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"NOTHING IS MORE VALUABLE THAN YOUR HEALTH"
Nutrition Tip No.7
LOOKING AFTER YOUR DIGESTION
One of the most important factors for achieving optimum health and fitness is to ensure that your digestive system is healthy too. If food is not being digested properly, then we will have difficulty absorbing the nutrients that are vital for our health and well-being. The digestive system is affected by a variety of external and internal influences, ranging from how we eat, to what we eat, and where we eat.
We are all guilty of quickly grabbing a snack ‘on the run’, or rushing a sandwich at the desk before running off to a meeting. Already, we are having an adverse effect on the digestive system: rushing means that we are probably not chewing food properly – chewing is the essential first stage of the digestive process.
Eating in a relaxed atmosphere also helps digestion. Rushing around adds stress, and also thinking about that meeting, while ‘enjoying’ your sandwich, will probably increase the stress levels by a notch or two. Stress can have the effect of completely shutting down the digestive system.
Obviously, we need to eat healthily too. If we don’t consume fresh, nutrient-rich foods, we’re not going to provide our body with what it needs to keep fit and healthy. Equally importantly, if all we consume are refined, processed and ‘fast’ foods, not only are they devoid of nutrients, but this will eventually lead to digestive problems.
Always go for fresh, ‘whole’ foods – for example, fruit, vegetables, salads, wholegrains etc. These are all rich in vitamins, minerals, enzymes and fibre. Fibre is essential for the movement of food through the digestive system, helps to prevent constipation.
Foods which have little or no nutrients or fibre are refined foods, such as white rice, white pasta, white sugar, white bread and white flour. Foods that have a high sugar, fat or animal protein content can impair or slow down digestion, leading to bloating, flatulence, constipation, and other complications.
To help maintain a healthy gut, consume a small pot of natural ‘live’ yoghurt on a daily basis. This will help to ‘top-up’ your levels of beneficial bacteria. Foods such as garlic, onions, leeks and shallots also act as prebiotics – foods which feed the beneficial bacteria, enabling them to thrive.
Finally, lessen the burden on your digestive system by reducing or avoiding the following: spicy foods; fermented foods; harsh brans; alcohol; caffeine; cigarette smoke; aspirin.
Look after your digestion, and it will look after you!
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