Life is like a marathon not a sprint

Our first women's doubles have created history by winning the badminton French open title recently. Before the tournament, one of them was grounded for 6 weeks due to a hamstring injury and the other shuttler has to practise alone making uncertain even their participation. Despite all odds, they performed so well against their opponents, who were two-time world champions. They were shining examples of those who are not defined by their setbacks. They have set their minds to run a marathon not a sprint. A marathon is a test of endurance, which makes you question everything - your beliefs, body, stamina and your psychology. Your genes do not define you. Your illness, pains, struggles, losses and suffering do not define you. Your trust in God will give you faith, hope, courage and perseverance to finish this race. 

Just like a marathoner who is committed to the time spent in training, running practice, building muscles, stretching, diet, rest and recovery, we must also prepare our body for this marathon journey. There are things you cannot control, like you are born with the thalassemia trait. However, there are things you can control bearing in mind that our body is dynamic, intelligent and self-healing, so you have a chance of completing the marathon.

It's true that you are what you eat! I would say "You are what you absorb". Though we can decide what to put in our mouth, but from there we can't see what happens when the food travels down a hollow tube and eventually come out as waste. The hollow tube is our digestive tract, and solid organs like liver, pancreas and gallbladder are also part of the digestive system. The food we eat mixes with substances from our body to break them down into their basic parts: carbohydrates, proteins, fats and vitamins. The nutrients are then absorbed into the bloodstream, which carries them to cells throughout the body. Everything in your body needs the nutrients from the digestive process to work so we can maintain strength for our daily activities.

Our Metabolic Health

1. Digestion 

How well we chew our food will determine how much saliva is produced to kick start the process of breaking it down. Next we have stomach acid that will help to digest our food, certain habits we have can dilute the stomach acid, for example, drinking too much liquid during meals, wrong food combination and inflammation in our digestive tract. If food transit time is too slow, then we'll have a maldigestion condition.

2. Absorption 

The walls of the small intestines work together with the bile (from liver) and digestive enyzmes (from pancreas) to further break down the carbs, fats and proteins. The pancreas also releases a hormone, insulin into your bloodstream to control our blood sugar after you eat. The insulin then helps sugar leave your bloodstream and absorbs by cells in the body. 

If this process is not efficient, we'll have a malabsorption condition. 

3. Nutrition 

It's not an exaggeration to say that the surface area of our small intestine is the size of a tennis court! Even though it's narrower than the large intestine, it's also the longest section of the digestion tube, measuring about 7 metres, and every day the small intestine receives 6 to 12 litres of the digested liquid and absorbs almost all of the nutrients from food into our bloodstream. 

If our body cannot digest and absorb the food efficiently, then we'll have malnutrition of certain vitamins and minerals. Today, there is an epidemic described as "starvation in the midst of plenty" - you think you are eating lots of healthy food, but your system prevents the absorption, thus starving them of nutrition.

4. Elimination 

By the time the indigestible food reaches  the large intestine or colon, almost 90% of the water and nutrients have been absorbed in the small intestine. The colon, about 1.5 metres long, will absorb the remaining water, vitamins and electrolytes from the waste material. The colon also houses bacteria to help produce vitamins by fermentation as well as protect our gut. Based on study today, there are more microbiome DNA in our body than the stars in the universe.

Our present lifestyle and affluence affect the way our food is digested. If we have poor digestion, the food may end up mostly undigested in the colon and the colon has to take over the digestion and absorption roles, hence it'll give rise to many chronic illnesses and inflammations.

Coming back to our marathon race, the long run is critical, but the training and preparation are even more important. Next, embrace whatever that comes your way and keep moving forward with your eyes on Jesus. He promises never to forsake you, nothing will separate you from the love of Christ and keeps your faith to finish the race.