Elizabeth Deboo Dr. Jenna Jorgenson, ND | The Role of Digestion and Osteoporosis
In our podcast with Jenna Jorgenson ND, we introduced her to let you know first and foremost just how wonderful she is and more specifically to share her holistic approach to Osteoporosis, particularly in reference to gut health. Dr. Jorgensen discusses the role of stomach acid, gut microbiome, stress, hormones, and supplements in Osteoporosis.
As with most health challenges, it stands to reason that finding the root cause is the most effective way to approach the challenge. Dr. Jorgensn emphasizes finding the root cause when it comes to Osteoporosis.
Bone Health Course
In the Livewell50 Bone Health & Osteoporosis course, we talk about many aspects of Osteoporosis and how one might approach this particular diagnosis. To say there is much information out there about Osteoporosis is an understatement, and the information can be a lot to sift through and determine what is relevant to you as an individual.
Our goal in creating the Bone Health and Osteoporosis course, available on the Livewell50 membership site, is to bring you the most relevant information, distill it down and guide you on your journey of health specific to Bone Health.
If you have been following us through the LW50 membership site, the Facebook group, or getting our weekly emails for the past three months we have been focusing exclusively on osteoporosis. Throughout our nearly 30 years as clinicians, we have seen many clients with osteoporosis, and Ed Deboo has said many times, “osteoporosis is a pediatric condition with a geriatric manifestation”.
Bone Density is Built Early in Life
Let me explain… with osteoporosis you must work on maximizing the bone density early on in life because the issue itself does not arise for us to actually pay attention to until we are older. Not that it’s too late in the second half of life, it’s just that we want to always have in the forefront to be maximizing health and not wait until there is dis-ease. Say this to your children, your grandchildren your young loved ones. Say this to yourself daily! Live by it!
The dept of human services explains that with Osteoporosis there are geriatric consequences. Peak bone mass built in our first three decades is critical and failure to build strong bones during childhood and adolescent years manifests in fracture later in life. This is a condition that potentially starts at birth, but we don’t see the effects until we reach our 60s or 70s.
In our second 50 years, as you will hear in our interview with Dr. Jorgenson, we can optimize conditions in our body to reduce the effects of osteoporosis and think about it in terms of a journey, not necessarily a destination to arrive at. Of course, this too is a central tenet at Livewell50. This is really how to talk about health…a journey!
With Dr. Jorgenson, we discussed the need for gathering your team of practitioners, that each one with their unique and helpful perspective collectively adds to the body of optimizing health…that is to say healthy living with lifestyle medicine.
Digestion, Gut Health, and Osteoporosis
Dr. Jorgesnon talked specifically about digestion and gut health, the ramifications for bone health, how stomach acid helps to break down food, and how taking over-the-counter antacids can affect stomach acid, digestion, and metabolism of vital nutrients and minerals. She also gave us some wonderful alternatives to the standard antacids that not only aid in digestion, but have an overall effect of calming the nervous system. Double bonus!
At Livewell 50 we heartily acknowledge how critical it is to calm the nervous system and shift it from fight/flight to rest and digest. The impact being in a chronic state of stress (fight or flight) impacts your health and has a big seat at the table in the discussion of healthy living with lifestyle medicine. Our Mindful Meditation course on Livewell50.com is there to help you learn the why and how of mindful meditation and offers the opportunity to bring a meditation practice into your lifestyle to create a calm, aware and present life.
Negative Effects of Stress
Stress and its direct impact on digestion and thus bone health is just another reason to address stress specifically. Being stressed and in fight or flight impacts our digestion directly by deterring it.
Here is an example: you are driving down the road and suddenly you need to veer out of the way of oncoming traffic. In this scenario will your body be focused on digestion or hunger? Probably not. No, our body will very quickly prioritize the necessary response. Hormones and neurotransmitters will shift and cascade through your bloodstream to support fleeing and avoiding an accident.
Your body will begin to rapidly shunt blood to muscles of the arms and legs away from the central part of the body (gut), your heart and breath rate increase, your eyes dilate, and your logical linear brain functions fall to the background with quick reflexive dominating brain function.
Given this scenario, none of these bodily responses promote digestion and elimination. If we live in an ongoing low level of stress, some amount of this is chronically in our bodies. Yet, we still eat. When we do so, even in a low-level stress response, our digestion, metabolism, and elimination processing of the foods we eat are less efficient and far from optimized interfering with our ability to absorb nutrients and use them for say…bone health!
Gut Microbiome
When talking about digestion and bone health, the conversation would not be complete without attention to the microbiome of the gut which primarily lives in the small intestine but is present all along the path of digestion from the entrance of the mouth to the exit with the elimination of waste.
When we talk about bone health and osteoporosis, we are concerned about digestion, metabolism, and accessibility of vital nutrients and minerals and how we can support that with food, fiber, ferments, and supplements, and which lab values to focus on for metrics concerning absorption in support of bone density.
Dr. Jorgenson also shared with us a general action plan that she customizes for her patients and her absolute top, top health tip, which of course sparked a lot of dialogue thus warranting a whole conversation of its own. Stay tuned for that!
Dr. Jenna Jorgensen is a Naturopathic Doctor and owner of Northwest Life Medicine in Bellingham, Washington. Dr. Jenna Jorgensen can be reached at (360) 746-6923
Leave a comment below or ask a question. We love to hear about your experiences.
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