Simple Tips to Improve Digestion
Do you often get moody, stressed, and bloated? Do you complain of low energy, insomnia, and brain fog? In many cases, your problems — and their solutions — originated in your digestive system!
Below are Chinese medicine ideas that we can apply for a positive health digestion and well-being just by simply the way we eat.
1. Enjoy your food! Feelings about food directly instruct our bodies what to do with it.
2. Relax. Poor posture constricts our intestines, hindering the free flow of food. Inhale the aroma of the food before eating to stimulate our digestive juices. Even a simple moment of gratitude or prayer opens the way for nourishment to sink more deeply in!
3. Chew well and eat slowly. Unchewed food creates extra work for the digestive system. We can choose either to do our pre-digestion outside the body through cooking, or in the mouth by chewing.
4. Keep drinks and meals separate. Too much fluid with a meal will over-dilute the digestive juices and impair our digestion. Our main fluid intake is best outside the meal zone.
5. Don’t chill the digestive system. Eventually the digestive system becomes weakened, leading to malnourishment from food.
6. Stop before you are full. If we habitually overeat, our digestive system becomes overburdened and we feel tired and congested.
7. Eat as much local and naturally grown food as possible. Chinese Medicine considers us as part of nature, and food which has grown in the same neighbourhood as us is far more likely to resonate harmoniously with our body.
And finally.....
8. Move after you eat! In Chinese medicine, movement equals health while stagnation equals disease. Researchers have found that a casual post-meal walk, as short as 15 minutes, can in fact help with digestion and improve blood sugar levels.
It's a learning process that incorporates small changes in eating habits, changing the way you think about food, and patience. When we become more mindful of our meals, we absorb more of the nutrients from our foods.
Knowledge and support are power. We’re here to help, so contact us through the link above if you have any questions.
References
Leggett, D. (n.d.). Energetics of Food – a beginner's guide. Retrieved August 15, 2018, from http://www.meridianpress.net/articles/energeticsoffood.html
Colberg, S. R., Zarrabi, L., Bennington, L., Nakave, A., Somma, C. T., Swain, D. P., & Sechrist, S. R. (2009). Postprandial Walking is Better for Lowering the Glycemic Effect of Dinner than Pre- Dinner Exercise in Type 2 Diabetic Individuals. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 10(6), 394-397. doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2009.03.015