Never eat when angry, upset, anxious or in a hurry digestion is a process which happens best when we are relaxed, if we are particularly stressed we can give ourselves digestive problems by putting food into our stomach when it is tight and not producing digestive enzymes. If you are stressed try to at least get away from your desk, take a break or a walk, vent the feeling or take some calm relaxing deeper breaths prior to eating.
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Chew food properly and avoid eating quickly. Your stomach doesn’t have teeth! Large lumps of food will not be digested well in the stomach and will pass into the intestine where they will be fermented by bacteria rather than being absorbed.
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Don’t slouch when eating, this squashes the digestive tract and makes it harder for the food to be absorbed.
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Eat slower , rushing our food hinders the digestive process and can lead to bloating, flatulence and constipation.
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Obey the call of nature. About half an hour after each reasonable size meal we should feel the urge to defecate. We can rekindle this reflex, which for most people has been suppressed, by listening to our bodies and going to the toilet when we feel the urge rather than ignoring it.
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Remember variety is the spice of life . Try not to eat the same foods everyday. With vegetables people often only eat 4 or 5 different types but forget to eat from the whole range of different vegetables, challenge yourself to buy a different vegetable from normal every time you do you shipping.
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Separate carbohydrate foods from protein foods. Because different parts of the gut work best at different pH levels carbohydrates and proteins require different environment for optimal digestion – eating them at separate times can help the digestive system to work better. A digestive system which is working well should be able to handle different foods groups at the same time – but this approach can be useful to give the digestive tract a ‘holiday’ if it has been having problems.
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Eat Less. Eating smaller meals puts less strain on the system and requires less digestive enzymes.
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Avoid stimulants. Avoiding tea, coffee, alcohol, chocolate and strong spices allows the gut to rest.
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Eat organic wholefoods. Avoid junk food, processed and packaged foods. These rubbishy foods lack fibre to work the bowel, they have too much sugar which leads to fermantation and bloating in the bowel and have other additives such as MSG which can irritate the lining of the gut.
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Drink plenty of water. But never drink with meals as this dilutes the digestive enzymes.
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