Your ability to digest foods is important for your overall well-being. Remember that food is the primary method for getting crucial nutrients into your body. In order to properly absorb these, your body has to be able to efficiently and effectively breakdown the foods that you consume. This is the digestive process. If you think about it, it is easy to see why your digestive system is tied to your overall well-being. Without proper digestion, your body does not get the proper nutrients and this can result in a wealth of maladies.
Consume Probiotics Daily
If you have seen a yogurt commercial in the last decade, you are aware of probiotics and their ability to aid digestion. A number of factors can throw off the ratio of gut bacteria, allowing the bad to outnumber the good. These can include poor diet, excessive stress and use of antibiotics. You then have to work to restore the balance of gut bacteria and one of the simplest ways to do this is via sufficient probiotics in your diet.
You can opt for a high-quality supplement or simply incorporate more fermented foods into your daily diet. Of course, yogurt is a strong example. However, there are a number of other choices, such as fermented vegetables and kefir. When you restore the bacteria balance, you will enjoy better nutrient absorption, ensuring your body has what it needs.
Eat a Diverse Diet
Giving your body all of the nutrients it needs is the first step in ensuring better overall health, including your digestion. This is the advice that you will see in just about every E-book on gut health, as well as any related resource because it works. This does not mean that you have to completely avoid foods that contain empty nutrients, such as excess sugar and sodium. Eating a diet in moderation is best as long as the majority of your choices are dense in nutrients.
You have seen the dietary recommendations set forth by the USDA because these are studied all throughout school. It provides a guide as to how many servings per day of certain foods that you should be eating. It is good to follow this because it helps to ensure food diversity and a strong mixture of nutrients.
The food guide starts by recommending that you sparingly eat fats, sweets and oils. You want the majority of your calories to come from foods in the meat, poultry, legumes, fish, whole grains, vegetables, dairy and fruits. The largest recommendation is the grains category, but be mindful of the type of carbohydrates that you are eating. You want to stick to more wholesome options that include complex carbohydrates since these do not cause a sudden spike and drop in blood sugar.
Limit High-Fat Foods
This is certainly a dietary recommendation that everyone is aware of. However, when you get information about foods high in fat, it is usually in relation to your cardiovascular system. While being mindful of the fats you eat and the types is certainly a heart-healthy decision, it is also important for your digestion.
When you eat too many fatty foods, this can result in the digestive process slowing down. When your digestion is not working efficiently, this increases your risk of constipation. When you are eating foods that are high in fat, make sure to combine them with foods that are high in fiber. This will make digesting the fatty foods a bit easier on your digestive system.
Get the Facts on Fiber
It is common knowledge that sufficient fiber is important for making sure that your digestive system is healthy. It helps to prevent a number of digestive ailments, such as constipation. However, adequate fiber intake might also help to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, elevated cholesterol, hemorrhoids, diabetes and high cholesterol.
On average, Americans consume approximately 10 to 15 grams of fiber per day. While any fiber is a good thing, the recommendation is 20 to 35 grams per day for adults. If you find it difficult to get sufficient fiber via your diet, you can talk to your doctor about a high-quality supplement.
There are two types of fiber that you want to know about. Both of these are types that you want to get in your daily diet. The insoluble type is found in cereals, whole grains and wheat. There is also a soluble type and you can get this by eating more brans, oats, vegetables, fruits and psyllium. Both types of fiber are beneficial for digestion in different ways. The soluble type works to draw water to prevent watery stools. The insoluble type helps to add bulk to your stool.
Create an Eating Schedule
Eating at around the same time each day for all of your meals and snacks is a good choice for your digestive system. It essentially gives your system a schedule so that it starts to know when it needs to get ready to digest food. You want to eat your three primary meals at around the same time, give or take an hour each day. It is a good idea to also schedule your snacks.
Drink Plenty of Water
Your body needs water for a number of reasons, such as to ensure adequate hydration. However, water is also crucial for your digestive system to work as it should. When you are properly hydrated, bowel movements are easier. This is because the fiber you eat will pull water into your colon, allowing for stools that are bulkier and softer, making them easier to pass.
You can see that while this is a lot of information, it is not overly difficult to eat with healthier digestion in mind. It is mostly about making the right choices when you sit down to eat a meal. You want to stick with foods that are dense in nutrients. This ensures that your body has everything it needs for all of its systems to work efficiently, including your digestive system. When everything is getting the nutrients it needs and working as it should, you enjoy a greater level of total well-being.