By Sangita Pedro, ND
We have all had the post-holiday experience of feeling sluggish and heavy after overindulging in rich food, sugar, and alcohol topped off with a hearty dose of stress! This is probably why gyms, yoga studios and doctor’s offices fill up quickly after the first of the year. We all want to start the year off feeling good. Well, if you want to start your new year off on a healthy path, improving your gut is a great way to start. Even the healthiest of us could likely use a little tune-up after the holidays to help us sleep better, feel more energized and get through those workouts with a smile.
Digestion 101
Good digestion is the foundation of health.
Digestion provides the body with the raw materials it needs to carry out thousands of essential processes every day, including building hormones and neurotransmitters, creating cells of all kinds, and producing cellular energy.
Where does healthy digestion begin? In the mind! Even before food enters our mouths, the thought of the meal we’re about to enjoy makes us salivate, which triggers stomach acid production. With the first whiffs of dinner, digestion is already underway.
Stomach acid serves two primary purposes in the story – it breaks down the food we consume into smaller pieces and it kills any unwanted bacteria, viruses, or parasites that might be hiding in our food.
As the food leaves the stomach, it triggers the pancreas to release digestive enzymes for carbohydrate and protein digestion. Next, it prompts the liver and gallbladder to release bile for fat absorption.
If all goes well, the result of this process is a perfectly broken-down pile of nutrients that winds its way slowly through the roughly 20 feet of the small intestine, where all the macro and micro nutrients are absorbed and sent to where they are needed in the body. Anything not absorbed in the small intestine is sent to the large intestine for disposal.
In a not-so-healthy system we might experience symptoms like these:
Heartburn, indigestion or reflux
Abdominal bloating
Excessive burping or gas
Bad breath
Increased or decreased appetite
Constipation
Diarrhea
Fatigue
Abdominal cramps and pain
Or we might end up with any one of these diagnoses:
IBS with diarrhea and/or constipation
Crohn’s disease
Ulcerative colitis
GERD
Collagenous colitis
Whether you are currently undergoing treatment for gut imbalance or you simply want to optimize your digestion, follow these simple tips to improve your gut and your overall health:
When to Eat:
Eat three meals daily
Leave 3-4 hours between meals with no snacking, only water or herbal tea
Leave 3-4 hours between dinner and sleep with only water
The two largest meals of the day should be breakfast and lunch
Lightest meal of the day should be dinner
No food after 7pm
Go to sleep by 10pm
Get up by 6am
Eat breakfast within two hours of waking
How to eat:
Enjoy your food before you start eating – look at it, smell it, appreciate it
Eat slowly and chew thoroughly
Sit down and relax while eating
Eat with others as often as possible
Don’t do other things while eating – phone, computer, books, etc.
What to eat:
What we eat is unique to each of us and will depend on our age, environment, and nutritional needs. There is no perfect diet, there is only the diet that is right for you in the moment.
If you are still experiencing symptoms after making these changes, there may be something else going on that warrants further testing and more specific treatment.