Monthly Archives: February 2012

How the internet and modern diet both cause indigestion

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I recently read The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, the book examines the difference between how we process information from printed material versus the internet. Carr examines countless studies that show a superior comprehension and retention of information from printed materials. The author concludes that, though the internet offers us an Amazon River of data, we skim the river’s surface and don’t assimilate the material as deeply as we do with more “primitive” media forms such as books and magazines.

beautiful, tasty, simple, a meal I had in Managua, Nicaragua a few days ago (Feb, 2012)

All incoming stimuli, whether it is information or food, has to be broken down and digested. Once we had a simple, repetitive diet that our digestive system understood how to disassemble well. If you were Italian you ate Italian food, Chinese ate Chinese, you get the point. Now we eat food with influences from a dozen cultures and/or food chemists, in just one day. The result is often a similar lack of proper assimilation, a plethora of digestive complaints. Though the remedies vary from person to person it is striking to me that every time I give a patient any type of dietary restriction they feel better. “Every since I stopped eating _____ fill in the blank: diary/wheat/gluten/sugar/meat/grain etc… I have felt so much better, I am not ______ (constipated, bloated, gassy etc…).” Almost any simplification improves our digestion.

Our digestive system is like a chop shop, a black market garage where stolen cars are disassembled and turned into a few dozen carefully organized piles of parts. A few generations ago our chop shops handled only Chevrolets, Ford, and General Motors. The disassembly went smoothly because the vehicles all had similar layouts and everything was measured in inches and feet, no need for metric tools here.

Over stimulation, Vermont Style

Today our digestive system faces more challenges: foods from all over the world, new chemical compounds, and innovative cooking and processing methods that re-arrange the food molecules in novel ways. Our gastrointestinal mechanics are constantly scrambling around for the right wrench, socket or screwdriver. The inefficiencies contribute to the development of, not only digestion problems, but also to food allergies and a weakened immune system.

so many flavors: beef, smoke, vodka, tomatoes, salt, Tabasco sauce

A key component to both food and media digestion is attention, or lack thereof. The way we use the net can be a caloric overload for the brain. The brain, like the digestive tract, is overwhelmed by the spectrum of stimuli out there. The internet seems designed to divide our attention, each separate window demands a little chunk, and distraction is only a click away. Similarly the modern diet with its infinite variety and fusions of scents, flavors, colors, and textures splinters our attention. In addition to simplifying the diet another effective way to improve digestion is to narrow one’s focus during meals: eat slowly, chew carefully, turn off the TV, don’t answer the phone, and whatever you do, don’t surf the net!

 

Health Club Time Machine

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The first time I lifted weights was in 1986 in my friend Cameron’s attic. Like many teenagers at the time, Cameron improvised a gym with some weights from a garage sale, a few milk jugs, and cleverly arranged spare furniture. In that era of Rocky and Conan movies, the gym was very much of a guy thing, Cameron’s sister Maggie was not allowed to enter. A UB40 cassette and a St. Pauli Girl poster provided the atmosphere, and the talk was Redskins, girls, and who could get access to a car. We wore clothes reserved for household chores. Paint drops speckled cut-off jeans, grass stains decorated sweat pants. The environment at commercial gyms of the era was only a notch higher. They were often poorly lit; equipment was disorganized and loosely maintained.

Health Food Store, Diriamba, Nicaragua

The same could be said of 80s health food stores. They had narrow aisles, haphazard shelves, and it wasn’t uncommon to find moldy bread and off-tasting yogurt. Expired products weren’t surprising as employees were often more interested in reading their activist newsletters or planning their next road trip than in ringing up groceries or stocking shelves. In the 90s, chains such as Whole Foods and Gold’s Gym replaced the funky local places and the corporate mindset turned gyms and health food stores into hygienic, efficient, and orderly palaces.

What brought this to mind was my recent foray into the gyms of Nicaragua where fitness is still very much of a macho thing and the gyms look the part: rusty equipment, homemade barbells, peeling paint, water stains on the wall, padding fixed with duct tape, and weights strewn across the floor like underwear in a teenager’s bedroom. Half the guys don’t wear shirts, and most are in flip-flops or even barefoot.

The manager in his office/corner of the gym

In the States, gyms take themselves seriously and the rules reflect that: re-stack weights, no swearing, no sandals, no cut-off jeans, and for God’s sake don’t let a drop of sweat escape your towel! Sweat is treated like a regrettable byproduct of exercise, something to be aggressively eliminated with a disinfectant spray bottle and constant towel swabbing. In the tropics you sweat when you take a nap so the gym is a real sweat fest, no different from a basketball game or soccer match. The sights and smells remind me that this is a sport, people are grunting, sometimes even yelling at each other. It’s invigorating, I feel pumped up in this gym. In fact, everyone looks fired up, no one is here because of doctor’s recommendations or because they need the discipline or feel guilty about the muffins they ate at lunch.

Early morning at the gym/temprano en la mañana en el gimnasio

Perhaps North Americans have lost some perspective in the race to sanitize, sterilize, and gentrify the wellness movement. Why is that comfortably middle class clients often come to me with the complaint they can’t afford to be healthy? Is health now perceived as part of the good life that goes with a big salary, or at least big enough to buy $90 Lululemon yoga pants and $4 kombucha probiotic drinks? Health has been packaged and sold to us, and it’s mostly a rip-off: overpriced supplements, posh grocery stores, high fashion workout clothes and celebrity style personal trainers. And the gourmet movement, having mocked health food for decades, has come around just in time to convince everybody that they need to have fabulous kitchens and cook like Martha Stewart or their kids will get diabetes.

My cohorts in the throwback Nicaraguan gym make a convincing case that health is a blessing available to all of us. Not only are they well lubricated with salt water but they have no money, live on Gallo Pinto (the Nicaraguan national dish – rice and beans, served with a side of vinegar soaked cabbage), and yet have muscles that would make Stallone and Schwarzenegger proud.