It’s Not What You Eat, It’s What You Absorb

Understanding digestion, absorption, and assimilation from a functional medicine perspective…

“You are what you eat,” right?

Well… sort of.

If you eat a bunch of Ding Dongs (yes, the Hostess snack cake), then sure, you’re a ding dong, because your beta cells will be working overtime trying to mop up all that excess sugar flooding your bloodstream. Eventually, they’ll burn out, you’ll become insulin resistant, and you might start collecting symptoms like belly fat, fatigue, brain fog, and wild mood swings. So yeah—eat junk, feel like junk.

But here’s the kicker: even if you’re chowing down on organic broccoli, wild salmon, and kale smoothies, you still might not feel amazing.

Why? Because it’s not just about what you eat.

It’s about what you digest. What you absorb. And what your body actually uses.

Let’s break that down—literally and biologically.

Digestion is the first step of the nutrition chain. It’s your body’s way of breaking food into smaller pieces so it can be absorbed. This starts in your mouth with chewing (yes, chewing matters, which is why you should eat food slowly) and saliva. Then it continues in the stomach with hydrochloric acid (HCl) and enzymes, and finally finishes in the small intestine with the help of bile and pancreatic enzymes.

But here’s the problem: most clients I see at the Diabetes & Wellness Clinic in Norfolk, NE are not digesting their food well. Why?

• Low stomach acid (hello, age 40+ and stress)
• Lack of digestive enzymes
• Eating on the go, while stressed, or distracted

If food doesn’t get properly broken down, it sits in your gut like a brick, ferments, and feeds the bad bacteria. Cue bloating, gas, and inflammation. Not exactly the wellness glow you’re going for.

What helps?

• Digestive bitters before meals
• HCl with pepsin (especially if you get bloated after protein)
• Chew your food. Like, really chew it—aim for 20–30 chews per bite.
• Don’t eat when you’re stressed—take a few deep breaths before your meal to activate your parasympathetic “rest and digest” mode.

Absorption: Getting the Good Stuff In

Once digestion breaks your food down into its raw parts—amino acids, vitamins, minerals, glucose, and fatty acids—the next step is absorption. This mostly happens in the small intestine.

Think of your intestinal lining as a cheesecloth: it’s semi-permeable, meaning it allows nutrients through while keeping larger, undigested particles and toxins out. But when that lining gets damaged—by gluten, sugar, antibiotics, stress, or gut infections—you can develop something called intestinal hyperpermeability, or leaky gut.

With leaky gut, instead of absorbing nutrients, your body gets inflamed and reactive. It’s like trying to sip water through a straw full of holes. To prevent or overcome leaky gut, try some of the following:

• L-glutamine: an amino acid that helps seal the gut lining
• Collagen peptides: support the mucosal barrier
• Zinc carnosine and slippery elm: both are soothing to the gut lining
• Cut the crap: ditch inflammatory foods (ultra-processed, high-sugar, high-gluten) and reduce alcohol

Assimilation: Use It or Lose It

Assimilation is the final step. It’s what happens after you’ve digested and absorbed the nutrients. It’s when your cells actually take in the nutrients and use them for energy, hormones, detoxification, and tissue repair.

This is the part where even health nuts can go wrong. You can be absorbing the nutrients but still not using them efficiently due to sluggish metabolism, mitochondrial dysfunction, or nutrient competition (yes, some nutrients block the absorption of others).

Here’s an example: let’s say you’re taking loads of calcium for your bones. But if you’re low in magnesium, vitamin D, or vitamin K2, your body can’t properly assimilate that calcium. Instead of going into your bones, it might deposit into your arteries. No bueno.

What helps?

• Mitochondrial support: CoQ10, magnesium, B-complex
• Get your vitamin D levels tested (and supplement with K2 if needed)
• Reduce toxin exposure (your detox pathways and mitochondria get sluggish under toxic load)
• Stay active—movement helps cells “drink up” nutrients via better circulation

The Bottom Line: You’re Not Just What You Eat

You’re what you digest, absorb, and assimilate.

So if you’re eating healthy but still dealing with symptoms like fatigue, breakouts, bloat, or brain fog—it might be time to zoom in on your gut and cellular health.

In my practice, I offer comprehensive testing that goes way beyond basic labs:

• GI Effects Stool Testing to assess gut health, digestion, and inflammation
• Micronutrient testing to uncover deficiencies
• DNA-based nutrition testing to personalize your diet based on your genetic blueprint

Final Thoughts

If you’ve been eating clean but still feel off, let’s talk. There’s no one-size-fits-all diet, and sometimes kale isn’t the answer. Sometimes, the answer lies in how well your body is working behind the scenes.

Want to get to the root of your symptoms?

Book a visit with me at the Diabetes & Wellness Clinic in Norfolk—or start with a discovery call to see if we’re a good fit. I’ll help you build a plan that’s personalized, practical, and rooted in real functional medicine.

Let’s turn all that healthy food into real energy, real hormone balance, and real results.

Until next time,

Jenna Witt, NP