How to improve digestion and also improve the health of your colon

Many people are looking for ways to improve digestion. Our digestive tract contains everything between the mouth and the rectum. Each section of the tract has different functions that it performs to aid digestion. Some of the steps to improve digestion are quite simple, while others are more complex. Regardless of the steps you take, you’ll be on your way to improved digestion. Improving digestion helps your body successfully use the food you eat. By improving digestion you receive the benefit of feeling better. There are many ways to improve digestion.

Eat a balanced diet. Be sure to eat from all 4 food groups. An easy way to make sure of this is to follow this little rule when shopping at the grocery store and try to stay out of the aisles. ‘Junk’ food is generally found on the islands. Be sure to do most of your shopping along the edge of the store. If you think about your grocery store, you’ll notice that the fruit, vegetable, dairy, bakery, meat, and poultry areas are usually found along the outside walls of the store. By shopping in these areas, you’ll be buying foods from all 4 food groups and can easily plan balanced meals. Eating right helps your body begin the process of improving digestion.

Make sure you eat slowly. Eating too fast can cause you to overeat. By eating slowly and chewing properly, the digestion process begins. When you eat, your saliva begins to mix with the food you eat and breaks it down. By eating slowly, you allow your saliva the time it needs to do its job. When you eat too fast, your saliva doesn’t have a chance to process the food as well as it should. Thus, it works against your goal of improving digestion.

Limit the amount of sugar you eat. If you’re grocery shopping the way I suggested above, you should have a limited amount of sugar in your diet. If not, then your diet may consist of too much sugar. Sugar can cause a LOT of problems in the digestive tract. Most people think that sugar primarily affects blood sugar; however, it is a food source for yeast and bacteria. By limiting your sugar, you limit the amount of harmful yeast and bacteria that will be able to grow in your digestive tract. When yeast or harmful bacteria are too abundant, they negatively affect your ability to digest food successfully.

Eat when you are hungry. Eating when you are hungry and not necessarily at ‘set’ times will help you digest food. When you’re hungry, your body will be able to release more enzymes into your stomach to aid in digestion. When a person eats when they are not hungry, the stomach may not secrete as many digestive enzymes.

Pay attention to your body. You may need to eliminate some foods due to allergies. If you think you have food allergies, it may be beneficial to eliminate certain foods and then slowly reintroduce them one at a time so that you can determine which foods, if any, are causing your problems. When you have food allergies, your body can’t digest it as well as it should. If you have constipation, bloating, diarrhea, upset stomach after eating certain foods, you probably have an allergy.

Although this is not a complete list of ways to improve digestion, should be able to get you started. Improving digestion is definitely something that everyone should strive to do. By improving digestion, you have nothing to lose, except possibly some excess weight you want to get rid of. Regardless of your reasons for improving digestion in the end, you will feel better and THAT is definitely worth it.