Nearly everyone suffers with poor digestion from time to time. However some people have digestive issues on a regular basis.
Obviously there are so many conditions that can cause digestive problems this column cannot begin to be comprehensive.
It should also be obvious that if you have digestive problems that are serious or prolonged you should see your doctor.
As you may recall from previous Thursday articles this column focuses on a single suggestion to make your life better.
Today’s simple suggestion is to focus on the first part of digestion; the part that begins in your mouth.
Studies have repeatedly shown that the majority of people eat much too quickly, chew their food too little and drink too much liquid with their meals.
In fact, many readers will find improved digestion less heartburn, and fewer
problems with diarrhea and constipation simply from modifying they're chewing habits.
Digestion actually begins before you even open your mouth.
The moment you start thinking about food and especially whenever you start smelling food your body begins to produce and release powerful enzymes that aid digestion.
These enzymes are released in the saliva.
In addition to moistening food you eat saliva has very important chemicals call enzymes that help break down the food to begin the process of digestion.
You may not realize it but by drinking too much with your meals you inhibit the powerful chemical effects of saliva.
When you take a drink of water, juice, milk or other liquid with every bite in order to wash it down you are actually diluting the amount of saliva and the enzymes present in saliva.
If, however, you take your time and chew much more thoroughly you allow the saliva to be mixed with the food in its normal concentration and begin breaking it down.
This introduces the important action of chewing to pulverize the food particles and mix them thoroughly with saliva.
If a person takes small bites, slowly and thoroughly chews the food until it is completely liquefied, their digestion will improve immediately.
You can demonstrate this for yourself by doing a little test.
Make it a point to drink very little liquid with your meals for the next couple of days.
Instead, take smaller bites then chew the food thoroughly in order to liquefy it completely before trying to swallow.
If you are eating alone you will find this experiment is easy to do. However, if you are eating with a friend, you may find that this slow chewing process gets in the way of typical conversations.
This is one of many reasons that our society has developed poor eating habits. In many instances eaters are in a hurry to swallow their food in order to reply to conversation.
Our normally hurried pace also contributes to the problem.
In order to improve your digestion significantly it may be important for you to find a way to slow down your eating habits. |
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