Digestive Health: Eat Better and Supplement your Diet with Nutritional Supplements

The American public suffers from numerous digestive disorders because of the poor choices you make in foods and the lack of nutrients available in those foods that are necessary to support your digestive system. Constipation, bloating, abdominal pain, chronic colds and infections, trouble sleeping, and possibly even having accidents when you soil your pants unexpectedly may cause you to embark upon a journey to better eating so you can be healthier thereby allowing your body to function the way it was intended to work.

Saying “I have always been like that so that’s just the way I am” or “it has been that way for a long time and will probably always be that way” is unacceptable and it definitely may not be true that these conditions will always plague you. Correcting the cause of these types of symptoms may change the way your body operates and alter the way you view your body for the rest of your life. 

To better understand why some of these varied symptoms may be occurring it is best to take a few moments and learn about how your digestive system operates.

When you eat food the first stage of digestion takes place as you chew thereby distributing digestive enzymes in saliva throughout the food particles. Therefore, you want to chew your food thoroughly enough so it is well saturated with saliva and ground into very fine particles. The food then passes down your esophagus to your stomach.

In your stomach your food is then mixed with hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes so it can be further broken down into absorbable forms. Acid in your stomach is natural. Many digestive problems are caused by not enough acid being in your stomach and not too much acid as many TV commercials for antacids lead you to believe.

From your stomach your food passes into your small intestine where more enzymes and bile break it down further so the sugars, amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals can be absorbed through the intestinal wall to be transported throughout your body via your blood. 

After your intestines have extracted all of the nutrients out of the food you ate the indigestible, watery remains then moves into your large intestine. Water is removed from the indigestible, watery remains as they pass through your large intestine then the remaining dry mass is expelled from your bowel as feces.

A common scenario involves people taking laxatives and/or stool softeners to make the fecal material softer and looser aiding in elimination but these drugs may inhibit the absorption of nutrients. So, if you have used laxative extensively you may be nutritionally deficient and should supplement your diet with organically grown whole food nutritional supplements because nutritional deficiencies may cause you to suffer chronic infections and illness. Eating a lot of fiber with copious amounts of water each day helps normalize bowel movements while keeping your stool soft so it is easy to pass.

Simply substituting some foods for others may make a huge difference in how your body functions. Eating almond butter instead of peanut butter is preferred because almond butter is more nutritious. Using honey instead of jelly or sugar is a good idea because honey has anti-bacterial properties. Using almond milk or coconut milk instead of cow’s milk is preferable because there is more nutrition in these types of milk and they will not cause problems with allergies the way cow’s milk can.

An easy way to avoid the temptation of eating unhealthy foods is to just keep them out of your house. Setting an example of healthy eating will teach your kids good habits that will serve them well throughout their lives.