Feeling bloated or fatigued? Gaining weight? These symptoms can be linked to the health and integrity of our digestive system. Often when we think of the ‘digestive system’ people think of the stomach, however the digestive system involves a complex network of organs, blood vessels and nerves. Here are some of my favorite holistic ways to ensure the digestive system is running as effectively and efficiently as possible.
1. Warm Up Your Stomach: Just like you muscles, your stomach needs to wake up slowly in the morning. Sipping a glass of warm lemon water during your morning routine is the perfect way to stimulate your system without putting it into ‘over-drive’. This technique helps to prime your digestion and increase your metabolism for the remainder of the day.
2. Smell Your Food – The olfactory cranial nerve is responsible for our response to smell. It is also directly connected to the central nervous system and when the smell of food enters the olfactory canal it creates a ‘parasympathetic’ nervous response that results in increased saliva production and increased stomach acid secretions. By adding aromatic spices such as cinnamon or pepper to your food and taking the time to enjoy the aroma of your food, your body will be better prepared to digest properly.
3. Help Your Stomach: Improving your stomach’s ability to break down the building blocks of proteins and complex carbohydrates is wonderful for for digestion… especially before eating a rich meal or lots of protein! Consuming 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in half a cup of warm water before meals is a great way to improve your stomach’s ability to break down complex food and improve nutrient absorption.
4. Chew! Digestion in the stomach is both mechanical and chemical. The stomach both churns food as well as uses acid to further breakdown the building blocks of complex food. Chewing your food into small pieces means your stomach doesn’t need to spend as much time breaking food down. Your mom was right – Chew your food!
5. Improve Intestinal Flora: You may have heard of probiotics, they are the ‘good bacteria’ that line our intestinal tract and help with nutrient absorption. However taking a prebiotic can be just as important as probiotics. Prebiotics help to feed and nurture the healthy growth and maintenance of probiotic bacteria, thus creating a sustainable digestive system that thrives on its own.
So there you have it – 5 simple ways of supporting your digestion, your body will thank you!
Contributed by: Sara Lynn
Founder, Well World
Great tips Sara! I love to smell my food and use organic apple cider vinegar all the time. Another thing that improves digestion big time is eating fermented foods such as plain yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut and kimchi, a Korean side dish.