Why should you try to improve your digestive health? The digestive system is one of the critical parts of the human body because it plays a role in boosting one’s immunity. The system does this by breaking nutrients down into small portions the body can absorb and use them to repair cells, facilitate growth, and generate energy.
Having A Better Digestive Tract
Like any other part of the body, the digestive tract can be affected by diseases. Occasionally, you may experience an upset stomach, heartburn, constipation, nausea, or diarrhea. When you experience these frequently, your life can be disrupted significantly.
Fortunately, there are several things you can do to improve your digestive health. Here are some of them:
1. Include Healthy Fats In Your Diet
To facilitate digestion, you need to eat enough fats as they’re vital in providing energy after each meal. They also enhance the absorption of nutrients into the bloodstream after digestion has taken place. Including fats like omega-3 fatty acids in your diet can enhance gut health by reducing the risk of developing inflammatory diseases such as ulcerative colitis.
Common sources of omega-3 fatty acids include chia seeds, flaxseeds, walnuts, and fatty fish like sardines, mackerel, and salmon.
2. Eat Foods That Support Gut Health
One of the things you need to do to improve your gut health naturally is to ensure you eat foods supporting gut health. To function properly, the gut requires a good balance of healthy bacteria and fiber. The best way to achieve this is to take natural foods like vegetables and fruits in maintaining digestive health and preventing diseases. Intake of foods high in dietary fiber including beans, legumes, bananas, oats, berries, leeks, and asparagus are highly encouraged.
Incorporating Total Restore, a dietary supplement that supports healthy gut lining, can also enhance digestive function.
Dietary fiber is a critical part of a gut healing diet because it solidifies stool to make it weightier and softer. This enables the waste to be bulky, which makes it easier to pass and ultimately reduce constipation.
Fiber, previously considered only in relation to its benefits with regards to bowel movements, is also beneficial for a range of health outcomes, including better glucose metabolism, and even improved management of blood pressure.
3. Add Probiotics To Your Diet
Probiotics play a role in balancing good and bad bacteria in the gut. You can get this by eating fermented foods like yogurt, kimchi, tempeh, kefir, miso, and kimchi. Though the quality of these foods may differ, their support of the gut microbiome is immense.
You can also enhance your probiotic intake by taking supplements. But before that, talk to a gut specialist like Dr. Ruscio to ensure what you’d consume it right.
4. Refrain From Processed Foods
Another way to improve gut health naturally is to reduce the intake of processed, high-fat, high-sugar foods. Having these kinds of foods decreases the number of good bacteria present in the gut. The outcome of this imbalance is increased sugar cravings that further damage the digestive tract.
To enhance gut health, consider replacing processed foods, fats, and sugar with lean proteins and plant-based foods rich in dietary fiber, which contributes to a healthy gut microbiome.
5. Drink Plenty Of Water
Common digestive tract ailments like constipation are caused by a low intake of water. Ideally, you need to drink at least one and a half liters every day to keep constipation at bay. If you engage in rigorous exercises or live in a place where the weather is hot, you’ll need to drink more water.
Besides drinking, consider boosting your fluid intake by taking herbal teas or other non-caffeinated drinks like seltzer water. The other thing you could do is eat vegetables or fruits containing high amounts of water. These include zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, grapefruits, melons, celery, peaches, and strawberries.
6. Keep Stress Levels Low
It’s easy to wonder what stress levels have to do with digestive health, but it’s highly connected. Stress hormones affect the digestion process directly, resulting in constipation, diarrhea, stomach ulcers, and irritable bowel syndrome.
Stress also affects digestion because when the body adopts a fight or flight mode, the digestive system gets the message that there’s no time to rest and digest. At this point, the energy and blood are directed away from the digestive tract. This has a huge effect on the digestion process.
The gut is also affected by anything that affects the brain. To boost your digestive health naturally, consider taking stress management training. As such, engaging in activities such as relaxation, meditation, deep belly breathing, and cognitive behavioral therapy can go a long way.
Also, avoid wearing tight, restrictive clothing when you have serious digestive issues. Wearing such will make the condition more painful and cause stress. Instead, have comfortable clothes that make you feel good.
7. Pay Attention To Food As You Eat
Paying attention to the food you eat is the key to prevent common gut problems like gas, bloating, and indigestion. When eating, be mindful of the food by paying close attention to every aspect of the eating process.
During mealtime, turn off your television and keep the phone away. Eating mindfully also involves smelling the food and noticing how it looks on your plate as you assess its taste, temperature, and texture. It also means selecting every bite you consume consciously.
8. Avoid Unhealthy Habits
Engaging in unhealthy habits like drinking a lot of alcohol, smoking, and eating late in the night can affect the health of your gut negatively. For instance, smoking increases the risk of developing acid reflux and stomach ulcers. With people suffering from gastrointestinal ulcers and ulcerative colitis, this habit has also been linked to increased surgeries.
These digestive issues can be reduced significantly by quitting. Alcohol and cigarette have been linked to increased production of acid in the stomach. This can lead to issues such as stomach ulcers, acid reflux, and heartburn.
Excessive consumption of alcohol can also lead to gut bacteria, a leaky gut, and inflammatory bowel disease. Reducing or avoiding the beverage altogether can improve your digestive health. Indigestion and heartburn can also be prevented by avoiding late-night eating.
Final Thoughts
The condition of your gut could have an adverse effect on your overall health, which is why you need to ensure it stays healthy. If you want to improve your gut health naturally, start applying the tips discussed above.