The human digestive tract is responsible for absorbing the essential nutrients your body needs and then delivering them to their appropriate purposes. At 30 feet, it is crucial to your overall health.
What you put into your body has a direct impact on the functionality of your digestive tract. With that in mind, here are five tips for maintaining healthy digestion.
1. Choose Food Wisely
With so many harmful chemicals being used on our foods in the name of convenience, being mindful of where your food hales from and how it is processed is more important than ever. The unnatural substances often found in processed foods are disastrous for digestive health.
To combat this effect, choose organic produce, meat, poultry, and fish. Remember to eat plenty of fiber-rich foods. Avoid processed foods at all costs. If you must buy these items, pick products that have the least amount of ingredients listed and that you can identify each ingredient.
2. Start With Your Teeth
Good digestion begins in your mouth. Enzymes in saliva begin breaking down food before it reaches your stomach. To ease digestive stress, chew thoroughly and slowly. Devouring your food too quickly prevents these enzymes from doing their job. Chewing slowly also gives your body time to feel full, which helps with weight management.
3. Use Smaller Plates
Overeating results in stress on your digestive tract. When you eat too much, your body struggles to break down foods and absorb vitamins and minerals. This results in weight gain as well as other health concerns.
A simple trick to prevent overeating is to use smaller plates. If your plate is small, you can fill it up without worrying about over-indulging. This makes it look like you’ve eaten a lot, telling your mind you don’t need more.
4. Incorporate Probiotics
Your intestines house good bacteria and yeast, known as microflora. These microflora aid in digestion and keep your immune system healthy. Most people have imbalanced systems, meaning there aren’t enough microflora. This can cause various illnesses.
To keep your intestines in balance, take a probiotic supplement. You can also get essential microflora from probiotic-rich foods like yogurt and pickles.
5. Stay Hydrated, Keep Moving
Everyone knows that drinking water is important, but the numerous benefits can’t be touted enough. In regard to digestion, water acts as a detoxifying agent, flushing away environmental toxins.
Also helping to detoxify your body and keep things working is exercise. Exercise allows food to move through your large intestine more quickly, creating a healthy digestive system.
At Matrix Age Management, we offer personalized plans to help you maintain an ideal level of health. Through diet, exercise, and medical grade supplements, we give you the tools to create the lifestyle you crave. Reach out to us to learn more.
