3 Simple Tips To Improve Digestion
It’s week 1 of the #realfoodreset and while what you are eating is important I would be a terrible Nutritional Therapy practitioner if I didn’t talk to you about HOW you are eating. So for the first week I am going to give you some tools to help improve your digestion.
Why digestion?
Your ability to properly digest is the foundation to nutritional therapy. I can tell you exactly what foods to eat, recommend specific supplements, BUT if you are not digesting your food- it won’t matter. Every cell, that makes up every tissue, that makes up every organ- depends on your bodies digestive system to provide the nutrients for proper function.
Clients come to me for a variety of health related issues - hormonal imbalance, fatigue, skin issues, etc. My job is to help them find the root cause. For the majority of people, the root cause can be traced back to the gut, AKA the digestive system. As such amazing beings our innate intelligence has allowed us to eat exactly as we were supposed to since the beginning of time. However at some point our ability to decipher between good and bad or healthy and unhealthy habits surrounding how we eat was stripped away. This change in how we are eating has led to many of the problems that humans are facing
today - gas, heartburn, bloating, food allergies, chronic fatigue, etc.
Dysfunction can occur when just one step in the digestive process is off or lacking. You can think of it like a chain reaction where each process that occurs effects the one after it.
To help you improve your digestion, here are three simple tips that you can implement that have nothing to do with what you are eating.
1. Eat while in a relaxed state. The digestive process starts even before the food enters your mouth with the sight and smell of food. We see/smell food and begin to salivate, the saliva contains enzymes that help break down food. If you are stressed or in a hurry you will miss out on the very first step in this vitally important process. Unfortunately, the majority of us are in a hurry and eat most meals on the run. While this saves time “now” the long term impact on our health is not worth those few extra minutes. So take a few minutes to relax, eat sitting down, and at the very least avoid eating while driving.
2. Chew your food. The next step in the process is simply chewing! This is easier said than done for many of us. Since we are not often eating in a relaxed state a lot of people have a tendency to inhale their food and barely chew. There are a few reasons why this is not good. The mouth contains nerve endings that send a message to your brain on what exactly you are eating. The brain then sends a message to the stomach in preparation for the food that is about to enter. The longer the food stays in your mouth, the more “ready” your stomach and all of the digestive juices will be. The other piece here is that our stomach was not meant to break down food like our teeth do. Swallowing barely chewed food leads to food unable to be fully digested - which can lead to undigested food and nutrients not properly absorbed. If we want something done well we shouldn’t take shortcuts. So slow down, take a few extra seconds to chew your food a little bit longer to help your stomach do it’s job as efficiently as possible.
3. Limit your water/liguid intake 15-20 minutes before and after you eat. It’s a common misconception that stomach acid is bad, but stomach acid plays a key role in properly digesting your food so you want the acid to be able to do it’s job. When food sits in your stomach too long it gives the churned up food a chance to putrefy and ferment and develop harmful bacteria. So as far as your stomach is concerned- the more acid the better. Unfortunately consuming too much liquid before you eat will dilute the acid so your food will not be broken down as efficiently and effectively as possible.