Tips for Digestive Comfort and Health

Here are some easy tips for great digestion.

1.         Eat whole unprocessed and unrefined foods such as apples, pears, plums, etc. with their skins.  The skins offer benefits as well as the whole foods.  Stay away from refined grains such as white rice and white flour.  Instead eat whole wheat flour and brown rice.  Whole grains are a great source of vitamins such as B and E as well.

2.         Skip the red meat and potatoes.  I know this is a hard one especially if you’re like me and grew up on meat and potatoes.  My father believed that a healthy meal was meat first potatoes second and third was dessert.  My mother did add the vegetables, but my father wouldn’t have missed them. 

Red meat and potatoes are hard to digest and so are pizza, cheese burgers, hot dogs, chocolate, ice cream, French fries, potato chips, and fried foods.  I don’t know about you but that just about covers all my favorite foods.  Not only are these foods hard to digest but they are also higher in calories and fat content. 

If you do decide to eat these foods here are some tips:

Red meat - be sure and also eat a very fibrous vegetable with it such as corn.  The extra fiber helps move the meat through the digestive track faster and easier so it doesn’t cause that “lump in the gut” feeling. 

Pizza and cheese burgers – try the vegetarian kind without the “extra cheese” or add a nice vegetable salad and low fat dressing.  Again the fiber helps move things through your digestive system.

Hot dogs – I’m sorry, but I just can’t say anything good about hot dogs.  I know kids like them (including my daughter when she was young), but I just can’t understand why.

Chocolate and ice cream – try the lower fat brands and limit the amount you eat.  Also drink a glass of skim milk after you eat these.  For some people (me included) skim milk – not whole milk – acts like a stomach soother.  I’m sure there is some scientific reason why, but right now I don’t know what it may be.  I just know it helps me.

Fried foods – try getting used to eating your foods baked or broiled.  If not, eat a nice green salad or high fibrous vegetable like broccoli to make it easier on the digestive tract.

3.         Eat beans and sprouts.  They contain enzymes that help with digestion.  Alfalfa sprouts, green peas, garbanzo beans, and sunflower seeds are great.

4.         Eat raw vegetables instead of cooked vegetables.  Raw vegetables contain more vitamins and minerals and have more fiber content than after they are cooked.

5.         Eat low fat yogurt.  Be sure they contain the “good bacteria cultures.”  Our colon is loaded with natural bacteria, but stress, medicine, and some foods kill these bacteria and we need to replenish them.  You can also take a bacteria flora supplement that is a great help for the colon.  If you are interested in the brand I take, E-mail me and I’ll send you the Website of the brand I take.  

6.         Eat natural enzyme rich foods.  These foods help improve bowel function because of their high fiber content and they help promote the growth of the good bacteria in the colon and they help neutralize the acidity in the intestines.  Great enzyme rich foods are melons, raw vegetables, seeds, nuts, beans, and whole grains.

7.         Avoid caffeine and sugar.  Both of these are very hard on the digestive system and only add excess and unnecessary calories.

Now that I have taken all the fun out of eating, just remember there are a lot of great foods out there to choose from.  Be good to yourself and your digestive system and try to eliminate anything that might cause bloating and gas.  Some of the foods mentioned above may not bother you and others not on the list might.  You decide.

I toast your digestive good health.