Chew on This
Dr Christine Stossier, assistant medical director, Viva Mayr Centre of Modern Medicine, Austria, tells us why the gut matters and what we should do to keep it healthy
She is like a travelling magician with a collection of magic potions, or in this case a bag full of vials, to boot. With trace elements such as zinc, selenium, food groups like fructose, glucose, gluten etc all present in a concentrated form in these vials, she is ready to dole out her diagnosis and subsequent prescription on the basis of applied kinesiology. Confused? Don’t be. Dr Christine Stossier is used to travelling the world helping people reconnect with their gut in all its glory. The ‘Mayr cure’ that she espouses was developed in the early 20th century by the Viennese doctor Franz Xaver Mayr who focussed on the health of the intestine. A century later, his theory still has teeth. How you eat, not just what you eat, has the power to alter the chemistry and biology of your body, if the Viva Mayr way of living is to be believed. This wellness centre, which was first set up in Austria in 2005 by Mayr practitioner and physician Dr. Harald Stossier, has since become the go-to place for those looking for long lasting wellness that moves beyond modern medicine. Dr Christine Stossier, the assistant medical director of the centre, is someone who believes that everything begins and ends with the gut so that’s what needs to be nurtured through their various treatments if one wants to live a happy, healthy life. She was in New Delhi as part of a collaboration with Dr Kiran Lohia Sethi’s Isya Aesthetics and answered our queries about how metabolism and your gut health dictates the presence or absence of disease in the long run.
Does the Viva Mayr method marry traditional with modern medicine?
Ancient wisdom and traditional medicine has in my understanding its legal space in the orchestra of medical care. Synergy is the best way forward and the Mayr Method is an ancient, classical, traditional method, so wonderful in itself that it has survived even today. Modern medicine is all about orthomolecular science and the two come together to complete the circle as they work together to keep you healthy.
You believe it all begins and ends with the gut; Tell us more.
It all begins and ends with the gut, truly. Let me give you just some amazing facts about this organ, which is mostly underestimated. The gut of an adult person is approximately six-seven metre long and covers approximately 32 m2. The gut has folded its surface to wrinkles and has placed microvilli on them. This trick of nature, to fold its surface to wrinkles and to place a “broom” on it, duplicates the surface to around 500 m2 which has around 30 trillion bacterial of more than 1,000 different families. But our gut is also the hostel for viruses and fungus. Modern science
calls this system a “microbiome”. This huge organ is the biggest in our body and has its own nerve system and this autonomous working nervous system is called the “gut-brain”. This is silent, powerful and highly efficient. The gut also hosts 70 per cent of our immune system. We may also say: the gut is the kindergarten and school for the younger generation of immune cells. The gut is also producing 90 per cent of needed serotonin (well known as “happy hormone”) and other neurotransmitters and hormones. So really, it remains one of the most important organs in our body.
Can we change the way our gut behaves?
Nature is magic. Overcoming once established patterns is a long life challenge but offers everybody a chance at a fresh beginning. Every meal, every bite is a chance to do it better. One of the biggest challenges involves changing the rhythm of our lives and changing how we eat our meals. Unfortunately, we have created a world which doesn’t match to our “inner world, our “root system” and its pattern of work and capacity.
How should we be eating?
Eating food and its digestion is like working on a band; each step should be done correctly to guarantee a “perfectly done product”. In our medical philosophy, the how we eat is more important than what we are eating. Chewing very well (starter kit is 30 times and should get proven up to 50 times) guarantees a more thorough absorption of nutrients. Even if you buy the best food in town if it is not cooked well, there is no point to consuming the top ingredient. You would obviously want it prepared by someone who cares about how to cook it. It is important to remember that the fun, the real taste of food begins in the mouth, not in the gut. May I ask you: seriously, would you go to the cinema and place a blindfold on your eyes? Or go to a concert and place earplugs in your ears? It is equally important that we chew and taste our food so that it is absorbed by our system.