Strengthening Your Digestion

Acupuncture

Classical Acupuncture seeks to aid your body regain homeostasis and heal itself by achieving and maintaining an energetic balance throughout the body; this is achieved by treating at the level of the cause of the underlying imbalance.

Acupuncture can greatly help regulate your digestive system.  In addition you may experience a sense of relaxed calm and increased vitality, both of which will contribute greatly towards improving your digestion, as it has been shown that digestive problems can often be linked with stress and the person’s emotional state.

Dietary Therapy

Using food therapy and making the proper adjustments to your lifestyle will help restore you to a state of energetic balance, and encourage your body’s natural cycles to function efficiently again.

1. Include in your diet plenty of:

• Fresh, lightly cooked vegetables; avoid raw vegetables as they are more difficult for your stomach to process
• Fibres, especially from whole grains (but avoid wheat, especially white flour products) such as brown rice, quinoa, oats, millet, rye.
• Beans and lentils.
• Eat small amounts of animal protein as it is harder to digest and have fish and white meat rather than red meat or fatty meats (sausage, ham,…). Think of it as flavouring for your meals, rather than the core of it.
• These foods will help your digestion: carrot, potato, sweet potato, pearl barley, adzuki beans; in addition, adding aromatic spices and herbs to cooking like star anise, cardamom, coriander root, turmeric, cumin, caraway, marjoram and tarragon will help stimulate digestion.
• Linseeds in the morning will also help your digestion if it is sluggish; you can either have them on their own or sprinkled on your food.  You can get them from the health food shop.
• Probiotics can help strengthen your gut flora and can be either used as supplements or consumed through foods such as sauerkraut, miso, kefir, kemchi, among others.

2. Have herbal teas and plenty of water

Along with fibre intake, it is crucial to include plenty of fluids.  This may be water but in cases of constipation herbal teas can be a great help too.

There are herbs containing digestive enzymes that have been used for centuries to promote a healthy digestion and in many traditions herbal teas are taken daily as medicine.  For best digestive benefits, try drinking one of these teas 30 minutes to 1 hour after every meal:

• Peppermint: increases gastric secretions, relaxes the intestines, soothes spasms, settles the stomach and alleviates gas.
• Liquorice: thought to have soothing and anti-inflammatory action that help relieve gastro-intestinal irritations.
• Ginger: soothes the stomach's digestive lining and balance gastric juices. It also facilitates the absorption of nutrients and the elimination of wastes.
• Chamomile: excellent herb for settling the stomach. It also soothes the nervous system and relaxes the muscles, making it a perfect choice for the evening.
• If tea is not your thing, you can get digestive benefits from drinking a glass of hot water with fresh lemon juice squeezed in it first thing in the morning (before food!). This lemon drink will help cleanse and move the residues from your intestines.

3. Avoid foods that may impair your digestion

• Avoid sugar: Our digestion is adversely affected by an excessive amount of sweet foods in the diet - reducing sweets and high GI (glycaemic index) foods like fruit juices will help to improve your digestion.
• Avoid "sweet" tasting food; this includes fruit!  Although rich in fibres, fruit also have a high sugar content, and too much sweet foods can impair your digestion so avoid high quantities of fruit. You can have some but in moderation.
• Avoid cold foods and drinks: drink room temperature or warm water; if you want cold water, drink it not too cold and use lemon or mint to make it more refreshing.
• Eat very little greasy or oily food
• Avoid alcohol
• Avoid dairy
• Avoid caffeine, especially if your stools are dry: it is a diuretic and dries you out further.
• Avoid yeast
• Avoid processed foods and ready meals
• Spices like ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper are beneficial IN MODERATION; too much of them leads to too much "heat" in your intestines, which you want to avoid when you have inflamed intestines or dry stools.

Avoid:

• Eating late at night
• Eating in a hurry
• Overeating
• Eating while stressed

4. Get moving

Regular exercise will get the energy moving in your body and should help a sluggish system where there is not enough energy to move the stool, as is often the case with constipation.

Exercise also will often help your body relax which will also help a slow digestion so whether you prefer yoga, a run outside or a brisk walk along the seafront get moving as often as possible.