1. Take Your Time Eating
Do you scarf your food down as quickly as possible?
Instead, take time at each meal to bless your food, pause for gratitude, or
notice what’s on your plate. Thank the person who prepared the meal and
cultivate gratitude for the animals, plants, and people who helped bring you
this nourishing meal. Try putting your fork down between bites.
Not only does this practice encourage gratitude and help you enjoy your
meal more, it actually helps your body digest food (5)!
2. Avoid Processed Foods
Most of us know the adverse effects that processed and refined foods have on our bodies, and digestion is just one more system these foods
affect. Your body does not digest fake food easily, which slows down the
absorption of nutrients from healthy foods in the process and hurts your
immune system in the long run (6).
3. Eliminate Troublesome Food Groups
Dairy, grains, and legumes are difficult to digest for those with
compromised digestive symptoms. Try eliminating these foods from your diet,
at least for a few weeks, to see how you feel. You might be able to slowly
add raw dairy products back into your diet, especially fermented dairy
products like kefir.
4. Chew Your Food
This tip seems simple—but don’t underestimate the power of properly
chewing.
Digestion begins in the mouth, where enzymes are secreted by your salivary
glands to help break down food. This helps prepare the food to be further
digested in the stomach, making digestion easier for your system down the
line.
Studies show that the popular technique of “grazing” is actually quite
harmful to your health (7). Instead, try sitting down for meals and chewing your food 32 to 36 times
per bite (8). This brings awareness to how much you chew (or don’t chew) your food and
forces you to eat at a slower, healthier rate.
5. Eat More Fermented Foods and Probiotics
Sauerkraut, kimchi, and other fermented foods are great to use as
condiments with your meals. These foods are rich in probiotics, a kind of good bacteria that aids in digestion (9). Ideally, these foods should be raw and unpasteurized. If you can’t find
them at your local supermarket, try making them at home.
Not a fan of sauerkraut? If you feel you aren’t getting enough probiotics
in your diet through fermented foods, try a NativePath Probiotic Supplement to rebalance and restore gut health.
6. Drink Bone Broth Daily
Bone broth is a superfood that’s full of gelatin—a nutrient that helps heal, seal, and nourish
the digestive tract (10). In traditional Korean cooking, bone broth is consumed regularly for its
anti-aging properties—yet another benefit of gelatin (11).
Best of all, it’s a tasty way to start your day and is easily made at home
in a crockpot or Instant Pot. Click here to get the recipe and learn more about the healing properties of bone broth.
7. Practice Womb Squatting
Have you ever wondered how humans pooped before toilets? That’s right—they
had to squat! Womb squatting is shown to be an effective way to improve
digestion by promoting proper elimination (12). It also opens up the hips and ankles after a long day of sitting at a
desk, while relieving constipation and decreasing menstrual
cramps.
Here’s a tutorial on how to safely and effectively do the womb squat.
You can also catch my podcast interview with Wellness Force Radio to learn more about the womb squat as a pain relief tool.
8. Learn to Belly Breathe
Belly breathing, also known as diaphragmatic breathing, is a technique used
to manage gastrointestinal stress. This form of deep, meditative breathing
has been shown to reduce stress, support the immune system, decrease muscle
tension, improve digestion and even increase energy (13, 14).
Try belly breathing if you’re feeling stressed or frazzled throughout the
day. To start, lay flat on your back. Take a few minutes to completely relax
and focus on the breath as your stomach rises and falls. Most of us take
very shallow breaths, so work on slowly and intentionally letting the air in
and out of your mouth or nose.
Try this technique twice a day for five minutes, preferably after big meals
as a way to help digestion.
9. Take a Collagen Supplement Daily
Collagen is the most abundant protein in your body—it’s what gives support to your hair, skin, nails, bones, joints,
and…intestinal tract.
Out of the 20 amino acids that collagen peptides contain, there are two
that stand out when it comes to gut health: Glycine and Glutamine.
Glycine—also known as the body’s simplest amino acid—has been shown to have
promising anti-inflammatory effects (15). And since inflammation is a root cause of many digestive conditions like
IBS, Chron’s disease, and ulcerative colitis, addressing it should be a top
priority.
Glutamine, on the other hand, is the most abundant amino acid in the body,
and is a key molecule utilized by intestinal cells. Many have reported
glutamine to play an active role in the functioning of the intestines and
the management of multiple intestinal diseases (16).
Just one scoop of grass-fed collagen peptides contains approximately 2,198 milligrams of glycine and 1,046
milligrams of glutamine.
10. Drink a Glass of Lemon Water
Drink a glass of warm water with lemon and a pinch of salt first thing in
the morning to help jumpstart digestion and get things moving! The salt will
help you better absorb the water and keeps you hydrated. It also promotes
vascular and neurological health while providing beneficial electrolytes.
Studies show lemon juice may help prevent weight gain, and some researchers
think lemons also contain anti-cancer properties (17, 18).
11. Eat Until You’re 80% Full
Hara hachi bu is an ancient saying, practiced in Japan, that teaches
eating until you are only 80% full (19). Our brains are about 20 to 30 minutes behind our stomachs, meaning we
often over-feed ourselves and don’t know it until we’ve finished our whole
plate.
Try eating about half of what you normally eat, but at a slower pace. It
may take a few weeks to reset the muscle memory of your stomach, but you’ll
probably find you actually need less food to feel full.