Have you ever eaten a perfectly good meal and then wondered what on earth happened afterwards?

Perhaps you feel uncomfortably full. Your stomach is bloated. You’re burping. Maybe you feel sleepy, heavy or sluggish rather than nourished and energised.

Or perhaps it happens further down the digestive tract.

There’s gas. Constipation. Loose stools. Food that seems to disagree with you. Or that familiar feeling of “My digestion just isn’t what it used to be.”

It’s tempting to blame the food.

“Maybe I can’t eat dairy.”

“Perhaps gluten doesn’t agree with me.”

“I obviously can’t digest beans.”

“Maybe I just need to avoid certain foods.”

Sometimes there really is a food intolerance or another digestive condition involved. But there is another piece of the puzzle that is often overlooked:

How well are you actually digesting your food?

Because before your body can absorb the vitamins, minerals, amino acids and fatty acids contained in your meal, that food has to be broken down into smaller components.

And that is where digestive enzymes come in.

So, What Exactly Are Digestive Enzymes?

Let’s imagine you’ve just eaten a meal containing roast lamb, buttered carrots and some fermented vegetables.

It looks delicious.

But your body can’t simply take that meal and pour it into your bloodstream.

The proteins are far too large. The fats need to be broken down. The carbohydrates need to be dismantled into smaller sugars.

Your digestive system therefore uses specialised proteins called enzymes to break food apart.

Think of enzymes as tiny biological tools.

Different enzymes have different jobs.

Proteases break proteins into smaller peptides and amino acids.

Lipases break fats into fatty acids and other components that can be absorbed.

Amylase begins breaking down starches and carbohydrates.

And there are many other enzymes involved further along the digestive tract.

The remarkable thing is that digestion isn’t performed by one organ.

It is a carefully coordinated process involving your:

brain → mouth → stomach → pancreas → liver → gallbladder → small intestine → gut microbes

Everything needs to work together.

And when one part of that system isn’t functioning properly, the consequences can ripple through the rest.

Digestion Starts Before You Swallow

This is one of my favourite things about digestion because it makes it clear just how clever the body is.

Digestion doesn’t begin when food reaches your stomach.

It begins when you see, smell, or even think about food.

Your nervous system starts preparing the digestive system.

Saliva increases.

The stomach begins preparing for the meal.

Digestive secretions begin to change.

This is sometimes called the cephalic phase of digestion.

And then you take your first bite.

Chewing physically breaks the food into smaller pieces while saliva begins the chemical digestion of starches through an enzyme called salivary amylase.

So eating in a stressed, distracted rush isn’t quite the same physiological experience as sitting down, smelling your food, taking a breath and allowing your body to prepare.

That doesn’t mean you need to create a perfect meditation ritual before every meal.

But it does mean that how we eat can matter as well as what we eat.

Then Your Food Reaches the Stomach

Once you’ve swallowed, your food travels into the stomach.

Here, stomach acid and enzymes continue the digestive process.

One particularly important enzyme is pepsin, which helps break down proteins.

And stomach acid has another important job: it creates the acidic environment in which pepsin can function properly.

This is particularly relevant when we’re talking about nutrient-dense foods.

A beautiful piece of meat contains valuable protein, minerals and other nutrients, but your body still has to dismantle that protein before it can make use of its amino acids.

So adequate stomach function is important.

Then the Pancreas Joins the Conversation

Once food leaves the stomach and enters the small intestine, things become even more interesting.

Your pancreas releases a whole collection of digestive enzymes.

These include enzymes that help digest:

• Protein

• Fat

• Carbohydrates

The pancreas is essentially sending out a complete digestive toolkit.

At the same time, your liver produces bile, which is stored and concentrated in the gallbladder and released into the small intestine when needed.

Bile isn’t an enzyme itself.

Instead, it helps emulsify fats, breaking large fat droplets into much smaller ones so that digestive enzymes such as pancreatic lipase can work more effectively.

This is particularly important for absorbing fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.

And suddenly our previous conversations about nutrient deficiencies start to make a lot more sense.

Digestion and absorption are not separate subjects.

They’re part of one continuous process.

Where Does the Microbiome Come In?

Now we arrive at the part that makes this especially interesting.

Your gut microbes don’t simply sit around waiting for you to feed them.

They are metabolically active.

They produce their own enzymes and help break down components of food that our own digestive enzymes cannot completely digest, particularly certain fibres and resistant carbohydrates.

When microbes ferment these substances, they produce metabolites including short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as acetate, propionate and butyrate.

These compounds have important effects on the gut environment and the wider body.

So there are really two digestive worlds working alongside one another:

Your own digestive system breaks food down using enzymes produced by your body.

Your gut microbes help process some of the material that reaches the colon and produce metabolites that influence gut health and metabolism.

This is one reason why having a healthy, diverse microbial community matters.

So What Happens When Dysbiosis Enters the Picture?

Gut dysbiosis means that the microbial community has become altered or imbalanced.

It doesn’t simply mean that you have “bad bacteria”.

That’s an important distinction.

Your microbiome is an enormous community containing many different organisms, and health isn’t about eliminating particular bacteria.

It’s about maintaining a resilient, appropriately diverse ecosystem.

When that ecosystem becomes disturbed, digestion can be affected.

And sometimes this creates a frustrating cycle.

You eat.

You don’t digest particularly well.

More undigested material reaches the lower gut.

Your microbes ferment what they can.

Gas and other metabolites are produced.

You become bloated or uncomfortable.

And you start avoiding more and more foods.

Over time, your diet becomes increasingly restricted.

And the microbiome receives an increasingly limited variety of food.

The cycle continues.

Can Dysbiosis Actually Reduce Our Digestive Enzymes?

This is where we need to be a little careful.

It’s tempting to say:

“Dysbiosis stops your body from producing digestive enzymes.”

But science doesn’t support such a simple statement.

Digestive enzyme production is primarily controlled by your own digestive organs, particularly the pancreas and the cells lining the digestive tract.

However, gut dysbiosis can influence the digestive environment through inflammation, altered microbial metabolites, changes in intestinal function and interactions with the gut barrier.

And digestive disorders can themselves alter enzyme activity or nutrient digestion.

So rather than imagining dysbiosis simply “switching off” your enzymes, it’s more accurate to think of digestion as an interconnected system.

When one part becomes disturbed, other parts may struggle to function optimally.

And Then There’s the Other Side of the Problem

Sometimes the digestive enzymes themselves aren’t the main problem.

Sometimes the issue is what happens around them.

For example, pancreatic enzyme insufficiency can occur in conditions affecting the pancreas. Certain intestinal diseases can also impair digestion and absorption.

And bile flow matters enormously for fat digestion.

This is why persistent digestive symptoms shouldn’t automatically be labelled “dysbiosis”.

Ongoing diarrhoea, unexplained weight loss, persistent abdominal pain, greasy stools, anaemia or significant nutritional deficiencies deserve proper medical assessment.

Your gut is important, but we don’t want to turn every digestive problem into a microbiome problem.

What Does Poor Digestion Feel Like?

When food isn’t being digested effectively, you might notice:

• Bloating after meals

• Excessive gas

• Feeling overly full

• Belching

• Changes in bowel movements

• Undigested food in stools

• Fatty or greasy stools

• Abdominal discomfort

• Nutritional deficiencies

• Unintentional weight changes

Some of these symptoms are common and relatively harmless.

Others can indicate a medical condition.

So symptoms are clues, not diagnoses.

The Connection Between Digestion and Nutrient Deficiencies

This is particularly important for our wider series.

You can eat liver for vitamin A and B vitamins.

You can eat oysters for zinc and copper.

You can eat sardines for calcium.

You can eat eggs for fat-soluble vitamins and choline.

You can eat beautifully prepared traditional foods every day.

But if digestion and absorption are impaired, your body may not receive everything those foods have to offer.

This is why nutrition isn’t simply about the nutrient content of food.

It’s about bioavailability, how much of that nutrient is actually available to your body, and how effectively your digestive system can access and absorb it.

What Can We Do to Support Digestion?

Fortunately, supporting digestion doesn’t have to mean buying a cupboard full of digestive enzyme supplements.

Sometimes the most traditional approaches are surprisingly sensible.

Start with how you eat

Give your body a chance to switch into “rest and digest” mode.

Sit down.

Slow down.

Smell your food.

Chew properly.

And, whenever possible, don’t eat every meal while answering emails or rushing out the door.

Your digestive system is part of your nervous system’s environment. It doesn’t exist separately from it.

Eat foods that are traditionally prepared

Traditional food preparation wasn’t simply about flavour.

It often made food easier to digest.

Think about:

• Properly prepared broths and stocks

• Slow-cooked meats

• Fermented vegetables

• Cultured dairy

• Properly soaked and cooked legumes

• Traditionally prepared sourdough

• Eggs

• Seafood

• Organ meats

Fermentation and other preparation methods can alter foods before they ever reach your digestive system.

And What About Digestive Enzyme Supplements?

This is an area where I’d encourage a little caution.

Digestive enzyme supplements can be useful in specific situations, particularly when someone has a diagnosed enzyme deficiency or another medical condition affecting digestion.

But taking enzymes simply because you experience occasional bloating isn’t necessarily addressing the underlying reason.

And “more enzymes” isn’t automatically better.

Before reaching for supplements, it is worth asking:

Why isn’t digestion working well?

Is there an underlying gastrointestinal condition?

Is pancreatic function affected?

Is bile flow impaired?

Is there inflammation?

Is the diet extremely restrictive?

Are you eating very quickly and under stress?

Are there medications affecting digestion?

These are much more useful questions.

Feeding the Microbiome

Once we understand that our microbes help process parts of our food, the importance of feeding them appropriately becomes much clearer.

A diverse microbiome needs a diverse food supply.

That doesn’t mean suddenly eating enormous quantities of raw vegetables if your digestion is already struggling.

In fact, someone with a sensitive digestive system may tolerate cooked and traditionally prepared foods much better.

You might gradually include:

• Fermented vegetables

• Kefir

• Yoghurt

• Laban

• Properly prepared legumes

• Cooked vegetables

• Resistant starches as tolerated

• A variety of whole foods

The goal isn’t to overwhelm the gut.

It’s to nourish the ecosystem gradually and consistently.

The Traditional Wisdom of Taking Your Time

There’s something rather lovely about looking at traditional food cultures through this lens.

A traditional meal was rarely just a pile of ingredients thrown together.

Food was soaked.

Fermented.

Cultured.

Slow-cooked.

Simmered.

Ground.

Rested.

And then eaten communally.

These practices don’t guarantee perfect digestion, of course, and traditional cultures weren’t free from digestive disease.

But many of these methods have a sound nutritional basis: food preparation can change digestibility and nutrient availability before food even reaches the digestive tract.

Your Gut Is Part of the Digestive Team

Perhaps the most important thing to take away from all of this is that digestive enzymes aren’t working alone.

Your digestion is a team effort.

Your nervous system prepares you to eat.

Your mouth begins digestion.

Your stomach acid and enzymes continue it.

Your pancreas provides an impressive collection of enzymes.

Your liver and gallbladder help with fat digestion.

Your small intestine absorbs nutrients.

And your microbial community continues processing what remains.

When everything works together, it’s an extraordinarily sophisticated system.

When one part struggles, the others may have to compensate.

And that is why gut health matters so much.

A Final Thought

The next time you sit down to a beautifully nourishing meal, perhaps don’t just think:

“Is this healthy?”

Ask another question:

“Can my body digest this?”

Because nourishment doesn’t end when you put food on your plate.

It begins there.

The real journey is what happens afterwards.

From the first smell of your meal to the enzymes breaking it down, from the stomach preparing proteins for digestion to the pancreas releasing its enzymes, and finally to the microbes in your colon fermenting what remains, your body is working constantly to turn food into something it can actually use.

And when that system is struggling, the answer isn’t necessarily to remove more and more foods.

Sometimes, the better place to start is much closer to the beginning:

Support digestion. Nourish the gut. Feed the ecosystem. And give your body the conditions it needs to do what it already knows how to do.

References

Research into digestion and the microbiome shows that digestive enzymes produced by the stomach, pancreas and intestinal cells work together with microbial metabolism to break down food and make nutrients available to the body. Research also demonstrates that the gut microbiota and its metabolites can influence intestinal barrier function, digestive physiology and host metabolism. These studies help explain why digestion, nutrient absorption and microbial health are so closely interconnected.

• Kiela, P. R., & Ghishan, F. K. (2016). Physiology of intestinal absorption and secretion. Best Practice & Research Clinical Gastroenterology, 30(2), 145–159.

• Lowe, M. E. (2002). The triglyceride lipases of the pancreas. Journal of Lipid Research, 43(12), 2007–2016.

• Müller, H., & von Engelhardt, W. (2000). Fermentation of resistant starch by a human colonic flora. British Journal of Nutrition, 84(3), 381–387.

• Koh, A., De Vadder, F., Kovatcheva-Datchary, P., & Bäckhed, F. (2016). From dietary fibre to host physiology: Short-chain fatty acids as key bacterial metabolites. Cell, 165(6), 1332–1345.

• Thursby, E., & Juge, N. (2017). Introduction to the human gut microbiota. Biochemical Journal, 474(11), 1823–1836.

• Furness, J. B., Rivera, L. R., Cho, H.-J., Bravo, D. M., & Callaghan, B. (2013). The gut as a sensory organ. Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology, 10, 729–740.

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Disclaimer: The content of this blog post is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. While I strive to provide accurate, well-researched, and up-to-date information, I am not a licensed medical professional. The insights shared here are based on personal research and experience. I encourage you to conduct your own research and consult a qualified healthcare provider before making any health-related decisions. Your well-being is important, and any actions taken based on the information in this blog are solely at your own discretion and risk.