The following information has been gathered and compiled through personal experience, while traveling, teaching T’ai Chi, Qi Gong, Chinese Herbal medicine, martial arts and other health related subjects. The article also contains feedback from students and anecdotal information from readers of my columns. The following are my opinions and deductions from those sources.
The gall bladder sits under the ribs on the right side of the body. The gall bladder stores bile, a digestive aid that’s made in the liver, and is essential to the digestion of fats. If gall stones are present, the gall bladder can’t secrete the bile into the intestinal tract efficiently and poor digestion is the result. Poor digestion can cause bloating.
If you experience bloating, have pain in the upper right hand abdominal area, feel sick to your stomach and/or have pain and stiffness in the right side of your neck between five and twenty minutes after eating, you may be suffering from gall bladder problems. All symptoms are exacerbated by fried and greasy foods. Some people experience the symptoms by smelling greasy foods.
Fats, properly digested, supply you with long-term energy. Feeling tired all the time may be a indicator of poor digestion connected to gall bladder problems. Dry skin and eye problems can also be connected to a poorly functioning gall bladder. All hormones are made from fats and if the hormonal system isn’t working properly you can experience a myriad of problems.
Digestive enzymes may prove to be the answer. Cooking and heat above 116 degrees, destroys enzymes. Whole, raw foods contain various types of enzymes, including digestive enzymes. Most health food stores and pharmacies carry digestive enzymes.
It is possible to flush the gall bladder, removing stones and sluggish bile without surgery. The procedure is too long to go into in this article and will be covered in the future.
If you’re low on hydrochloric acid, you won’t be able to properly digest your food, especially foods high in protein, calcium and iron. Most research indicates that hydrochloric acid production decreases with age. It may be that hydrochloric acid production decreases are a byproduct of the abuses we subject our digestive system to during our younger years. If we continue to do and eat the way we have in the past and the way that has caused the problems we now experience, nothing will change.
Improperly, or insufficiently digested protein, or foods high in calcium or iron, can cause bloating, gas and indigestion. It may even result in vomiting. Try the following to see if it works for you.
Protein requires hydrochloric acid for digestion. Salads and carbohydrates don’t. If you suspect that you produce low amounts of hydrochloric acid, eat the protein portion of the meal first. Otherwise, you may have used up your entire hydrochloric acid production on foods that don’t require it, and have none left when you eat foods that do. Meat, fish, beans, cheese and other dairy products, all require hydrochloric acid for proper digestion.
You may find you need to take a hydrochloric acid supplement after your meal. Betaine hydrochloride appears to be the one most often recommended. We’re all different, and you may have to experiment to find what’s the right amount for you. One or two tablets after a meal seems to work best for most people. Be sure you take them after the meal , or after you have started eating but never before the meal. Antacids lower the digestive stomach acid levels and indigestion is more often caused by too little acid as opposed to too much
