subject: Simple Supplements To Improving Digestion [print this page] Simple Supplements To Improving Digestion
The Pathway To Supporting The Digestive System and Feeling Great Again
The human digestive system plays a vital role in a persons overall health and wellbeing. Its the place where foods are broken down and absorbed into the body. It is the place where nutrition occurs, where the foods we consume are taken in and used by the body. Elements of those foods we need in order to operate efficiently, effectively and optimally. Getting them in is one element of the journey, but once they are in, in a lot of cases it becomes really challenging to then use the nutrients that we provide because the body has fewer resources to be able break them down and absorb them.
How Did We Get There?
It seems that over time and in the modern world that we live in, there are foods that we consume that are less than good for our health and wellbeing. The one area most affected is our digestive health, which ultimately leads to every other system of the body working less efficiently. Unless we can break down the food we eat into the basic components, such as sugars, amino acids, vitamins, minerals and fats then we can suffer from malnutrition, which can show up in many different forms. This becomes a downward spiral because as the digestive fire of an individual decreases they then choose to eat the foods that are processed and easy to digest and avoid the foods that are high in nutrition and tougher to digest. The heavily processed foods are generally dead and lifeless; they contain no live enzymes and mostly provide us with very little life force. Enzymes are a critical element in digestion and if they are not present in the food we eat then the body has to supply the enzymes to break down the food. Fortunately for us our body is able to readily supply those enzymes. Over time though this can have a detrimental effect on our energy levels as the body becomes exhausted from draining its enzymatic resources.
What Form Does This Take?
As these essential digestive enzymes become less and less it becomes harder for food to digest and commonly the symptoms that start to occur are acid reflux, indigestion, bloating, gas, fatigue and heartburn. Commonly, in our heavily influenced pharmaceutical society we are trained that we need to get rid of the acid. So we reaching for the chalky ant-acid tablets, which are alkaline based, this neutralises the acid in the digestive tract that is working to break down those foods. These formulas may provide immediate relief, but long term it MUST NOT BE A SOLUTION TO YOUR CURRENT PROBLEM. Why? Because
1. It kills what enzymes we have left and forces part digested foods into the lower intestinal tract.
2. Most importantly, it does not allow us to absorb the foods, proteins, nutrients, minerals and vitamins that we need to live optimally.
So What Are The LONG TERM Solutions?
Ultimately, overtime we need to find ways to strengthen our ability to digest the foods we eat. So how do we do that? You maybe shocked the simplicity of the answers, but most people dont do this.
1. Take some good strong diaphragmatic breathes before you eat. You may or may not know that the most important fuel we need is oxygen. When breathing we also relax and really get a grasp on what we need over what we want. We also become relaxed which is a state that guarantees efficient digestion.
2. Drink some fresh (ideally SPRING) water. About to 1 litre before you eat. Surprisingly most of the time we are actually thirsty and chronically dehydrated. Often hunger can be mistaken for dehydration.
3. Eat whole foods ideally raw foods that have a high water content as well as all its live enzymes that will help digestion. The fact that they have a lot of water inside the food will help you to digest better. Try a cucumber or an avocado.
4. Combine foods appropriately. Most of the time we consume fast foods. These time efficient foods are actually inefficient and probably cost you more time because of the energy that goes into digesting them or not as the case maybe. So why? The basic principle is that with proteins the stomach produces an acidic enzyme to break it down. With carbohydrates the stomach produces an alkaline enzyme. Eating them both together neutralises the digestive process, which makes the food sit in the stomach, which then leads to fermentation. So here are some things to try out to see how it can improve your digestion.
A) Dont Eat Carbohydrates and Proteins together
B) Dont Eat Proteins and Fats together
C) Dont Eat Proteins and Fruits together
D) Dont Eat more than one type of Protein
E) Dont Eat Desserts after a Big Meal
5. Chew your food. Because we are all in such a hurry throwing foods down our throat is common. What we dont break down in our mouth must be broken down in the stomach.
6. Avoid overeating. Ask yourself before going for seconds if you really do need more or not.
7. Eat your salads with Apple Cider Vinegar dressings.
8. The best product to support you in the short term would be Betaine HCL. This is literally stomach acid in a capsule and it provides your stomach with the Hydrochloric Acid it needs to digest the food more efficiently. You can take one just before each meal and then you will find that digestion is easier.
9. A long-term solution is to get a Mineral analysis done. Why? Because in order for the body to produce Hydrochloric Acid, naturally it needs the appropriate minerals to do so. This does make it a catch 22 situation because we need gastric acid to break down the food to absorb the minerals, but we also need minerals because they are how the body generates the Hydrochloric Acid that we need to digest. The good news is with the right minerals supplements we can build up the strength of the digestive system, but we need to get a true diagnostic as to which ones we need.
Solutions are available and we now know more now than ever before, but long term often we need to look a bit deeper than the surface level problem to discover a solution that can really help us achieve an incredible level of health, not only to bring years to our life but life to our years.
