Spend some time reading about health and nutrition, and it becomes rather easy to be intimidated by all the tips, hints and advice that are thrown your way.
More often than not, they lead to even more questions.
Narrowing it down to the subject of digestive health, the following questions are often asked by those experiencing the dreaded information overload syndrome, as a result of reading a little too much about this subject:
- What foods can I eat to improve my digestion?
- Is fiber good for digestion?
- Are good bacteria really helpful for the digestive system?
- How do I increase the good bacteria in my digestive system?
- What supplements should I take to improve my digestion?
All of the above questions are valid of course, but in order to reduce the risk of info overload syndrome, why not we go slow on this topic and begin zeroing in our focus on the first basic step for attaining healthy digestion?
Hint: Regarding the last question, you do not have to take “supplements” to dramatically improve the quality of your digestion. A single supplement is all you need to accomplish this purpose.
The First Step: Meal Plan Creation
A meal plan is such a criminally underrated tool for promoting eating habits that are healthy and sustainable.
Putting together and maintaining a meal plan seems like a lot of work, but that’s actually far from the truth.
With a meal plan, all you really have to do is take a quick gander at it, and then write down the digestion-friendly meals that you wish to eat for the next few days or for the entire week, on the empty spaces of the plan.
What digestion-friendly meals should I write down on the plan?
Morning: You can’t go wrong with a smoothie shake that’s jammed with a variety of digestion-boosting ingredients.
A smoothie shake is ridiculously easy to prepare and makes for a terrific breakfast fix, especially for those who are often pressed for time in the morning.
There are countless of recipes for making digestion-friendly smoothies available online, and one of the winners is the vanilla cinnamon berry smoothie shake recipe.
This particular recipe calls for just a handful of ingredients, most of which are good for the digestion including cinnamon, avocado, berries, and kale.
Lunch: Asparagus roasted with Dijon mustard is a nice lunch meal for the digestion.
Asparagus, after all, contains prebiotic properties which act as fuel for good bacteria in the digestive system to thrive on.
Other recommended digestion-improving lunch dishes are roasted chicken breast with sauerkraut, grilled salmon with kimchi, and roasted artichokes with grass-fed beef.
Artichokes, kimchi, and sauerkraut are all splendid for the gut and overall digestion.
Dinner: You might want to keep things light when it comes to dinner, so go with soupy dishes such as bone broth which is renowned for its ability to heal the intestinal barrier.
Other light soupy options that work wonders for the digestion are cauliflower masala soup, Thai coconut turkey soup, and ginger-turmeric carrot soup.
The Second Step: Keep the Stress Away
Believe it or not, stress can instigate a negative effect on your gut health.
Think about it, do you ever feel queasy whenever you’re about to face an extremely stressful situation?
Indeed, the health experts are spot-on when they claim that our emotional condition is linked to our digestive health.
Keeping stress away isn’t easy, but you can stack the deck in your favor by participating in stress-relieving activities that you genuinely enjoy such as running, dancing, lifting weights, meditation, boxercise, yoga, drawing, painting, and whatever it is that floats your boat.
Bonus Step: Take in Some Digestive Enzymes
This was pointed out earlier, but it bears repeating, just in case.
Try a digestive enzyme supplement.
As the name implies, digestive enzyme supplements have been specifically formulated to improve the quality of your digestive health.
Check this one out.
Your digestive system will thank you for it.