10 Tips for Better Digestion
Enjoy these 10 Tips for Better Digestion, along with some additional insights. I’d like to note that the order of this list doesn’t necessarily reflect importance. For example, I believe both exercising (#1) and drinking water (#8) are equally essential.
Exercise - Digesting food properly takes a healthy muscle tone around the abdomen.It’s traveling a total of 30 feet! Muscle tone helps move food through our digestive tract. Increasing exercise can improve digestion, even if you don’t change what you eat.
Don’t Overeat - Overeating 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.
SUGGESTION: I also would include sitting and minimizing distractions while you’re eating. When your brain is busy driving, watching TV, or walking around, it’s focusing less on how your body is consuming food or in many cases, overconsuming. When you limit distractions, you can better tune into your body and when you’ve reached satiation.
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 energy and nutrients 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 lots of enzymes that aid digestion.)
LET’S REITERATE: Overly chewing your food is essential for proper digestion. I say "overly" because it might feel excessive at first. Since I started focusing on intentional chewing, I've begun to realize just how much food I used to consume without properly breaking it down. Chewing more effectively allows your digestive system to work more efficiently, requiring less energy to break down the food. This approach not only aids digestion but also positively impacts the rest of your body in the process.
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.
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.
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 foods like sauerkraut or coconut kefir.
Bring in digestive enzymes - You need three categories of enzymes: lipase for fat breakdown, amylases 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 an option if digestion is impaired.
**Information Provided by the Functional Nutrition Alliance