Ten Tips to Digestive Bliss

Digestion and Health

Once you prioritize and understand how digestion works, nourishment becomes easy. You will not be drawn to the latest fad diet or restrictive eating plans because they are not the answer to your weight gain, bloating or fatigue. When you address your digestive weakness, cravings dissipate and your body finds it’s healthy balance.

When our ‘digestive fire’ or strength is weak, we could be eating the healthiest diet but not actually absorbing the nutrition from our foods. Think about it. You need amino acids to make hormones. If your digestion is weak and you aren’t breaking down your proteins into usable parts, you aren’t enjoying the benefits of that protein.

This is an important part of my Balanced Life Blueprint. Digestion is the root of health! [and understanding the emotional connection is also important but I’ll save that for another blog]

Let’s get to some solutions….

1.Eat in a non-stressed, relaxed state.

If you are ‘stressed’ your body will not secrete the required HCL (hydrochloric acid) to break down proteins. Our stomach is the most acid place in your body because it needs this acid to break down foods and kill pathogens that enter the body on the food you eat. As a Nutritionist, I preach ‘rest and digest’ for a reason. You cannot digest your food when you are stressed!

Say a prayer. Bless your food. Say Thanks. Up the ante by using a diffuser and a calming essential oil to help create a relaxed environment during meal time. I like ginger and zengest internally to support digestion before you eat to help the body produce HCL.

2.Make Eating an Event

If you are eating in front of the TV, you aren’t paying attention to how you are eating and therefore not fully digesting your food. Digestion starts in your brain, the second you look or think about a food. Think about biting into a lemon. You may notice saliva forming first - which is your digestive system starting to do it’s work in breaking down the carbs you are about to eat.

Eating is also a social event and just feeling good will have a positive impact on your digestion. If you are eating alone, step away from your screens! Instead, put some music on, start your diffuser, look at your food, bless it, and then give your body the attention it needs by enjoying the tastes and textures in each and every bite so that you get the full benefit of nutrients.

3.Chew food thoroughly.

Set down your fork between each bite and aim for 30 “chews” or chew until your food is liquid. You’ll make it easier on your digestive organs when the work is partly done before you swallow. Digestion takes energy so if you focus more at the first phases of digestion, the rest will be easy. What would you do with that extra energy?

4.Check for food allergies.

If you are sensitive to certain foods, remove those foods as they aggravate digestion and create inflammation. One home test you can do is check your pulse rate before and after you eat and if it goes up….you are sensitive to that food. Another symptom that your body will give you is a runny nose. Pay attention! Your body is always talking to you. Or, if you prefer more science related info, I can order you a food sensitivity test for you. You can email me here.

5.Consider Food Combining.

Avoid eating proteins with grains. These 2 foods require different enzymes to break them down and thus, can put a lot of pressure on your digestive tract. Separate them for more complete digestion. Think meat and non-starchy veggies. Or beans and rice. Or Salads with meat or beans. Also, eat fruit alone or at least 30 minutes before a meal to maximize digestion and minimize gas. Eating according to your genetics and metabolic type can also be helpful. We do that in my group coaching program.

6.Avoid GMO foods.

I’ll keep this simple here, but you can’t talk about digestion without talking about GMO’s. They can wreak havoc on your digestive system and so cutting them out can have a dramatic impact on your digestion.

7.Sprout Your Grains and Legumes

Grains can be very difficult to breakdown and digest. If eating grains, be sure to soak them to remove the phytic acid. I did a short video on how to this over in Youtube.

8.Support Digestion.

Dilute 2 tablespoons of organic raw apple cider vinegar in 1 cup of room temperature filtered water. Drink before each meal. Or take a digestive enzyme like Terrazyme. Peppermint and Spearmint are also excellent for digestion. And did you know that one drop of doterra peppermint essential oil is equal to 20 cups of peppermint tea! (and without the mold concerns)

You could also take probiotics like pb assist to ensure your microbiome is balanced and ready to do it’s job well. Before recommending stronger probiotics, I prefer to test using the GI Map. But PB Assist is safe for most people. Order on top of your Lifelong Vitality Kit to get this for way less!

9.Eat smaller portions and only until 80 % full.

I like to encourage clients to use the salad plates for dinner. Did you know that the size of plates has increased over the last 50 years? You can read an article about that here. When our plate is larger, we fill it! And portion sizes have most certainly gone out of control.

10.Fast for at least 12 hours at night.

If you are prioritizing sleep, fasting for 12 hours is easy because you are sleeping for most of it! But your body does a wonderful job of detoxing if you give it time without food. It’s simple. Also be aware that some people don’t do well without food for 12 hours! If that is you, I would work on building your metabolic health first…and then prepare your body for fasting.

If you are ready to make health a priority…check out my group coaching program or one to one Discover Your Balance Coaching.