Photo Courtesy: Erin Vermeer
It is just not normal to persistently feel stomach cramps, gas, bloating and other similar discomforts. When this is our constant reality, it is difficult to enjoy life. It is crucial to subdue stomach pains and discomforts; not just with the “temporary relief” of harmful over-the-counter and prescription drugs, but true, lasting relief. Working within the natural rhythms of our bodies brings such a relief. Here are some Natural Digestion Remedies.
Digestive Health
We all learned the same lessons about our bodies in grammar school, yet somehow, for many of us, these lessons just didn’t translate into digestive health. The multitude of tastes and treats available to us in our modern world seem to cause us to deny the simple realities of safe consumption. Our fast paced lives and desire for convenience also causes us to indulge in harmful eating habits.
Pain does, however, put things back in perspective; or at least it should. The pain is our bodies’ crying out to us to listen, stop, reassess, and provide relief. Digestive problems can lead to very serious, life-threatening illnesses.
Improve Your Eating Regimen
Education, or re-education, can inspire us to be more in tune with our bodies, and to re-institute lifesaving habits into our eating regimen. Rather than continually eating Tums, Rolaids or taking stronger prescription remedies, we can incorporate a few simple practices. They may sound too simple, but consider the harmful side effects of the drugs and then enjoy the simplicity.
Chewing Your Food
Chewing your food thoroughly is one of the simplest ways to begin to effect a change towards better digestion. This requires a commitment from us to our bodies. Allot adequate time to eat and take time to chew. Put the eating utensil down between bites. Allow the saliva’s digestive enzymes to do their portion. We all remember that lesson.
“If under pressure at meals, simply chew, and let the chewing relax you. Then you can be grateful and enjoy the whole spectrum of tastes and aromas that make up the meal.
Carbohydrate digestion begins in the mouth. Thorough chewing turns grains and other complex carbohydrates into satisfying sugars and makes oils, proteins and minerals available for maximum absorption.”
– Healing With Whole Foods/Paul Pitchford
Food Combining
One other lesson we may have forgotten, is how each food group requires a different enzyme for digestion. When foods from different food groups are eaten together, one type of enzyme sometimes overrides the other, causing one of the food groups to remain undigested in our stomachs. Undigested, fermented food is the major cause for our digestive woes. Somehow, so many of our eating traditions and standards completely ignore this fact. Therefore, it requires great personal consciousness and discipline to eat in a manner that isn’t harmful.
“Common digestive disturbances from poor food combining include decreased nutrient assimilation, intestinal gas, and abdominal pain and swelling. If such eating practices continue over time, degenerative conditions can ensue.”
“What we have discovered is that people with allergic reactions to certain foods, are not always allergic to those foods, but are reacting to poor food combinations.”
– Healing With Whole Foods/Paul Pitchford
For instance, fruits digest best when eaten alone. Proteins and carbohydrates should not be eaten together in the same meal. This means we have to find pleasure in eating either proteins with vegetables or starches with vegetables. When we eat sandwiches, what lies between the bread (a carbohydrate), needs to be a vegetable or a carbohydrate as well.
It can, at first glance, seem limiting, or even completely foreign. Yet, with our stomachs in mind, we can find creative, delicious ways to stay within these healthy guidelines. There’s a great website that has a very interactive, educational and creative system for proper food combining, without sacrificing all your favorites. Visit GreatTasteNoPain for guidance and ideas.
Lifestyle and Habits Affect Our Digestive Systems
Various lifestyle habits destroy the helpful microorganisms in our digestive system. Overeating, improper food combining, taking antibiotics and prescription drugs, and excessive consumption of processed, chemical laden foods all create harmful, bad bacteria to proliferate in our digestive system. So, replenishing the good bacteria/microorganisms is crucial for better digestion and alleviation of gas, belching, bloating and the like.
A good probiotic, containing acidophilus and bifidus, can greatly improve digestion and bring true and lasting relief. There is a great plant-based probiotic at the following site, which gives insight on probiotics, instructions on how to incorporate them into your diet and how- with the addition of supplemental digestive enzymes- they can eradicate pain and release the energy you need for life. Visit enzymeessentials.com.
Along with these helpful habits, regular exercise and deep breathing will help to oxygenate the body and improve muscle tone of your inner organs. This will assist in the digestive process.
“Exercise is essential. Just as a damp cloth does not mold if it is hung out in circulating air, appropriate exercise oxygenates the body”
– Healing With Whole Foods/Paul Pitchford
Body’s Natural Rhythm
It is pleasantly surprising, and amazing, how returning to these simple, basic tenets for better digestion can brighten your days. No pain, no drug side effects, just the refreshing feeling of being back in tune with your body’s natural rhythm. It is well worth the re-education and whatever discipline is involved because you emerge with health and energy that translate into a better quality of life.
Andrea Phillips writes on an array of topics like Health and Nutrition, Organic Agriculture, and Relationships, to name a few. She has also written for a publishing company in Washington, DC, and an organic agricultural newsletter in Israel.
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