If
there is a symptomatic problem with your digestive system
- moderate, occasional with pain, or serious - it has
to be healed. But health is not just the absence of
the pain or symptoms. Holistic health is defined in
terms of the functioning of the whole person rather
than by the presence or absence of a specific symptom
or disease. It encompasses the psychological, mental,
emotional, social, spiritual and environmental aspects
of the individual. While a topical and specific solution
may cure the pain or symptoms, unless it’s
approached holistically, the underlying causes may still
be present. The process of restoring wellness
to the body begins by creating a lifelong maintenance
and prevention program.
Manage
Stress
The digestive system is very sensitive to stress levels.
When you feel stressed, your body reacts as if you're
in danger by pumping extra blood to your muscles so
that you have more energy to fight off an attack or
run away leaving less blood volume to support digestion.
Your digestive muscles exert less effort. The capability
of enzyme producing organs is affected by stress and
there is a notable increase in intestinal permeability.
The passage of food waste through your digestive tract
can also be slowed down or speeded up by the chemicals
released in your bloodstream. All of these reactions
impair digestion. In the complicated, crowded, busy
modern life stress is pervasive. Worry, anxiety, anger
and fear are often part of this life and can arise from
relationships, work, finances or even the commute to
work. It’s extremely important to recognize when
you're feeling stressed and to take steps to not let
the stress build up. While everyone has their own ways
to relax and slow down here are some techniques that
can help:
• Deep breathing
• Meditation
• Yoga
• A warm bath
• Massage
• Spend quiet time in nature
• Regular exercise
Diet
for Improved Digestion and Health
What you put on your plate each day has a profound effect
on the state of your digestion and health. However,
it's not only what you eat that's important, but also
how much, how often, how regularly and in what state
of mind you eat that will determine how you will digest
that meal. Here are some habits to help you prevent
digestive failure and maintain good digestive health.
1.
Chewing food thoroughly
When food isn’t chewed thoroughly the amylase
enzymes from the saliva don’t come in contact
with the food for long enough to begin the digestive
process and larger bits of insufficiently chewed food
move to the stomach – often causing gas or indigestion.
Eating too rapidly can also cause bloating because excessive
air is ingested. Digestion is vastly improved by simply
taking more time to thoroughly chew food, so that the
first phase of carbohydrate digestion functions properly.
As a start, try chewing food at least 30 times
so that it is fully liquefied. The more thoroughly food
is chewed, the better the digestive process will function.
2.
High fiber diet
Fiber is a non-nutritious part of plant foods (fruits,
vegetables and whole grain products) that passes through
the bowels undigested. Despite its lack of nutrients,
fiber plays an important role in digestion and elimination.
Fiber comes in two forms, soluble and insoluble. Soluble
fiber absorbs up to 15 times its weight in water as
it moves through your digestive tract absorbing toxins
and producing softer stools. It is most abundant in
oats, legumes and fruits. Insoluble fiber is found in
vegetables and whole grains and gives stool its bulk.
Unfortunately, many people don't get enough fiber. Americans
typically consume 10 to 15 grams of fiber daily with
dietary guidelines recommending at least twice that
amount. To boost your daily fiber intake and promote
overall health some experts suggest up to 6 to 11 servings
of whole grains, at least 3 servings of vegetables and
2 servings of fruit. Other options include replacing
some meals with a high fiber meal
replacers or fiber supplements.
3.
Drink enough fluid
Proper hydration promotes healthy digestion by lubricating
food waste so that it passes more easily through your
digestive tract. Fluids also soften stool, helping to
prevent constipation. Water is generally the best beverage.
However cold liquids or excessive liquid intake should
be avoided during meals. Cold beverages slow the digestive
process and too much liquid with meals dilutes enzymes
and interferes with digestive processes.
4.
How much to eat, when and how?
Your body is able to produce only a certain volume of
digestive juices and large meals put increased demands
on the digestive system and decrease digestive efficiency.
Large amounts of food also increase food waste and discomfort.
Your body is designed to digest moderate portions effectively
and safely. Digestive organs also seem to operate best
for most people when they follow a regular schedule
of small to moderate meals with sufficient time between
meals for the digestive system to rest. It’s also
important to be relaxed when you eat and to pay attention
to what you are doing (focused on, or at least conscious
of, the fact that you are eating rather than focused
on another task). Eating while you feel stressed interferes
with normal functioning of your intestines. Eating the
same food repeatedly day after day can increase food
sensitivities so a rotation of foods is recommended.
Enhance
Digestion with Digestive Enzyme Supplements
The enzymes naturally present in raw food play an essential
role in digestion. These enzymes are available quickly
to begin breaking down food and later combine with those
your body produces so that your body's enzymes don’t
have to handle all the work. Unfortunately most
enzymes in food are lost in cooking and processing.
When enzymes are missing from your food, the full burden
of digestion falls on your own digestive system which
can lead to an over stressed digestive system and incomplete
digestion. Since the body puts a higher priority on
digestion than on maintaining health it will use enzymes
from the immune system to finish digestion. A solution
is the use of enzyme supplements
to enhance the enzymes available in raw food and replace
those lost when food is cooked or processed. Food can
sit in your stomach for nearly an hour before your body's
digestive enzymes are secreted. It is during this time
that food and supplemental enzymes do their best work
breaking down complex food molecules like carbohydrates
to simple sugars, proteins to amino acids, and triglycerides
to fatty acids and glycerol. In addition, enzyme supplementation
enables more digestion to begin in the gastric region
and eases the burden on the lower digestive tract. The
earlier digestion begins the greater the likelihood
that no undigested food will enter the colon where bacteria
can feed upon it, causing problems like gas and bloating.
As mentioned above, enzyme supplementation can
also insure that your body doesn’t use enzymes
from the immune system for digestion. Today's
typical diet of cooked, canned and convenience foods
make it very important to take supplemental
enzymes with each meal to relieve some of your body's
digestive stress.
Eliminate
Toxins
The toxins are substances foreign to the body that pose
a threat. As a reaction to toxins the body first tries
eliminate them and then to build a barrier between the
toxin and its own cells – in other words inflammation.
When toxins can’t be eliminated fast enough they
may be stored in various organs in the body’s
attempt to protect itself. Toxins stored in the body,
if they continue to build, will eventually overwhelm
the system causing serious and/or chronic disease. Colon
cleansing is the first step in detoxification. Even
if there is a daily elimination, there can still be
considerable waste clogging the lower intestines. Colon
hydrotherapy is the therapeutic application of water
in the colon. Unlike chemical laxatives, which encourage
dependency, colon hydrotherapy actually helps to tone
the bowel so that it resumes its normal function. Hydrotherapy
sessions can be used to ‘re-educate’ the
bowel to function normally. There are also many effective
herbal cleansing formulas containing some of the 25
or more herbs effective in detoxification. Dandelion
stimulates bile and acts as a gentle laxative. Aloe,
rhubarb and triphala stimulate peristalsis and magnesium
hydroxide regulates water absorption in the bowel. Here
are some suggestions to help manage toxins:
- Detoxification
of the body on a regular (but not too frequent) basis
to eliminate those toxins already in the system. Care
has to be exercised in managing the exposure to the
toxins as they are flushed from the body.
- A toxin
free diet through organically grown fruits and vegetables
- Meat and
dairy products from animals raised without the use
of steroids and antibiotics.
- Avoid
commercial eggs. Choose fertile ones laid by free-range
chickens.
- Fiber
rich diet. The right kind of fiber is critical in
adding proper bulk. Ideally a daily intake of 30-40
grams of fiber. A diet with enough fiber (20 to 35
grams each day) helps form soft, bulky stool. High-fiber
foods include beans, whole grains and bran cereals,
fresh fruits, and vegetables such as asparagus, brussels
sprouts, cabbage, and carrots. Limit foods that have
little or no fiber, such as ice cream, cheese, meat
and processed foods. Since it’s hard to eat
30-40g of fiber per day through diet alone, take advantage
of high fiber meal replacers
and fiber supplements.
- Daily
intake of essential fatty acids. Essential fatty acids
(EFAs) are fats that lubricate and soothe the colon
but the body does not produce them itself. Fish oils,
flax oils and borage oils are the best source and
they are high in Omega 3 or 9.
- Regular
Exercise, Steam Baths, Saunas to eliminate toxins
by sweating through skin.
Balance
Gut Flora with Probiotics
The intestinal tract contains more than 400 species
of bacteria or intestinal flora. Although the word "bacteria"
is usually associated with “bad” or pathogenic
bacteria and words like germs and illness, there are
in fact both neutral bacteria and good bacteria necessary
to human health. All of these bacteria, beneficial,
neutral and pathogenic, are competing for food and space
in the digestive tract and their balance is critical
to good digestive health and the immune system. A healthy
balance of intestinal flora would approximate 80% beneficial
& neutral and up to 20% pathogenic bacteria. Though
human beings usually start life with a relatively healthy
intestinal tract, as we age lifestyle and environmental
factors such as stress, chemical exposure, poor diet,
overuse of antibiotics and other drugs can greatly reduce
the number of friendly bacteria allowing pathogenic
bacteria to take hold and cause problems. An overgrowth
of bad bacteria such as e.coli, salmonella, Giardia,
shigella or staphylococcus can lead to chronic gastrointestinal
inflammation then to serious gastrointestinal diseases.
A number of strains of beneficial bacteria including
Lactobacillus acidophilus, L. casei and Bifidobacterium
bifidum help the human body to function, maintain health
and fight illness and disease. These beneficial bacteria
or probiotics, are normal inhabitants of the intestinal
tract and not only support digestion by breaking foods
down into their component parts for absorption into
the body but also crowd bad bacteria and keep them from
becoming too numerous. They are required for bacterial
fermentation of dietary fiber, which results in short-chain
fatty acid production vital for the production of new
cells to rebuild the intestinal tract. A good food source
of probiotics is raw cultured (sourly fermented) vegetables,
yogurt and kefir (a creamy drink made of fermented cow’s
milk.) Supplementing our diets with an effective probiotic
supplement re-populates the intestinal tract with
friendly strains and helps rebalance the intestinal
tract and guard against disease. There are many effective
probiotic supplements available usually containing between
1 and 4 or more billion live organisms per capsule,
tablet or gram. Some products contain only the bacteria
and inactive carriers while others include probiotic
blends that can include enzymes and immune system boosters.
It is important that the expiration date be listed on
the label as the live bacteria will die over time, especially
if exposed to heat or oxygen. To rebuild and maintain
the ideal intestinal environment, probiotic
supplements with the multiple strains are recommended.
A single strain product with specific well-tested transit
strains such as L. casei or L. bulgaricus can be used
also to boost the maintenance dose.
Repair
the Intestinal Mucosa
The healthy lining of the digestive tract prevents toxins
from entering the body. When this wall, the intestinal
mucosa, is unhealthy toxins can pass into the blood
stream and circulate throughout the body. This condition,
called leaky gut syndrome, is serious in itself and
leads to many chronic disorders. L-glutamine is considered
to be an essential nutrient for the small intestine
cells; it is their primary metabolic fuel. Glutamine
deficiency can result in significant functional changes
in the gastrointestinal tract and a dietary deficiency
of glutaminie is associated with degeneration of the
small intestines. L-Glutamine 
prevent and repair damage to the intestinal mucosa
and therefore Glutamine is a very important nutrient
for the healing of leaky gut and should be included
in the healing protocol. The average therapeutic dose
is app. 5 g per day and it is best taken in powdered
form.
Interested
in finding more about mentioned healing process? Click
links below for more information:
Probiotics
Fiber
Digestive Enzymes
Glutamine Powder
Diet & Meal Replacament
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