Transform Your Definition of Healthy Eating with the 5 Foundations of Health

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What does “healthy eating” actually mean? The Nutritional Therapy Association (NTA) helps answer this question by providing a framework on the five foundations of health, which each describe a state of balance that our bodies need for optimal health. A healthy diet is one that supports balance across these five foundations.

Foundation 1) Digestion

There are two handy catchphrases to remember when it comes to digestion: 1) “You aren’t what you eat — you are what you absorb,” and 2) Digestion is a brains-to-butt process. I like these statements because they speak to what digestion actually is, and what it looks like when it’s functioning well.

WHY DIGESTION IS FOUNDATIONAL

Every cell in the body relies on nutrients from food for energy, structure, and function. Digestion is the process through which your body turns food into molecules small enough to be absorbed.

When the digestive system is functioning well, you absorb the maximum amount of nutrition from the foods you eat. When there’s digestive dysfunction, you can’t take in the nutrients from food, which can lead to irritation of the digestive tract, dysbiosis (imbalanced microbiome), and a whole spectrum of other common problems, from heartburn and bloating to food sensitivities, deficiencies, and more.

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM FUNCTION

Rather than the mouth, the digestive process actually starts in the brain — specifically, the nervous system. When the nervous system is in a relaxed (sympathetic) state, it sends “rest and digest” signals to the body, which subconsciously prepares the digestive system to function. This is the opposite of the “fight or flight” state, the stress response, which inhibits digestion.

Optimal digestion starts by eating in a calm state. Your mouth may start watering, or your stomach may growl before you even see the food. These are results of your brain telling your body to initiate digestive processes.

At first bite, teeth begin to physically break down food, and enzymes in saliva begin preliminary steps in the chemical breakdown of carbohydrates. After swallowing, the bolus (the word for the little chewed-up lump of food) travels through the esophagus to the stomach.

The stomach’s role is to chemically and physically break down food, especially proteins. Its walls secrete a mix of mucus, hydrochloric acid, and enzymes which break down food and help destroy any pathogens it contains. Physically, the stomach’s muscled lining creates a churning motion that further assists with breaking down large food particles and eventually pushes the contents onwards.

After the stomach, the bolus is now chyme — a mix of macromolecules and gastric juices. The chyme passes through the stomach and enters the duodenum, the uppermost portion of the small intestine. The duodenum is where the chyme mixes with secretions from the pancreas and liver, namely pancreatic juice and bile. Pancreatic juice contains bicarbonate, which neutralizes all that acid from the stomach, as well as digestive enzymes that break down fats, carbs, and protein. Bile is produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder, and its role is to break down fats.

After secretion-assisted chemical digestion in the duodenum, the remainder of the small intestinal journey is devoted to nutrient absorption. The small intestine has an incredibly large surface area thanks to many layers of folds down to the microscopic level. These folds allow the intestines to extract nutrients from food into the bloodstream or lymph system.

From the small intestine, the remaining undigested chyme enters the large intestine, also known as the colon. The colon is home to many good gut bugs — AKA the microbiome — healthy bacteria that help digest what your small intestine can’t. The large intestine also squeezes out and absorbs any excess water from chyme. Finally, about three days later, anything that can’t be digested or absorbed is expelled as feces.

Foundation 2) Blood Sugar Regulation

Blood sugar regulation is essential for preventing disease, maintaining a healthy weight, and feeling our best in day to day living. It is intrinsically linked to our diets and chronic blood sugar dysregulation contributes to many “diseases of civilization” such as type II diabetes.

WHY BLOOD SUGAR IS FOUNDATIONAL

Blood sugar — the glucose carried by the bloodstream — provides energy to every call in the body. Blood sugar must be maintained at a specific level for us to live. When it veers too high or too low, a cascade of activity across the pancreas, adrenal glands, adipose tissue, and liver (the PAALS) coordinate actions to either raise or lower it.

The PAALs are great at evening out blood sugar levels, but it does take time, and they’re also much better at raising blood sugar than lowering it. Over thousands of years of evolution, humans have never experienced an emergency need to lower blood sugar — until now. The overabundance of refined carbohydrates in the modern diet creates blood sugar spikes and dysregulation that the PAALs struggle to even out.

SUPPORT BLOOD SUGAR REGULATION

When blood sugar is well regulated, the body can switch between energy sources without producing too many negative effects. When it is dysregulated, you might feel erratic energy levels, brain fog, excessive thirst, fatigue, or other discomfort. Here are habits that generally support blood sugar regulation so you can feel better:

• Increasing protein and/or fat intake. The optimal macronutrient ratio, within each meal and in the overall diet, is highly individual and varies according to activity level, timing, and other factors. Broadly speaking, incorporating more protein and/or fat helps prevent dramatic blood sugar spikes.
• Limit refined carbohydrates. Refined carbs like sugar, corn syrup, and white flour cause blood sugar spikes that can overtax the PAALs.
• Exercise regularly. Movement helps promote insulin sensitivity.
• Manage stress levels. Hormones like cortisol and glucagon are released during stress. These hormones heighten blood sugar and trigger carb cravings.
• Stay hydrated. Kidneys support blood sugar regulation by excreting excess glucose through the urine. Staying hydrated helps them do their job.

Foundation 3) Fatty Acids

Fat is crucial for maintaining cellular function, proper healing, healthy joints, energy levels, and satisfaction from eating. It plays multiple important roles in the body:

• Make up cell membranes, which determine which molecules get in and out of the cell
• Insulates and protects organs, bones, and joints
• Promotes healing by regulating the inflammatory and inflammatory responses
• Increases the satiety and flavor of food
• Acts as a slow-burning energy source, contributing to blood sugar regulation

WHAT ARE ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS?

Lots of people know that avocados or fish oil are some examples of so-called healthy fats, but explaining what makes them healthy is a different story. The term “healthy fats” gets thrown around a lot, but it often refers to essential fatty acids, or EFAs.

EFAs are fatty acids (components of fat molecules) that your body needs but is incapable of making by itself. While many fatty acids play important roles in the body, EFAs are the ones that must come from food. These are linoleic acid (LA) and alpha-linoleic acid (ALA), which are often known as omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, respectively.

Omega-3 fatty acids, found in foods like fish, nuts, and seeds, are often in the spotlight because they are most likely to be lacking in the standard American diet and play a key role in the anti-inflammatory response.

Foundation 4) Mineral Balance

Minerals are elements from the earth, found in food, that our bodies need for function and structure. Here are a few of their key roles:

• Structural and functional support — Minerals help physically make up many tissues and organs. For instance, calcium creates the stiffness and hardness in bone.
• Cofactors for enzyme reactions — Many biological functions require enzyme-driven chemical reactions at the cellular level. Minerals act as cofactors to enzymes, allowing these reactions to take place.
• Maintain nerve conduction — Minerals help carry impulses across nerve cells, sending messages throughout the body.
• Contracting and relaxing muscles — Minerals help carry the impulses that stimulate muscle tissue.

WHAT PREVENTS US FROM GETTING ENOUGH MINERALS?

Industrial farming and soil depletion produce plants and animal products that contain fewer minerals than those produced more sustainably. Additionally, mineral absorption relies on cofactors. Absorbing the minerals that we do consume is reliant on a number of influences that are impacted by modern living, such as hormones and the presence of other minerals.

For example, calcium is the most abundant and well-known of the essential minerals, and many Americans have deficient blood calcium levels. However, most people get enough calcium in their diets, but they are missing one or more of the cofactors required to absorb it, such as hydration, hormonal factors, or sufficient fatty acids.

Foundation 5) Hydration

You’ve heard “drink more water” a million times, but do you know why? Water and electrolytes (minerals that aid the absorption of water) are a big part of what helps us function and feel our best, and many Americans are in a chronic state of dehydration. Here are some examples of water’s critical functions in the body:

• Improves oxygen delivery to cells
• Lubricates, cushions, and absorbs shocks to organs, joints, and tissues
• Moistens air for easier breathing
• Flushes toxins and removes wastes
• Regulates body temperature
• Transports nutrients
• Enables the digestive process

SYMPTOMS OF DEHYDRATION

Symptoms of acute (short-term) dehydration include thirst, fatigue, dry mouth, dark urine, cravings, muscle cramps, anxiety, headaches, and inability to concentrate. Chronic symptoms of long-term dehydration are heartburn, joint pain, back pain, constipation, colitis, and exercise-induced asthma. If any of these symptoms are affecting your life, increased hydration could be a low-cost, low-effort way to introduce some relief.

What Kind of Diet Supports The 5 Foundations?

Viewing nourishment from the lens of the five foundations helps to explain why there are so many different opinions on what healthy eating actually is. While it’s human nature to try and find the “best” or easiest way to eat healthy, everybody’s body and circumstances are different. There isn’t a single cuisine, amount, or type of food that can support all five of these foundations, for everyone, at all times.

While this definition of “healthy eating” will disappoint those looking for fast and disciplined fixes, it also creates many opportunities for increased wellbeing. Instead of asking, “Is this food good or bad, healthy or not?”, we can ask, “How does this food support me foundationally?” Exploring those answers will help us make informed, enjoyable, sustainable choices for long-term health.

Did you enjoy this? Follow me on Instagram at @yourfoodfriendclt or e-mail emily.ferron@gmail.com.

SOURCES

Medeiros, D. M., & Wildman, R. E. C. (2019). Advanced Human Nutrition (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Nutritional Therapy Association, Inc. (2020) Digestion North to South [PDF document]. Retrieved from: https://nta.brightspace.com/d2l/le/content/10531/viewContent/108305/View

Nutritional Therapy Association, Inc. (2020) Blood Sugar Regulation Student Guide [PDF document]. Retrieved from: https://nta.brightspace.com/d2l/le/content/10531/viewContent/112380/View

Tortora, G., & Derrickson, B. (2019). Introduction to the Human Body (11th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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