Better digestion tips
If you’re like many health-conscious people, you pay a lot of attention to what you eat. But even the highest quality foods won’t necessarily help you build health if you don’t digest them well. Listed below are some tips for optimizing your digestive process and preventing digestive problems from arising in the first place.
Digestion basic 1: Chew, Chew, Chew
- Take smaller bites.
- Put your fork down in between meals.
- Try using chopsticks – it forces you to slow down.
- Thoroughly chew each bite of food.
- Carbohydrate digestion begins in the mouth – chewing grains thoroughly allows amylase, the digestive enzyme present in saliva, to digest the grains.
Digestion basic 2: Get Enough Water
- Insufficient water intake is a primary cause of constipation. Constipation then causes an imbalance in bacteria, promotes inflammation of the intestinal lining, and can even lead to the absorption of larger molecules, a condition known as intestinal permeability.
Digestion basic 3: Increase dietary fibre.
- Good sources of dietary fibre include: dried fruit, such as dates, figs, and prunes and beans and legumes- if you don’t have time to cook dried beans, buy canned, but make sure you rinse them thoroughly before cooking. Lentils and split peas are less gas-forming than other legumes. Fruits and vegetables are also fibre superstars.
- Flaxseeds are a gentle laxative. They can be useful for chronic constipation, damage to the intestine wall from laxative use, irritable bowel, and to soothe inflammation. Sprinkle flaxseeds on rice, grains, salads, or any other meal of your choice. Other great foods for constipation and digestion include: lemon, garlic and fennel.
Digestion basic 4: Practice Mindful Eating
- A pilot study at Indiana State University found that mindfulness, including specific instructions to slowly savour the flavour of food and be aware of how much food is enough, helped to reduce eating binges from an average of four binges per week to one and a half. So try to eat in the moment. Savour every bite, enjoying the flavours, textures, and smells of your meal.
Digestion basic 5: Address Food Sensitivities and Allergies
- Food sensitivities are behind many digestive disorders. For example, between 33% and 66% of IBS patients report having one or more food intolerances, resulting in bloating, gas, and pain. The most common culprits are milk and dairy (40-44%) and grains (40-60%). For information on food allergy tests go to www.naturalhealthpractice.com.
Digestion basic 6: Increase Good Gut Bacteria
- There are over 400 different kinds of bacteria and yeasts in the digestive system. Of these, the bacteria Lactobacillus acidophillus and Bifidobacterium bifidum are considered good “probiotic” bacteria because they can help to maintain intestinal health. Although good bacteria can be found in some yogurts, there is a wide variation in the quantity and quality or add in a good probiotic supplement like BioKult.