Participants: Nick Evenson (Host), Dr. James Marcum
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000074B
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00:01 Welcome back - on today's program we are discussing
00:02 the gastrointestinal system, and, Dr. Marcum, 00:05 I think there's kind of an overarching principle 00:07 that you might apply to this discussion, is that right? 00:09 Yeah, and hopefully a couple of points that I want to 00:12 point out before we answer questions. 00:15 I think the questions are really going to help us know 00:17 and learn a lot about the GI system and things we can do 00:20 to improve it, but a couple of principles that are: 00:22 1. Don't put bad things in it. 00:25 2. Let it get enough rest, the system, 00:29 let it get enough rest, don't use it all the time. 00:31 3. Give it the basic things it needs to work well. 00:35 And the basic things that the GI system needs to work well 00:38 are water and fiber. Okay 00:42 Water and fiber - very important for the GI system. 00:45 Water, fiber, rest - don't put bad things in, 00:48 that is a great place to start. 00:50 Now, why is the water and fiber so helpful for the GI system? 00:54 Water helps things move through the system well. 00:57 It keeps it lubricated. 00:59 Every cell in the body needs water. 01:00 So the GI system to do its job well, needs water. 01:04 Okay...What about the fiber? 01:06 The fiber helps motility, it helps things move through 01:09 so things don't stay in it for long periods of time. 01:11 You keep the GI system moving. 01:14 When things are static, when things in the GI system 01:17 don't move, you have a greater chance to absorb 01:19 toxins and byproducts of this ecosystem 01:24 that we are going to talk about. Right 01:25 And really, the bowel has its own ecosystem within it. 01:28 It's almost like a world within a world, 01:31 and that's very important. 01:32 We're going to learn a little bit about that 01:33 when we answer a question about probiotics. 01:36 All right, well let's get right to the questions... 01:37 Our first viewer asks: "What is Barrett's esophagus?" 01:41 Barrett's esophagus specifically has to do with this middle 01:46 part called the "esophagus," and the esophagus really 01:49 just transports food from the 01:51 mouth that we start the digestion in, 01:53 and moves it all the way to the stomach. 01:55 There's a valve at the lower part of the esophagus 01:58 that keeps the acid in the stomach. Okay 02:02 But when the stomach is overburdened, 02:04 makes too much acid - what would make it too much acid? 02:07 Eating too much, too much protein. 02:10 There are certain metabolic conditions that cause 02:13 lots of acid to be done. 02:14 Bacteria can cause acid, but if the body makes 02:17 too much acid, you eat late at night and you lay down, 02:20 some people carry extra weight or have hiatal hernias, then the 02:24 acid can slip up this bowel and get into the esophagus. 02:28 Hydrochloric acid in tissue that's not made 02:31 to see hydrochloric acid is not good. 02:34 It damages the cell life. Right 02:36 So when the hydrochloric acid seeps up into the 02:39 esophagus, a lot of people have what we call "heartburn." 02:43 We call that "reflux" because the acid refluxes up. 02:47 They call it "gastroesophageal reflux," 02:50 acid refluxes up into that. 02:52 If it happens long enough, the acid actually damages 02:56 the cells in the esophagus and make them more 02:59 prone to develop cancer. 03:01 That type of esophagus we call "Barrett's esophagus." 03:05 So if lots of acid bubbles up long enough, 03:07 it can damage the cells and it also can convert those 03:11 normal cells into cancer cells. 03:14 Cancer of the esophagus is a very hard thing to deal with. 03:18 Now the things that happen with the esophagus, Nick, 03:20 the main things that happen is the reflux, 03:24 and sometimes the reflux can cause esophagus to get narrowed. 03:27 We call that a "stricture," and a person might 03:30 not be able to swallow. 03:31 Sometimes the esophagus can spasm. 03:34 You known when they have spasm - you eat something 03:35 and it won't go through, that can be a spasm, 03:38 and then, of course, we talked about the cancer... 03:40 those are some of the 3 more common things that happen 03:42 to the esophagus. 03:44 So Barrett's esophagus is when acid refluxes up 03:47 and it damages the cells inside the esophagus. 03:50 So that's something we really want to try and avoid. 03:52 Yes, we do not, and people who have that, 03:54 they have to have regular looks and specimens drawn 03:57 to make sure the cells are not changing into cancer. 04:00 And they want to limit that acid reflux, 04:02 so some of them have to take special antacids. 04:05 And then they want to do lifestyle measures 04:07 that lower their risk of acid going up 04:09 which would include losing weight, 04:11 eating a whole food plant-based diet, 04:15 stay away from a lot of protein-like foods, 04:17 make sure they don't have infections. 04:19 If they have hernias, deal with those as well. 04:21 I didn't realize that acid reflux could be 04:23 a really serious condition like that. 04:25 It can, it can, but one of the more serious things 04:28 is it can cause the esophagus to get sticky inside, 04:31 and when it gets sticky, it sort of squeezes off 04:34 so the food can't get through. Right 04:36 So we have some people that the acid damages the esophagus 04:39 so much, Nick, that they can't get the food through. 04:42 If you can't get the food through, 04:43 you don't get any nutrition... Yeah 04:45 So that is a very... Now is it possible to 04:47 transplant the esophagus? Yes. Really? 04:49 We've had some esophageal transplants, 04:52 but it's very hard to do. 04:54 It's not our first line of treatment. 04:55 Right, not the preferred way to go. 04:56 So that's just part of the tube, that's just some of the things 04:59 that can happen to the esophagus. Okay 05:01 We've got another question and sometimes these questions 05:04 dealing with the GI can be somewhat embarrassing, 05:06 but she says: "I'm a female with fecal incontinence, 05:09 and it is embarrassing, what are my options for treatment?" 05:11 Well I think we need to talk to people about what 05:13 fecal incontinence is. 05:16 Now remember, we've talked about the tube, 05:18 and it has like little devices that keep things from 05:21 going the wrong direction, keep things moving in. 05:23 The one at the mouth and the esophagus 05:25 is called the "epiglottis." 05:27 We have one between the stomach and the esophagus, 05:29 the lower esophageal sphincter, we got some sphincters there. 05:34 Then as it moves through the stomach where digestion 05:37 and all the digestion occurs through the small 05:39 and large intestines, eventually 05:40 the waste have to leave. 05:42 And of course, we have a sphincter down there 05:45 that keeps it in as well. 05:47 Sometimes that sphincter wears out, 05:50 and when it wears out, guess what? 05:52 The poop just comes out. Yeah 05:54 And that can be very embarrassing. 05:56 It's a major problem and it happens 05:59 to a fair number of people. 06:00 We don't hear about it much because 06:01 people are so embarrassed. 06:03 And a lot of people, it happens when people tend to get older, 06:07 and sometimes they have to wear diapers. 06:09 And we hear of stool incontinence. 06:12 We call that "fecal incontinence," 06:14 but it also comes with the urine as well. 06:16 So some people just wear the diapers, 06:18 and we never hear about it. 06:20 Because the tube doesn't have 06:21 ability to keep what's in it, in it. 06:24 So there are a couple of things that people can do 06:27 to help that situation. 06:28 One, is a stool softener to make sure the stool is not 06:31 coming out really hard - that can help protect 06:34 that sphincter down there. 06:36 Another thing is lots of fiber, lots of water, 06:39 we talked about that. 06:40 There is an exercise called "Kegel" exercises that work. 06:43 They can go to the internet and learn how to do 06:45 those special exercises - that helps the muscles. 06:48 So it makes the muscles so 06:50 that sphincter works a little bit better. 06:52 But one of the things I learned not too long ago, 06:54 from Heartwise Ministries, one of our advisors, 06:57 that happens to be a colorectal surgeon. 06:59 He says that there are some very simple surgeries 07:02 that they can do now on that sphincter to tighten it up 07:05 so people don't have to have incontinence. Okay 07:09 So a lot of people don't realize it, but there are surgeons 07:12 that specialize in this and this is a great place 07:14 for modern medicine. 07:16 So a surgeon can do a simple and some of them 07:17 even robotic surgeries that they do that they tighten up 07:21 that sphincter so you don't have 07:22 the problem with fecal incontinence. 07:24 So that's on the lower part of the tube. 07:27 What are some of the parts 07:28 that have the lower part of the tube? 07:30 Well, we talked about incontinence, 07:32 of course cancers happen there. 07:34 We also see hemorrhoids... that's sort of veins 07:37 sort of like varicose veins down there that pooch through. 07:40 That can be very painful, can actually cause bleeding. 07:43 When it gets real dry, we can have 07:45 what we call "fissures," and the skin there is 07:48 very different than other parts of skin, 07:49 and it can have fissures where you have bleeding 07:51 that goes on in that part of the tube. Okay 07:53 So that's why the things we talked about, 07:55 and, you know, the same help that part of the tube 07:58 that helped the other part of the tube. 07:59 We want to avoid toxins, lots of water, 08:03 lots of fiber, but sometimes the tube does get older, 08:06 and this is one instance where modern medicine is very 08:09 helpful and find a good surgeon that can 08:12 fix that lower sphincter. 08:14 And even though these things are maybe embarrassing, 08:16 you know, it's really worth talking to your doctor 08:18 and see what can be done. Yeah it is... 08:20 Our next question comes from a viewer who asks: 08:22 "What are "probiotics, and how can they be useful?" 08:25 Yeah, and that's what we have to spend a lot of time on. 08:28 We are just now learning, in science, that the bowel is a big 08:33 tube that has trillions of bacteria. 08:37 It is its own ecosystem of itself. 08:41 And these trillion bacteria have to live in a very 08:44 special environment. 08:46 If you get one that has overgrown the other, 08:48 it makes chemicals, it makes inflammation, 08:50 it makes byproducts, it does all sorts of bad things. 08:54 A lot of people eat bad foods and they mess up this ecosystem, 08:58 and when the ecosystem is up, it destroys everything. 09:01 In fact, I've got some examples of some people 09:04 that have eaten foods that damaged the ecosystem. 09:08 Here, I have a 52-year-old woman, 09:10 she had daily headaches, everyday lots of migraines 09:13 for years because the ecosystem, 09:17 she damaged her flora and it was making chemicals 09:20 that caused these migraines. Right 09:22 So she found relief just by getting her bowel flora 09:25 back to normal and it stopped the inflammatory 09:28 mediators that were causing her headaches. Wow 09:31 And you know, you have all sorts of different 09:33 damages that can occur from this. 09:35 Another person, this happened to be a 6-year-old girl, 09:38 and she had behavioral problems. 09:41 And, she was violent, disruptive, depressive, 09:44 all sorts of this and her problem was happening 09:47 because she had bacteria overgrowth. 09:49 She was eating the wrong types of food. 09:51 And what happened in this little girl is the case study showed 09:55 that when she was eating lots of animal products... 09:57 Okay, animal products changes our ecosystem because 10:01 a lot of antibiotics are in animal products, 10:05 and that kills off the bacteria. 10:07 Some of the good bacteria are killed, 10:09 some of the bad take over, some of the yeast take over. 10:12 They start making all sorts of bad mediators, 10:15 it changes our genetics and this was actually 10:17 damaging this girl's chemicals that affected her brain, 10:20 and she was having behavioral problems 10:22 just because of the gut. Wow Isn't that pretty interesting? 10:25 Yeah, I wouldn't think that behavioral problems 10:27 or headaches are things that could be related 10:28 to what's happening in your stomach. Right 10:30 And that's why we wanted to talk about this. 10:33 Another case history of a 3- year-old boy with 10:36 autistic-like symptoms. 10:38 They started treating a parasite because his gut 10:42 flora was abnormal. 10:43 It was abnormal, he couldn't get rid of the parasite. 10:46 The parasite triggered the change in this whole ecosystem. 10:50 Remember, this ecosystem has genetics in it. 10:55 There are 100 more genes in the bacteria in your bowel 10:58 than throughout your body, a hundred times more genes. 11:02 So if you have all those genetic material when they are 11:05 turning on all sorts of different proteins 11:07 and different chemical reactions that get absorbed 11:09 into the body... the toxins, the byproducts, 11:12 and it goes places. 11:13 It goes to the heart, it goes to the brain, 11:15 it causes all sorts of bad things to happen. 11:17 So a lot of good health starts in the gut. Right 11:21 Not only the good things we get in, 11:23 but the bad things that we put in that are absorbed 11:26 because of bacteria which is normally protecting us 11:29 from those evil empire, the bacteria is messed up, 11:32 the bad bacteria starts saying, "Well, I have DNA too, 11:35 I'm going to make whatever I want and it goes somewhere." 11:38 It gets in our blood system, it messes up the balances 11:40 in our brain, in our endothelium and then the good 11:43 bacteria are overrun. 11:44 And we've seen that in all the antibiotics we're using 11:48 nowadays in animals. 11:49 So people that eat lots of animal-based nutrition, 11:53 that's bad for the ecosystem. 11:55 People that don't have fiber, that's bad for the system. 11:58 So in short, we mess up this fine balance that we have 12:01 in our system and that system 12:03 literally destroys us if we let it. 12:05 So it goes from anything from depression 12:08 to heart attacks, lots of things. 12:10 The brain and the bowel are intimately connected 12:13 because these trillion bacteria and the genetics 12:15 that goes with it, makes chemicals that throw things 12:18 off balance. 12:19 So once things are out of balance, 12:21 how can that be reversed? 12:22 That's right and that's one of the things, 12:24 you gotta get your bowel happy again, 12:25 and we talked about the basic principles... 12:27 Drink lots of water, lots of fiber, 12:30 and you've heard about these things that detox the system 12:33 like greens - greens are great for detoxing! 12:36 It has all sorts of fiber in it, chemicals like chlorophyll 12:39 which helps set up the good bacteria. 12:42 And nowadays, people that do eat bad foods, 12:44 and don't eat a good diet, I recommend that they take 12:47 a probiotic. Okay 12:49 Probiotics are lots of good bacteria that we introduce 12:53 back into the system. Okay 12:55 In fact, this has gotten so much press recently 12:58 that sometimes people that take too many antibiotics 13:00 they get overgrowth of bad bacteria that 13:03 really cause lots of problems. 13:04 One of them is called, "Clostridium." 13:06 It's even possible now... a lot of people need to take 13:10 probiotics - and even stress can mess up the bowel flora, 13:14 but we found out that sometimes the bowel flora is so messed up, 13:18 you even have to have a transplant of bacteria, 13:20 a good bacteria back into the bowels. Okay 13:23 And we actually do what we call, "stool transplants 13:26 or poop transplants" now. 13:28 And what that does is when someone has messed up their 13:30 bacteria so much that it's damaging the body 13:33 these inflammatory things, all sorts of those byproducts 13:36 are making them, you know, all that is just messed up... 13:40 It's so bad that we can take the poop from a good person 13:43 that has healthy bowel... we can isolate those bacteria, 13:47 put it in a pill and they can swallow that pill 13:50 and they can restore that. 13:52 That's sort of the same principle we have with 13:54 probiotics, and when you go to the store there are 13:57 many probiotics out there, many out there. 14:00 But what we want to do is try to find ones with 14:02 lots of colony-forming units... that means there's 14:06 lots in there, and also usually it has a Lactobacillus species. 14:11 But the one that a lot of the GI doctors recommend is 14:14 one called "Align," but many are very helpful. 14:18 And unfortunately, in this world where we don't eat right, 14:21 and bring in other toxins in the bowels, 14:23 it messes up our bowel flora... 14:25 The bowel affects the way we think, the way our heart works, 14:28 our entire ecosystem in our body is affected by our bowels, 14:32 and a lot of people don't realize this, 14:34 but a lot of important chemical reactions start in the bowel. 14:36 The bowel is in charge of letting the good in; 14:39 it also can keep the bad out, if it's working well. 14:41 If it's not working well, the bad gets in 14:44 and also their own system can make bad that damages us. 14:48 So that's a pretty whole lot to handle here. Yeah 14:51 Just remember, we want our bowel to be happy, 14:54 and to do that - fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains. 14:56 Avoid meat, eggs, cheese, anything with a face on it, 15:00 anything with a mother - try to avoid those things. 15:02 Avoid a lot of processed foods. 15:05 Try to eat more fresh and real. 15:07 Drink lots of water and don't wear your system out. 15:10 It needs to rest at night. 15:11 It can't be working all the time, give it a chance 15:15 to rest and keep things going good. 15:16 So someone says, "Well how do I know if my ecosystem 15:19 is good in the bowel?" Right 15:20 Well if you are going regularly and have well-formed stools, 15:24 not getting stick - that's a good chance that your 15:27 ecosystem is doing very, very well. 15:29 But if you have stools that aren't well-formed, 15:32 if you're having cramps or other problems, 15:34 one of the first places to consider is the bowels. 15:36 A lot of people with depression and behavioral problems 15:39 have that because their bowels aren't happy, 15:41 and it's making chemicals that affect their brain. 15:43 That's amazing... you know I hadn't made the connection 15:45 that the gut has that big of an influence on us. 15:48 Yeah, it does and we're just now understanding 15:50 the complexities of it, you know, and we never can 15:52 understand everything, but we're just learning things, 15:54 but it goes back that God's plan is always the best plan. 15:58 There are just some simple things that we can do 16:00 to keep learning... Now we'll probably have to 16:01 do another program on this because there's 16:02 so much more to talk about. 16:04 But the main thing is that we live in harmony with our 16:08 Creator's design for us. 16:10 Right, that's what we need to do. 16:11 We're going to be back in just a moment as 16:13 Dr. Marcum closes the program with prayer. 16:21 I know a lot of you out there have been listening 16:24 to the program and said, "Wow, this is something 16:25 I don't want to think about." 16:27 But you know, this is something that we need to know about, 16:30 and we need to know that the food we eat, 16:32 and the way our bowel functions, it does affect our entire body. 16:35 Before we go on, let's pray that we all might learn more 16:39 and do better in taking care of our bodies. 16:41 Father in Heaven, We want to thank You for 16:43 being our God that loves us, that teaches us new things 16:47 and helps us to get better one step at a time. 16:49 We pray and thank You for Your love that You give us each day, 16:52 and thank You for making us so wonderful, Father. 16:55 Thank You for helping us 16:57 learn more this day is our prayer... Amen 16:59 Wow, you know, when we talk about the big tube, 17:02 there's so much more we didn't cover today. 17:04 I want to encourage you to learn more, go to our website that is: 17:07 heartwiseministries.org 17:09 where you could ask me a question... 17:11 And of course, we have a prayer page there where we are 17:14 praying for each one of you that writes in. 17:16 Thank you for joining us today on "The Ultimate Prescription" |
Revised 2016-08-23