Many people think digestion begins in the stomach.

But digestion actually begins much earlier.

Digestion starts when you see, smell, and think about food. Your brain signals your digestive system to begin preparing enzymes, stomach acid, and bile to break down nutrients.

If that preparation doesn’t happen well, the rest of digestion can struggle.

As a Functional Nutritionist, one of the first systems I look at when someone experiences fatigue, bloating, inflammation, or weight changes is digestion.

Digestion determines whether your body can actually use the nutrients you're eating.

You are not just what you eat.

You are what you digest and absorb.

Healthy habits create high returns — in energy, clarity, and performance.

The digestive process begins in what is called the cephalic phase of digestion.

When you anticipate food, your brain signals your body to begin producing:

These signals prepare your digestive system to break food into absorbable nutrients.

But if you eat while stressed, rushing, or distracted, these signals can be reduced.

Your body may not fully prepare for digestion.

TIP

Before choosing your nutrition or beginning a meal, try taking three slow, relaxing breaths.

This simple pause helps activate the nervous system response your body needs for proper digestion.

It also tends to help people make more thoughtful food choices.

Sometimes the most powerful nutrition strategy is simply slowing down.

One of the most overlooked digestive tools is something extremely simple.

Chewing. Chewing mechanically breaks food into smaller particles while mixing it with saliva and digestive enzymes. This process helps the stomach and small intestine continue digestion more efficiently.

When food is swallowed too quickly, larger pieces reach the stomach and require more work to break down. This can contribute to:

Slowing down and chewing thoroughly is one of the simplest ways to support digestion.

Stomach acid plays a critical role in digestion.

It helps:

Many people assume symptoms like reflux or bloating mean they have too much stomach acid.

But often the opposite may be true. Low stomach acid — called hypochlorhydria — becomes more common with age and can contribute to:

When stomach acid is low, food may sit in the stomach longer than it should, which can lead to fermentation and digestive discomfort. Supporting healthy stomach acid levels can significantly improve digestion and nutrient absorption.

Some people use a simple at-home experiment to explore whether stomach acid might be low.

In the morning, before eating or drinking anything:

The idea behind this experiment is that baking soda reacts with stomach acid to produce carbon dioxide gas.

If a burp happens quickly, stomach acid levels may be sufficient.

If there is little or no reaction after several minutes, stomach acid may be lower.

This is not a medical test, but it can spark curiosity about how digestion may be functioning.

After food leaves the stomach, nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine through tiny finger-like structures called villi. These structures dramatically increase the surface area available for nutrient absorption.

One way to picture this is to imagine a plush carpet. From far away the carpet looks flat.

But up close you see thousands of fibers standing upright. Each of those fibers increases the surface area of the carpet.

Your small intestine works the same way. Millions of tiny villi — and even smaller microvilli — create a massive surface area designed to absorb nutrients from food. Healthy villi allow your body to absorb:

However, villi can become less supportive when the digestive system is under stress.

Inflammation, food sensitivities, bacterial imbalance, chronic stress, or intestinal permeability — sometimes called leaky gut — can affect the health of the intestinal lining.

When this happens, those “carpet fibers” may become irritated or flattened, reducing the body’s ability to absorb nutrients effectively.

This means someone may eat nutritious foods but still struggle with symptoms such as:

Supporting digestion and gut health helps protect these structures so nutrients can be properly absorbed and used by the body.

Healthy Habits High Returns® reminds us that small daily habits compound over time. Something as simple as slowing down to chew your food or taking three breaths before eating can create powerful returns in digestion, energy, and overall health.

Think of your health like a portfolio — small daily investments compound into meaningful returns over time.

At Sho Richek Functional Nutrition and Lifestyle Counseling, I work with individuals and organizations who want to improve energy, stabilize weight, support digestion, and better understand how their body functions so they can thrive in health, happiness, and performance.

As a Certified Functional Nutrition and Lifestyle Counselor, I focus on identifying patterns across digestion, inflammation, metabolism, stress, past experiences, emotions, and daily habits to create personalized strategies that support sustainable health.

My approach is collaborative.
I respect and work alongside conventional care.

And I help you bridge the gap between lab results and lived experience.

Because when we support the body from the inside out, the results last.

Digestive health plays a foundational role in overall wellness. Even small habits like slowing down during meals, chewing thoroughly, supporting stomach acid, and calming the nervous system before eating can influence how effectively the body absorbs nutrients.

Functional nutrition focuses on understanding the entire digestive process so individuals can build habits that support long-term health.

It is rarely about willpower.

🌿 When we support the body from the inside out, the results last.

NNext week we’ll explore another common digestion question:

Why Do Some People Experience Bloating and Gas After Meals?

We’ll talk about:

Looking for some helpful tools?

Visit Shorichek.com and when you register for my newsletter, you’ll also receive an audio file of my 3-Minute Trigger Tamer — a short guided reset designed to help interrupt emotional eating patterns and calm your nervous system.

And here’s another tool for you:

My Food Freedom Toolkit, which helps you better understand eating patterns and supports weight loss without dieting or deprivation.

Sometimes the smallest shifts create the biggest momentum.

🌿 When we support the body from the inside out, the results last.