*Preparing the body to eat can give you a great digestive start.*
Do you wrestle with digestive issues of any kind and feel tired after eating a large meal? Many of us do. Even if you have other symptoms it can be coming from your gut. There are things our ancestors did and things we can reimplement.
Let's dive in and take even just one thing to try today. Supporting your digestion can promote overall health and wellness more than you know and many have healed themselves by changing not only what they eat, but how they eat.
Our ancestors used to eat a substantial amount of bitter foods, raw foods, ate way less food, and did not have access to processed foods, lucky people. They moved their bodies more, were not in a hurry, unless being chased, and ate less dehydrating foods.
Let's break these down with actionable steps you can do.
1. Bitters
Eating bitters: Bitters can be eaten or drunk. Bitters to be eaten consist of arugula, dandelion, radicchio, and kale. My son and I eat arugula 10 minutes before the main meals of the day.
Enzymes: This primes the body for digestion by releasing digestive enzymes necessary at this time. This can be very beneficial in absorbing nutrients and reducing gas and bloating.
Bitter Tonics: You can purchase a bitter tonic through a trusted herbalist to drink in water before meals as well.
My experience: When I first introduced this to my son he hated them, and I don’t often use that word. A week later he is volunteering to eat it and even reminding me because he loves it so much.
2. Apple cider vinegar
Studies: Apple cider vinegar has been studied widely and its health benefits have become very obvious.
Take a shot: Taking a shot of this cider can also prime the digestive system for breaking down food.
Acidity: If you have problems with acidity you will not want to use this method.
How much: You can drink 1 tablespoon in a glass of filtered room-temperature water 20 minutes before your meal. This can help control blood sugar and weight.
3. Movement after meals
A1C: 20 minutes of movement after meals can bring your A1C down and help move things through your digestive system at a healthy rate.
Yoga: If you are unable to walk you can do a light yoga, nothing that turns you upside down as this causes food to go in the wrong direction.
Keeps flow going: When food sits in our stomach for too long it can cause gas, bloating, reflux, constipation, and more.
4. Mindset
Reduce stress: Our bodies want to be calm and in a stress-free environment with our minds only on food.
When we are stressed our bodies spend their energy on other survival things, like possibly running.
Leave technology: Putting down your phone, turning off your TV, turning down the lights (especially at night time), and talking about peaceful things helps your digestive system be calm and digest and absorb the nutrients.
5. Eating only to 80% full
Gut overflow: Imagine if you were baking and you filled a bowl to the very top with all the ingredients. Now you needed to stir it, what would happen? It would spill over and probably not get stirred all the way. The same goes for your stomach.
Reflux: If you load it to full you can have some reflux spilling up your esophagus and have lots of undigested food.
Reduces over fermentation: Undigested food will ferment causing all sorts of issues. When you do this over and over the problem can become detrimental to your health.
Reduced backing-up symptoms: You can get a backed-up system resulting in colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, liver issues, SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) Gall bladder removal, and much more.
6. Chewing your food
If you hear your mom talking when you read this, that’s ok I am a mom.
Use your teeth: Our guts don't have teeth so our bodies rely on our actual teeth.
Helps absorb nutrients: When our food is fully chewed the nutrients can then be absorbed.
Helps distribute enzymes: Chewing your food well allows the much-needed enzymes for digestion to mix into this food evenly. When we don’t chew your food you risk the chunks fermenting and sticking to the walls of the intestines and guts.
Fullness messages to the brain: Our bodies register and take an inventory of what we are eating based on our chewing.
7. And lastly, for this blog at least….. drink your fluids between meals!!
Enzymes dilution: When you drink with meals you dilute the much-needed enzymes used during digestion.
Stomach acid dilution: You also dilute the HCL (Hydrochloric acid, stomach acid) needed for digestion.
Reflux: Too little or a dilution of this can lead to reflux and esophageal damage.
Drinking during meals also increases the pressure in your stomach and causes reflux.
Resources
It becomes more and more apparent through research and studies that walking after you eat is very beneficial.
Apple cider vinegar and lipid profiles and glycemic parameters.
