We are taught in school that the digestive system is comprised of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines, and the anus. If you took advanced studies you might even know that the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas are also an integral part of the system. But what most of us did not learn is that there is one other vital component of digestion: the brain.

One of the most powerful things I learned from my time as an administrator working in the public schools was to “presume positive intentions.” This was one of a list of seven norms we were asked to practice when we met in groups and discussed observations we conducted of teachers in their classrooms. No teacher shows up at work and decides, “I am aiming for mediocrity today; I want to give these children the minimum amount of effort that I have.”

Over the past century-ish, human nutrition has undergone a dramatic change (#understatement). Advanced techniques in food preparation, processing, storage and distribution allowed people to shift away from traditional “local farmer/hunter-gatherer” eating habits to the modern western diet. At the onset, this looked great because it provided us with freedom of choice in food selections, but there are unintended consequences.