How to Improve Your Digestive Health

Excellent digestive health is imperative to your overall health and well being. Simple changes in your daily life can lead to a major improvement in the quality of your digestive health.

Instructions

Improve Your Digestive Health

1. Choose fresh, organic foods instead of canned or boxed foods that contain harsh preservatives and very little nutrients or vitamins. Combine cooked and raw foods, such as a fresh salad and steamed carrots, to incorporate necessary and vital enzymes for proper digestion.

2. Maintain an 80/20 approach when eating meals. Stop eating when you feel that your stomach is 80 percent full. Overeating during meals inhibits digestion and weakens your digestive system. This creates difficulties in assimilating consumed foods into energy.

3. Chew your food slowly and thoroughly with care and consideration to each bite. Remember that the first and most important step to proper digestion and improved digestive health begins in your mouth.

4. Try eating your meals with chopsticks. Although this may seem frustrating at first, in time you will adjust and learn how to maneuver food with ease and will consume meals slowly and take smaller bites. Eating with chopsticks controls your eating pace and bite size, and forces you to eat with more attention.

5. Take digestive enzymes with every meal to improve your digestive health. Digestive enzymes improve your nutrient extraction from the foods you consume and aid in the prevention of bloating, gas and digestive distress.

6. Use apple cider vinegar in salads as a prebiotic that will feed healthy microflora to improve proper digestion.

7. Include ground flaxseed meals in your daily meals. Sprinkle it as a topping on yogurt, salads and any dish of your meal. Ground flaxseed oil is a rich source of Omega-3 fatty acids, as well as an excellent source of dietary fiber.

8. Exercise daily to increase movement within your bowels and improve your digestive health. Daily activity improves the natural rhythm of your digestive system and assists in moving food through your digestive system.

9. Research alternative health methods for improving digestive health online. Visit respected alternative medicine practitioner Dr. Andrew Weil's website for innovative alternative methods for improving digestive health and dietary suggestions (see Resources below).

Tips & Warnings

• Consider having your stomach acid (HCl) levels tested. Lifestyle habits, poor diet and aging can contribute to improper stomach acid levels and high acid levels in your blood. Improper stomach acid levels can lead to severe digestion discomforts and improper digestion.