Tips To Help Digestion

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 at 9:58 am

One of the biggest complaints for many people today is that they have digestive issues. Heart burn, acid reflux, gas, belching and more plague many of us on a daily basis. The sale of pills for these conditions are on the rise as more and more people seek relief.

But how can digestion be improved more naturally without all the harsh drugs?

Here are a few tips that, if followed, can possibly prevent and help improve your digestive problems:

Do What Your Mom Always Told You To Do! Remember as a kid hearing, “Chew your food!” Well, mom was right. Think about it, how many times have you caught yourself gobbling your food down in 2-3 huge gulps? But keep this in mind…DIGESTION BEGINS IN THE MOUTH…not the stomach. When food enters your mouth and you start chewing, your body sends signals for saliva to increase and digestive juices in the stomach to begin flowing as well. The more thoroughly you chew your food (at least 50 times per bite), the easier it is for your body to digest and break that food down once it enters the stomach.

Drink Before or After But NOT During Your Meal- As indicated in Tip #1, digestion begins in the mouth with your saliva; which contains important digestive enzymes (amylase). Therefore, when you are constantly drinking something during the process of eating, you are causing your mouth to limit the amount of saliva it produces and possibly causing those important digestive juices in the stomach to become diluted, causing your food to not be properly digested and setting yourself up for excessive burping, heartburn and more. So get into the practice of drinking (water) before you eat and then once you’re done eating.

Eat Pineapple or Papaya – Both of these fruits contain high amounts of enzymes that can aid in digestion as well as other things such as bone and joint health. So enjoy a few pieces of one or the other before and after meals to aid in improving digestion. There are also commercial papaya enzymes that are available in stores, but be careful of the ingredients as many of them contain sugar, fillers and other ingredients.

Chew Gum! – You may remember old commercials touting that chewing a particular brand of sugarless gum after every meal was recommended by 4 out of 5 dentists for the benefit of protecting your teeth. But there is another possible benefit that they didn’t mention and that’s the production of saliva to aid in digestion and reduce the acids in the esophagus. Now don’t reach for the sugar-filled gum…and not necessarily any and all sugarless varieties either. The BEST kind of gum to chew is any that contain Xylitol – a natural sweetener that actually fights plaque and doesn’t have the harmful side effects of other sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin, etc. Your dentist office will probably carry Xylitol-containing gum and mints; but in a pinch, the best choice is Trident® or Stride® as they have higher levels of Xylitol and lower amounts of aspartame than other brands you’ll find in stores.