The Virtues of Vinegar

(We'll return to the cancer series in a few days.)



I am going to list several popular condiments:

Ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, salsa, Worcestershire sauce, steak sauce, BBQ sauce, pickle relish, hot sauce, and The Oatmeal’s beloved Sriracha.

All of these items, with their diverse flavors and wide range of foundational ingredients, have one thing in common.

Tomatoes?  No.

Oil?  No.

Chili peppers?  Nope.

Hint: It’s VINEGAR!! (Okay, so that was more than a hint.)

It’s true: I challenge you to go to the supermarket and take a good look at the condiments. You will see vinegar listed in the ingredients in almost all of them, and that’s not even taking into account using various forms of vinegar, itself, as a condiment or critical component of salad dressing: apple cider vinegar, balsamic, red wine, champagne, sherry vinegar, and, of course, no proper fish & chips meal would be complete without a generous splash of malt vinegar to go with the newspaper-wrapped, deep-fried deliciousness.

Apart from these modern condiments, which we use on everything from hot dogs at the ballpark, to corn chips on Super Bowl Sunday, to brats at Oktoberfest (not to mention a snazzy new Sriracha beer!), vinegar has been part of traditional ethnic cuisines around the world for centuries. Of course, we can’t assume that an ingredient or culinary technique is beneficial merely because it’s been employed by many disparate groups for a very long time, but we ought to at least give that possibility some consideration. Some traditions deserve to be mothballed to history (footbinding, anyone?), but when it comes to culinary and gastronomic approaches that persist, there’s probably some good reasons lurking behind them. Perhaps the cooks of yesteryear knew something we don’t?

For a while now, I have been promising (threatening?) to write a post about my newfound love for vinegar, so here goes. And instead of writing shorter blog posts, like I have also been promising, it seems I've gone in the opposite direction with this one. It's long. But that's okay. Take your time and read it in stages if need be. It'll still be here when you get back. If you're a bored-to-death cubicle dweller and I've given you a way to kill ten minutes, you're welcome. (*Insert smiley face.*)

Digestion for (not-so) Dummies: Large Intestine, Pt.2

The large intestine. We meet again. As I mentioned last time, even though the large intestine is much shorter than the small intestine, apparently it’s still big enough to warrant more than one post. So here we are, tackling a few more issues before we’re officially done with digestion. Actually, we were pretty close to being done with digestion before we even got to the large intestine. Like I explained in the previous post, almost no further breakdown and absorption of nutrients occurs in the large intestine. Those are really the jobs of the stomach and small intestine. But there is some food breakdown here in the colon. We’ll get to that in a bit. Before we do, we’ve got some unfinished business on constipation from last week. (Get it? Unfinished business! Indeed, I’ll try to pepper part 2 of large intestine function with a little humor the way I did part 1. ‘Cuz let’s face it: poop jokes never get old. And with that in mind, let’s get started with “number two on number two!”)

Digestion for (not-so) Dummies: Large Intestine Pt.1

We’ve come to the end today! Literally and figuratively! Ha! You can tell right from the start here this post is going to be full of colon-related double entendre. (You're welcome.)

Yes, here we are, finally, at the last stop on our long train journey north to south through digestion and the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. If you’re just tuning in, you might want to check out the previous entries in this series. We’ve covered the major organs and glands involved in breaking down the foods we eat into the amino acids, fatty acids, and simple sugars our bodies can absorb and do something with, and some of the snags that can happen along the way when those organs and glands aren’t performing at their best.

I ended the most recent post by saying that the colon, or large intestine, is large and in charge. And I said I would explain. So here goes. (Note: I will use the terms colon and large intestine interchangeably.)

Digestion for (not-so) Dummies: Small Intestine Pt.3 - Gluten & Leaky Gut

Show of hands: who’s been anxiously awaiting the next post in this series on digestion? (*Crickets.*) Whether you’ve been on the edge of your seat hoping I’d get around to it soon or not, here it is.

Last time, we talked about the concept of increased intestinal permeability, aka “leaky gut,” and all the gnarly health problems that can result when bricks start crumbling in the fortress walls of the small intestine. We mostly talked about autoimmune conditions, but that’s barely scratching the surface. A leaky gut can cause all kinds of havoc on our bodies and our minds.

I left off last time saying that we should dedicate an entire post to gluten, because it’s one of the things responsible for causing leaky gut. So here we go.

Digestion for (not-so) Dummies: Small Intestine Pt.2 - Leaky Gut

Hey Everyone! We’re in the home stretch now! It’s taken us a while in this series on digestion, but here we are, covering a few more key things about the small intestine, then it’s on to the large intestine, and we’ll be done! In previous entries, we’ve done some troubleshooting to help digestion in the stomach, the pancreas, and the gallbladder. Today, let’s get into one of the most common—but least recognized by conventional medical and nutrition professionals—consequences from poor digestion: Leaky gut!

Digestion for (not-so) Dummies: Small Intestine Pt.1

The main event! Finally!

I’ve been saying for weeks that we’d get to the small intestine, and we’re finally here.

In our north-to-south journey through digestion, we started in the mind, then went south to the mouth, the esophagus & stomach, and also talked about the importance of sufficient stomach acid, and what to do if you don’t have sufficient stomach acid. Last time, we did reach the small intestine, but before we could talk about the incredibleness that is this very long, convoluted tube, we had to cover the roles of the gallbladder and pancreas.

So today we’ll start tackling the role of the small intestine (SI) itself. It’s gonna take some time, though—and definitely more than one post—because we’ve got a lot of ground to cover here, and I mean that figuratively and literally. Some sources say that if you unfolded the SI and laid it flat, its surface area would cover a tennis court! This isn’t only because it’s long—about 20 feet long, in fact. (It fits inside your abdominal cavity because it’s got lots of turns and sort of folds up on itself. See the illustration above or another good one here.) The reason the surface area of the SI is so huge is because it is exquisitely designed to suit its function. The SI is the site of absorption of almost all nutrients into the bloodstream. Remember: the GI tract is a hollow tube that connects to the outside world at both ends (mouth at the top and anus at the bottom). Until food is actually absorbed from the intestines into the bloodstream, some people consider it to still be outside the body. So the SI is really the point of connection between outside and inside, “us” and “them.” This is an extremely important point, and we’ll come back to it for sure.

Digestion for (not-so) Dummies: GPS

(Note: This post is part of an ongoing series. For previous entries, click here.)

In the certification program I recently completed to become a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, our instructor said that the abbreviation GPS is a good way to remember three of the main organs of digestion: the gallbladder, pancreas, and stomach. Since we’ve already beaten the stomach to death (not literally), I guess that means it’s time to talk about the those other two. If you think your pancreas is only good for blood sugar regulation, and you have no idea what your gallbladder does, keep reading. It’s time to give these two underappreciated organs their due.

Digestion for (not-so) Dummies: Increasing Stomach Acid Naturally (a.k.a. MOAR ACID!)

(Note: this is part 6 of an ongoing, multi-part series. Here are links to Part 1 [Intro], Part 2 [Brain], Part 3 [Mouth], Part 4 [Stomach 1], and Part 5 [Stomach 2].)

We’ve spent a lot of time so far going over how important good digestion is. In our train ride along the north-to-south route of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, we started at the brain, which is not anatomically part of the digestive system, but is arguably one of the most important organs of digestion. After that, we had pit stops at the mouth, esophagus, and stomach. Today, we’re still at the stomach station. What can I say? It’s got a neat gift shop and we’re still looking for the perfect souvenirs to bring with us to the small intestine. In the last two posts, we talked about how important it is to have strong and plentiful stomach acid. But enough talking. It’s time now for action. So today we’ll cover concrete steps you can take to ensure you produce good stomach acid and ways to help yourself when, despite your best efforts, your digestive train is still derailing here.

As we laid out in part 2, digestion starts in the brain. You’ve got to be calm in order to produce stomach acid (HCl). If you’re worked up, stressed out, or otherwise not in a good frame of mind, your body’s got more pressing things to take care of than digesting your food. In part 3, we stressed the importance of eating slowly and chewing thoroughly. Eating slowly gives your stomach time to realize that food has come down the hatch and that it had better start making some acid, pronto. Chewing well eases the stomach’s burden by breaking the food up into very small pieces, thus allowing the stomach to do a little less mechanical breakdown and giving HCl more surface area to work on.

So let’s say we’ve got those things in the brain and mouth mastered, but we’re still feeling symptoms of indigestion. It’s time to go right to the heart of the matter: inside the stomach. 

Digestion for (not-so) Dummies: The Stomach, Pt.2

MOAR acid!

Since so much can happen in the stomach—or not happen, as we’re starting to see—our digestive train is still sitting here at the nice, cozy stomach station. The café at the small intestine station is waiting for us with hot coffee and fresh-baked cookies, but we’ve got business to finish here first. In the previous post, we uncovered the surprising truth that acid reflux/heartburn is usually the result of too little stomach acid, rather than too much. I left off saying that in this next part, we would talk about ways to naturally increase stomach acid. And we will. But first, let’s look at some other, more serious consequences of insufficient stomach acid, because after that, we’ll all be in agreement that we are not kidding around about this, and we really do want to make sure we have strong stomach acid, and lots of it. (To quote the stupendous Dave Barry, “I am not making this up.”)

Digestion for (not-so) Dummies: The Stomach, Pt.1

Tums, Rolaids, Nexium, the purple pill: if the stream of ads for medication to reduce stomach acid are to be believed, we’re in the midst of a serious epidemic of excessive stomach acid. We are absolutely drowning in the stuff and should all run to our doctors for prescription-strength drugs to lower it. How else could we account for the fact that over the counter and prescription medications to treat heartburn, GERD, and other forms of indigestion are among the top selling drugs of our time? Contrary to what we’ve been led to believe about these conditions, most effects of indigestion are due to too little stomach acid, not too much. Yes, you read that correctly. We are not awash in excess stomach acid. If anything, we’re starving for it.

If this sounds illogical, it’s only because many of us are unfamiliar with the anatomy and physiology of our own digestive tracts. It makes sense at first glance that too much stomach acid would cause the discomfort we associate with indigestion, but our primer on this part of the digestive process will reveal that rather than making our stomachs less acidic, we want to make sure our stomach acid is strong and abundant. When stomach acid is insufficient, indigestion is only one among myriad conditions that result. The list of health complications that can be tied directly or indirectly to low stomach acid stretches from acne to vitiligo, and if there were more common conditions with the letters W through Z, they’d be on the list, too.

So here we go…

Digestion for (not-so) Dummies: The Brain

Welcome back to Digestion for (not-so) Dummies. In the intro to this series, I explained that digestion is a north-to-south process, and that this process starts even before we reach our actual gastrointestinal (GI) tract. In fact, it starts about as far north as you can get: the brain. (Or the head, if you prefer, which, as Tom Hanks’s character, Jimmy Dugan, points out in quite possibly one of the greatest movies of all time, “That’s that lump that’s three feet above your *ss!”

In order to get the entire digestive train out of the station on time and moving steadily toward its first stop, the brain’s got to do its thing. And it’s got to do this thing before we even take our first bite of food. If it doesn’t, the train’s just going to sit there, all the poor suckers on board are going to miss their connections, and other trains coming up behind are going to be held up. Havoc will be wreaked overall. So, what is the brain’s thing? Read on…

Digestion for (not-so) Dummies

Acid blockers, anti-gas meds, probiotics. Pills to make you “go” more often, and pills to make you go less often. If TV commercials, print, and online advertisements are any indication, we, as a population, are experiencing a massive epidemic of digestive distress. And for once, the ads are right! Good digestion is absolutely fundamental to good health. You cannot expect to have one without the other, and it’s usually the former that begets the latter. You can consume the highest quality foods that are all organic, biodynamic, grassfed, pastured meats and poultry, wild-caught seafood, and allow nary a single molecule of questionable food into the temple that is your body, but if you aren’t properly digesting, absorbing, and assimilating those pristine, blessed-by-the-gods foods, you won’t reap the benefits and you might as well hit up the nearest fast food joint. (Well, no, it's not that extreme, but you certainly won't be getting all the bang you could for the extra few bucks you're spending on the good stuff.)  

So, since I am, for once, in agreement with the mass media machine that’s telling us we’ve got serious issues with our digestion, I offer this series as a primer on our digestive systems. Over its course, we’ll cover the anatomy and physiology of our gastrointestinal (GI) tracts (what the parts are and how they work), how things are supposed to go from point A to B to C, what happens when they don’t go the way they’re supposed to, and how to fix it.

‘Cuz let’s face it: popping pills is a nice, short-term solution to the acute discomfort caused by things like acid reflux and constipation, but it does nothing to address the underlying causes. And most of these causes can be fixed with—you knew this was coming—simple diet and lifestyle modifications that require no prescriptions, no doctor visits, and no shelling out money to the corner drugstore. They do require slowing down a bit, calming down, and paying more attention to what we put in our pieholes. But wouldn’t you rather do those things than kill time in some sterile waiting room reading three-year-old People magazines only to see a doctor who has a whopping five minutes to spend with you and then sends you off with a pill to alleviate your immediate symptoms without trying to help you find an actual solution to the problem? (/endrant.)

Okay, that’s enough railing against the modern medical establishment. I’m not here to bash doctors; they’re mostly just victims of the insurance industry meat grinder and I imagine most of them wish they had more time for patient care and lifestyle coaching. So rather than focus on problems and shortcomings, let’s get started on solutions.