, she says that pathogenic

bacteria are anaerobic, and cannot tolerate gaseous oxygen, good bacteria could be easily destroyed

with countless factors, like antibiotics, poor diet, overeating, and of course stress, and that the

dominance of anaerobic bacteria in our intestines is the prime cause of all disease.

Her smoothie recipes are full of chlorophyll, “a miraculous healer of liquid sunlight” she says, that

contains significant amounts of oxygen to feed ‘good’ bacteria and deter

‘bad’ bacteria. Additionally, Victoria created and ran a study in Roseburg, OR to show how

beneficial green smoothies were for ameliorating symptoms of hypochlorhydria or low stomach

acid—gas, bloating, reflux, belching, constipation are a few symptoms. One overall effect is

putrification of food in the gut—not very friendly for friendly bacteria. With just one quart of green

smoothie a day for a month, 66.7% of participants showed vast improvements in HCL levels. This

allowed for better absorption of valuable nutrients, a lower possibility for infection and parasites,

improved healing of allergies, and better overall health—the personal testimonies at the back of the

book are awesome and inspiring. Maybe you know someone who would like this book? Victoria’s

site is www.rawfamily.com

Green smoothies--savory or sweet--are easy to make and eat daily and feed our symbiotic flora

in numerous ways so that all our systems and parts work. Aimee and I will try and post some of our

favorite techniques and recipes on our website too.

Since Kale season is coming up here are two simple savory green smoothies:

Green Smoothie from Victoria’s book

Blend well:

5Kale leaves

®ц Bunch of fresh dill

®ц line (juiced)

garlic to taste

®щ cup sun dried tomatoes (soak this a bit first)

2 cups water

Yields 1 quart of smoothie

Green Smoothie from BodyAlive!

®ц bunch parsley

®ц bunch cilantro

hand full of spinach and celery

garlic to taste

piece of habanero pepper or other type

®ц cup sunnies (soaked sunflower seeds! Yah!)

4 shakes of umeboshi plum vinegar

®щ lemon--peel and all

fresh herbs like sage, or basil

Add water slowly and as needed during blending.

Serves two or three

Here’s to the whole healthy gang showing up at the table!

Article by Aric Spencer, LMP School-certified structural integrator

Practitioner of SOMA Neuromuscular Integration®

Co-owns BodyAlive! Center for Bodywork and Massage with his wife Aimee Kelley-Spencer, LMP

Aimee normally writes this column but retired until the musical Spitfire Grill, a Key City Players

production starting September 28th completes its run.