6 Ways To Eliminate Your Post-Meal Brain Fog
Recently, I celebrated my gratitude for life and family by eating my face off on Thanksgiving…and then promptly felt like I had a food hangover. My stretchy pants and I felt pain and self-loathing as we recovered from the big, beautiful meal called Thanksgiving! What came the morning after was sluggishness, feeling blurry-brained, and boy, was I bloated? Coming up on the next big yummy meals of the holiday season, I figured I’d share a bit about why this happens in hopes you find an easier belly-brain situation as you enjoy your celebrations.
These uncomfortable symptoms were a simple reminder for me of our gut-brain connection, which is a curious, and dare I say mischievous, little feedback loop. GI distress (constipation, diarrhea, pain, and/or bloating) is often accompanied by stress, anxiety, depression, and brain fog. Sometimes, anxiety and stress immediately cause belly or bowel trouble. You might wonder which causes which, the classic cart/horse or chicken/egg question. There is a whole field of study devoted to answering this question: Psycho-neuro-immuno-biology, studying the intricate dance between our brains and our bellies, and even further, the immune system. It’s all connected!!!! Intuitively, our culture has known this for ages, as seen in some of our colloquialisms; “gut-instinct,” “something is gnawing at me,” “worry yourself sick,” or an emotional insult is coined as “a kick to the gut,” etc.
These are some common symptoms I see regularly:
Stress and anxiety = bloating, abdominal pain, and changes in our bowels.
Food indulgences are followed by body and brain inflammation- joint aches and pains, stomach pain, foggy brain, and low/depressed mood.
Sinus stuffiness, headaches, mood disturbances, and GI distress often come as a package deal.
What the Western medical research says:
Dysregulation in the gut-brain axis has been implicated in irritable bowel syndrome and neuropsychiatric disorders, including depression, Alzheimer's disease, and autism spectrum disorder (Person and Keefer, 2020).
Increased gut permeability is often found in people with depression, and this is considered a cause of overall systemic inflammation. (Bear et.al, 2021)
Regulating the gut and the microbes that live in it alleviates abnormalities in the brain and the immune system (Liang, et.al, 2018).
Acupuncture can be an effective treatment for treating the gut-brain axis, improving GI motility, and treating visceral hypersensitivity (Yaklai, et.al, 2021).
What Chinese Medicine says:
Chinese medicine has been aware of gut-brain connections for millennia. The body-mind is one thing in this medicine, for better or worse. Digestion is far more than just our bodies taking in food, using the nutrients, and excreting the waste. It is also taking in information, mentally ‘digesting’ events and incorporating the lessons, and emotionally letting go of the rest. The organs of digestion in our mid-sections are also involved in this mental and emotional work. So, a clogged digestive system will truly equal a clogged mind and/or emotions.
The Spleen (spleen & pancreas together), in Chinese medicine, which is the organ in charge of transforming our food into nutrients, also has the important job of housing the “Yi.” The Yi is intention, our thinking mind, or our intellect. So, when the spleen struggles, our digestion suffers, as does our mind.
Over time, if the Spleen is not working optimally, a pathologic condition called ‘dampness’ sets in. Digestion literally gets bogged down, and food and fluids don’t get transformed for use. Dampness shows up as brain fog, a feeling of sluggishness or heaviness in our bodies/limbs, phlegm in our sinuses or other less fun places, and a depressed mood.
Integrated recommendations for YOU:
Avoid excess, processed sugar.
Incorporate warm, brothy foods in your diet (with lots of cooked veggies).
Avoid processed wheat (gluten) and dairy.
Consider incorporating rice or sweet potatoes into your diet.
Go see your acupuncturist! And if you don’t have one, let’s schedule your free consultation.
Consult a healthcare professional to seek help. Integrative approaches are always best!
Marigold Center provides individualized transformative healing and lifestyle medicine programs. Request your free consultation now and get started on the pathway to greater well-being.
References:
Bear, T., Dalziel, J., Coad, J., Roy, N., Butts, C., & Gopal, P. (2021). The Microbiome-Gut-Brain Axis and Resilience to Developing Anxiety or Depression under Stress. Microorganisms, 9(4), 723. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9040723
Liang, S., Wu, X., Hu, X., Wang, T., & Jin, F. (2018). Recognizing Depression from the Microbiota⁻Gut⁻Brain Axis. International journal of molecular sciences, 19(6), 1592. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms19061592
Person, H., & Keefer, L. (2021). Psychological comorbidity in gastrointestinal diseases: Update on the brain-gut-microbiome axis. Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry, 107, 110209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2020.110209
Yaklai, K., Pattanakuhar, S., Chattipakorn, N., & Chattipakorn, S. C. (2021). The role of acupuncture on the gut–brain–microbiota axis in irritable bowel syndrome. The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, 49(02), 285–314. https://doi.org/10.1142/s0192415x21500154
