How to fix It

First of all, make sure that you drink enough water to be well hydrated. You need sufficient lubrication for your food to pass through your system. Don’t overload on water, though. Contrary to popular belief, you can drink too much. This is because too much water can dilute your stomach acid if you drink it with meals. So, enjoy your water between meals, and drink extra before and after exercise to replace what you lose in your sweat.

Next, add fermented foods to your diet:

Raw sauerkraut (see here for a recipe)

Kimchi (buy without sugar, or make it yourself)

Fermented vegetables like shredded carrots (can be made with the sauerkraut recipe)

Plain full fat yogurt made (preferably at home with a 24-hour fermentation process) from raw grass-fed milk (cow, goat, or sheep)

Homemade kombucha (a fermented tea drink that is easy to make)

These fermented foods have moderate levels of probiotic content, which means they provide your digestive system with good bacteria when eaten in varying amounts and types on a daily basis. Making these items at-home is a more cost-effective way to balance the flora in your digestive system.

You can also take a supplement of probiotics in pill or powder form, however. There is not one brand or strain of probiotic bacteria that will work best for everyone, so your best bet is to try one out and see how you feel after taking it for a week. If your digestion improves, you have found a good one for you. If not, try another one with different bacterial strains or more potent quantities of bacteria. (Just compare the ingredients lists.)

Probiotic supplementation is also a good idea if you suffer from frequent diarrhea. When your digestive system rejects a food quickly, it often throws the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. Your system flushes out the irritant it has decided was harmful while also flushing out the other contents of your small and large intestines. This may result in an imbalance in your gut flora that leaves your bowel movements feeling “off” for several days. “Re-inoculating” with probiotics can help you along and get your bathroom habits back on track.

Often, probiotic supplements are sold in the refrigerated section of a health food or grocery store, while others are sold right from the shelves. Which is better? It depends. While the refrigerated options are better protected and potentially fresher, some practitioners believe that if the probiotic needs to be refrigerated before you consume it, it stands little chance of remaining intact until it arrives where it’s needed in your digestive system. I believe finding the right probiotic for you is more a matter of trial and error. The proof is in the poop! And there’s a good chance you won’t need to try more than three at the most to find a supplement that works for you.

is your appendix really useless?

Connected to your large intestine, your appendix was once believed to be a “vestigial” organ, meaning that it doesn’t have a function in the body and is expendable. But is that true? It is now believed that your appendix may enhance your immunity by holding a blueprint for your beneficial gut flora (intestinal bacteria).

If you’ve had to take antibiotics, for example, you have wiped out all of your good intestinal bacteria. How does your body then repopulate the flora it needs? It initializes a re-colonization of gut flora, and your appendix may play a part in this initialization, as well as determining the type of flora your body needs. With the proper balance of gut flora, your body is better able to fight off infections.

So, what happens if your appendix has been removed? It becomes even more important to eat probiotic-rich foods and reinoculate with fermented foods and probiotic supplements.

Be sure to eat good sources of soluble fiber as well, which “feed” the good bacteria and allow them to improve your digestion. These include sweet potatoes, plantains, taro root, cassava, butternut squash, or any vegetable, root, or tuber with starchy flesh. Be sure to peel or remove any skin on these vegetables because they contain insoluble fiber, which is quite difficult to digest.

Diet isn’t the only thing you need to address for optimal large intestine function. If you’re stressed, your body will not be able to maintain its normal peristaltic (digestive muscle) motions, which move your food particles through your digestive system. Stress can cause these muscle contractions to speed up or slow down. This happens frequently with travelers whose bodies are just “off” due to time changes, air pressure changes during airplane flights, or changes in the types of foods they eat.

Even changing your position during a bowel movement can help. Sitting on a toilet actually works against the way we were designed to defecate naturally because it causes the rectum to maintain a bent shape. On the other hand, squatting allows the rectum to achieve a straightened shape for easy stool passage.

quick tips: optimizing digestion

Brain

Your brain talks to your stomach and to the rest of your digestive system. The best thing that you can do is sit down and relax before eating any food, whether it’s a snack or a full meal. Take the time to decompress and get into the right state of mind for slow, mindful eating. The rest and digest mode is the first step in digesting food properly.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14