By: Sydney Shorb, RN-BSN, Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor
Exercise
It takes healthy muscle tone all around the abdomen for food to digest properly and to help move food through our digestive tract. Increasing exercise can improve digestion, even if you don’t change what you eat.
Don’t Overeat
Overeating of any food is taxing on the digestive system and can affect the rate of digestion. It requires the body to expend a lot of energy, adds stress to the system and forces the body to try to use too many nutrients at once. Practice moderation and only eat until you are three-quarters full.
Take Time for Gratitude
When you take a few moments before you eat to pause and reflect, either with blessings or gratitude, you are activating the cephalic phase of digestion. Your brain signals saliva to release and stokes your digestive fires. Both are key to proper digestion.
Reduce or Eliminate Processed Foods
These so-called foods are challenging for the digestive system. The body has to supply its own energy and nutrients in order for these products to metabolize, robbing the body of nutrients rather than supplying any. Stick to whole foods as much as possible.
Chew Your Food
Chewing thoroughly will help any food digest. We complicate digestion whenever we eat on the run or gulp down our food. Slow down, savor your food and chew it up! (Saliva contains a lot of enzymes that aid in digestion.)
Boost Stomach Acid
Many people have low stomach acid. Heartburn, belching or gas, fatigue, headaches and much more can all be a result of low stomach acid. Gently boost stomach acid by adding freshly-squeezed lemon juice to your water or by drinking one tablespoon of raw fermented apple cider vinegar in water each morning.
Eat More Fiber
Fiber helps keep your colon healthy. It makes stool soft and bulky, speeds transit time through the colon, dilutes the effects of any toxic compounds and helps to remove bad bacteria from the colon. Make sure you get both soluble fiber, which absorbs toxins and unneeded cholesterol, and insoluble fiber, which hastens elimination.
Drink Water
It’s one of the top nutrients for digestion. The stomach needs water for digestion, especially for the health of the mucosal lining, which supports the small intestine bacteria for proper digestion and absorption of nutrients. Lack of water in the digestive system can result in ulcers, indigestion, heartburn, fatigue, brain fog, memory loss, and constipation.
Add in Probiotics
We need good bacteria to strengthen the immune system, reduce chronic inflammation, help remedy leaky gut and more. You can introduce probiotics with supplements or with raw fermented food like sauerkraut or kefir.
Bring in Digestive Enzymes
You need three categories of enzymes: lipase for fat breakdown, amylase for carbohydrate breakdown, and protease for protein breakdown. The best source of enzymes are from foods that are in their live, raw or sprouted form. Supplementing with digestive enzymes is also a good option if digestion is impaired.
Sydney Shorb, RN-BSN, CFNC
Syney loves to view food as medicine and truly believes that everything is connected, we are all unique, and diet and lifestyle matter.