Poor digestion can affect your whole body in a variety of ways. Poor digestion can lead to digestive problems like bloating, heartburn, constipation, gas, food allergies, and the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome or IBS. Poor digestion can also cause you to experience asthma, fatigue, eczema, weight gain, and food allergies, to name a few.
If you don’t manage these symptoms through natural methods, your body can develop many chronic medical conditions. Improving digestion through natural ways can help heal your body, improve your energy, and maximize your quality of life.
Naturally managing your digestion can also help you use weight without having to resort to taking drugs, going on strange diets, or depriving your body of what it needs to stay healthy. There are several ways you can naturally improve your digestion, as you’ll soon see.
These are some ways you can naturally heal your digestive system:
Chew Your Food Carefully
Digestion begins with the saliva in your mouth. When you allow yourself to chew your food carefully, you activate amylase, which starts the digestive process. It helps keep the food partially digested so your stomach doesn’t have to work so hard to engage in the digestive process.
Eat Cultured or Fermented Foods
When you eat fermented foods, you are taking in loads of the “healthy bacteria” your gut needs to maximize digestion. Try eating a variety of fermented foods for healthy digestion, such as Kombucha, kimchi, fermented vegetables, kefir, and sauerkraut. This usually doesn’t work right away so eat these foods for a couple of weeks to see if there is any change in your diet.
Eat Real Foods
Instead of eating processed foods that are bad for digestion, stick to eating fresh, whole foods, such as fruits and vegetables. Stay away from fast foods and foods that are highly processed, as they are high in processed oils, simple sugars, and refined salt. Processed foods are hard to digest and aren’t very nutritious for you. Fresh, whole foods will improve digestion and will help you feel better.
Take Care of Your Liver
Your liver is responsible for much of the digestion, particularly of fats. By digesting your food carefully, you can help your liver work better. There are foods you can eat that are especially good for your liver, including freshly squeezed fruit or vegetable juices, leafy green vegetables, beetroots, and carrots. If you can stand the taste of bitter herbs like milk thistle and dandelion, try to supplement your diet with these, as your liver will love you for it.
Stay Hydrated
Most people with digestive problems come by it through being very dehydrated. If you can drink a lot of water every day, this can maximize your digestion and can keep you healthy. Drink at least one of the many glasses of water you should drink with fresh lemon juice or a tablespoon of digestion-aiding apple cider vinegar.
You can also try herbal teas as they taste great and are good for digestive health. Some teas you may wish to try are fenugreek tea, fennel tea, ginger tea, and peppermint tea. Stay away from coffee and instead mix dandelion tea with any kind of milk, including a milk substitute.
Reduce Stress
Stress is not only bad for your mind but it doesn’t help your body and your digestive system either. There are many stress relieving activities you can engage in, including taking frequent naps during the day, brisk walking, yoga, deep breathing exercises, and meditation. By reducing stress, your digestive system will work better and you will feel better, too.
Try Glutamine
Glutamine is good for digestion as it regenerates and repairs the lining of the intestinal tract and eases any inflammation you might have. Glutamine can be found as a supplement although it can be found in whole foods, such as fresh vegetable juices, parsley, spinach, beans, beets, dairy products, eggs, fish, and meat. If you are going to take glutamine as a supplement, ask your doctor if it is okay for you to use it.
Detoxify Your Body
Gentle detoxification routines can reset the digestive system so it will work better. You can detoxify in many ways. Aloe vera juice is especially good for detoxification and there is research evidence to back this up.
Pay Attention to Your Body
Instead of mindlessly dieting or following the latest food trends, listen to what your body likes best and feed your body with that. Experiment with various foods to see how it affects your digestion and write them down so you can have a good selection of foods to eat.
Take Probiotics
Probiotics are the “healthy bacteria” in your gut that aid in the digestive process. When you take a probiotic, your colon will colonize with these good bacteria and will drive out bad bacteria that just make your digestive system worse.
If your health is poor, take this as meaning that your body is attempting to tell you something. Try some of these digestive health ideas and see your doctor if they don’t work out for you.
