You are what you eat and absorb. You can eat the highest quality foods on the planet, but if your digestion is weak and you don’t absorb many of the nutrients in your food, you can, t receive their full benefits. Strengthening your digestion is a key step in better health. Here are 12 simple steps you can take to improve digestion and promote nutrient absorption. These top steps are simple and practical according to ancient wisdom and modern science.
1. Chew your food well and eat slowly
Ideally, you should chew each mouthful some 30 times, breaking the food into small particles and allowing the salivary enzymes to begin their work digesting the food. We suggest chew well and swallow one bite before taking another as a way to slow down.
2. Drink enough water
Insufficient water intake is a primary cause of constipation. Constipation then causes an imbalance in bacteria, promotes inflammation of the intestinal lining, and can even lead to the absorption of larger molecules, a condition known as intestinal permeability.
3. Consume cooked foods instead of cold or raw foods
Cooked food digest easily. Cold and raw foods not digest well and create gases in the stomach because of acidity. Persons with weak digestion would do well to eat no or little raw or cold food or drinks. This means favoring cooked vegetables and fruits over raw produce and using hot soups, or grain and bean dishes in place of sandwiches, burgers or raw vegetable snack if you feel bloated.
4. Eat in a peaceful and relaxed environment
If you do a little comparative test, you will note that you feel better and your digestion is smoother when you eat in a quiet, peaceful environment. Avoid watching television, reading, working, or arguing with others when you eat. You will see the difference.
5. Eat freshly cooked foods
Freshly cooked foods are the most nourishing and are free of molds or staleness. It’s better to eat a simple, freshly cooked meal than a complicated one made of leftovers.
6. Manage Stress
Excess Stress May increase gastric acid and slow down metabolism which causes heartburn and indigestion. Best way to manage stress is including exercise, yoga in daily life and make sure you sleep well.
7. Avoid overeating
Excessive intake of food greatly burdens the entire digestive system. Ancient Ayurvedic medicine recommends consuming the amount of food that will fit into two cupped hands at any meal. Practice moving away from the table while you are still a bit hungry.
8. Drink hot water drinks, particularly those that promote digestion
Hot water is an excellent way to detoxify the body and build digestive strength. Simmering a few slices of ginger root in boiling water makes a ginger root tea that stimulates digestion. Ginger in food has the same effect, as does candied ginger root eaten after meals. Other herbs that promote good digestion and make excellent herbal teas are chamomile, peppermint, and cinnamon.
9. Eat Food simply
Mixing many different types of foods may disturb the digestive system. Experiment with simple meals of just two or three different foods. Avoid more oily, fried, sugary food to keep your digestion good.
10. Sit and relax a few minutes after eating
Digestion is a great process, that helps to turn foods into blood and tissue cells. Resting a few minutes after eating gets this very complicated process to a good start by allowing your body’s resources to focus fully on the digestive engine.
11. Do Exercise or Yoga
Regular Exercise of one of the best habits for healthy digestion. Be active by walking, biking, swimming, and dancing. Light exercise improves the circulation of blood in a body to prevent heart disease and blood pressure. Similarly, aerobic exercise leads to improved digestion and can keep blood vessels in healthy shape as well.
12. Consult experts to determine the source of the problem if above all not works.
If these simple self-help steps do not resolve your digestive problems, you should consider consulting a physician and a nutritionist. A nutritionist can help you figure out if probiotics and other nutritional digestive aids would be useful. Your physician can investigate the possibility that a medical problem is affecting your digestion.
