Search:

Maintaining Digestive Health

By: Grant Eckert What you eat daily has a great deal to do with your digestive health. If you wish to be healthy, you have to consider not only what you eat but how much you eat and how you eat it. It is impossible to prevent all digestive problems over your lifetime, but you can reduce the amount of digestive distress if you follow a few simple rules. Start by reflecting on your diet.

Diet

Your stomach will take in almost anything. There are, however, certain foods that you can digest more easily. Consider fibrous food, either soluble or insoluble. They are essential in helping your digestive tract remain clear and functioning properly. The best sources for these types of food are plant life.

Fruits, vegetables and whole grains are the best sources of many beneficial vitamins and minerals. They are, also, high in fiber. Soluble fiber is present in oats, fruits and legumes. It softens your stools, easing their passage and preventing constipation. Insoluble fibers, found in vegetables and whole grains (brown rice, barley, wild rice), bulks up stools. The two fiber types act together to provide you with a healthy system, working to prevent constipation, hemorrhoids, diarrhea and irritable bowel syndrome.

Fluids are necessary to help the body absorb certain vital minerals and vitamins. Drinking fluids is another way to ensure your digestive tract remains healthy. Liquids soften the material, help with the absorption of fibers and ensure the softening of stools. Water is the best choice to make. Milk, juices and other beverages that are at least 90 per cent water are also good. Alcohol and caffeine, however, have a negative effect. You should avoid or limit their intake.

Yet, considering only what you eat is not enough. How much you eat is also an important factor. Your stomach works on specific principles. The amount of digestive juices your body can produce within the stomach is finite. The larger the meal, the greater the strain placed on your digestive system. If you want to maintain a healthy digestive system and avoid that bloated or stuffed feeling, cut down on the large portions. Do not supersize your meals!

At what time you eat your meals is also important. Regulate your system by regulating the time you eat. If you eat at the same time each day, you allow the body a period to digest previous foods and prepare for the next meal. In other words, try to follow a regular schedule. Integrate your meals into your day instead of adding them as an afterthought.

Consider, as well, your frame of mind. How do you approach your meals? Are you happy, sad, worried, anxious or in a hurry to get it over with? Moods do affect how your food is absorbed and excreted. Contentment, joy, anxiety and stress are revealed internally as well as externally. When you are relaxed, you tend to chew

your food more completely and thoroughly. Your gastric and intestinal juices flow more freely. Your digestive muscles contract and do their job properly. The opposite occurs when you are not happy. A stressed out stomach can express itself through constipation and bloating.

When you eat, do not rush. Relax. Eat slowly and chew your food methodically, carefully and often. This way your stomach has time to digest the food slowly. You will not swallow air, causing heartburn or bloating and gas.

Exercise

Maintain a healthy weight. Those who are overweight tend to suffer more from problems of indigestion. A further suggestion, therefore, is for you to consider exercise and more exercise. Taking part in regular exercise is important in two specific ways. On the one hand, movement stimulates the digestive system. It helps with the passing of food throughout the system. It helps your digestive tract function properly. On the other hand, exercise helps you maintain a healthy weight. This, in turn, reduces pressure on the digestive system.

Maintaining a healthy digestive system is not difficult if you take the time to consider what, when, how, and in what mood you eat. Establish good eating habits then follow this pattern up with healthy exercise.