HH322: Your Digestive System: How To Take Care Of It!

Melissa Deally: 00:00:00

Welcome back to another episode of health hacks as I round out the week, talking about your digestive system or digestive tract, and how you can better look after it because it is absolutely integral to your optimal health and longevity. So supporting a healthy digestive tract involves various lifestyle and dietary practices, and is key to your long term health. As I've said, Hippocrates said that all disease starts in the gut. And I like to say that all health starts in the gut. So here are some ways that you can look after your digestive health, which if you've been tuning in to the previous episodes on our heart health, our liver health, our kidney health, they're really not very different. So pick one that works for you, and know that you're helping all of your organs and your overall health. So the first one is eat a balanced diet and stay hydrated. That means drinking 50% of your body weight in water every day. And water means literally water, protein shakes, and herbal teas. That's what makes up water, your energy drinks, your caffeine, your juices, your milk, and none of that is considered hydration. You want to focus on 50% of your body weight in water, protein shakes, and herbal teas. You also want to be using probiotics because the probiotics are feeding the microbes in your gut and creating a healthy gut microbiome. So probiotic rich foods are yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, and other fermented foods. And we don't have a lot of them in our North American diet, so you need to seek them out through other cultural foods. You also want to be making sure you're eating enough fiber soluble and insoluble fibers found in foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lagoons help to regulate bowel movements and prevent digestive issues like constipation. Nobody wants to be constipated. exercising regularly, of course just helps with the whole flow of your digestive system, as does managing stress because chronic stress can negatively impact digestion. And if you're eating in a chronic stress state, your digestive system isn't even turned on because you're in fight or flight. Rather than being in your rest and digest nervous system. You want to also be eating mindfully, chewing your food thoroughly and eating slowly in order to aid digestion. As well as avoid over eating and give your body time to process food effectively which means your next meal. You want to have three and a half to four hours after your previous meal so that your previous meal is fully digested before you put more food in. avoiding processed foods is pretty obvious. You definitely want to be limiting your intake of refined sugars artificial additives because they can also disrupt the balance of your gut bacteria and contribute to digestive issues. As well as limiting the intake of irritants such as alcohol, caffeine, spicy foods, as they can irritate the digestive tract and cause discomfort. avoiding smoking you might not think that has anything to do with your digestive tract. However it does it can interfere with digestion and increase the risk of digestive disorders and getting enough sleep to ensure you get when you ensure that you get adequate sleep that is helping improve the health of your overall digestive system because when you do not get enough sleep, you are actually killing off good bacteria in your gut and creating an imbalance in your gut and you don't want that. So incorporating these practices into your lifestyle can absolutely help support a healthy digestive tract and your overall well being. And don't worry, you don't have to start with all 10 of them today. Pick the first one you're going to start with Master that and then move on to the next one and over a short amount of time. You will notice improvements in how your digestive system feels and how you feel overall. And if you'd like support, feel free to reach out to me Melissa at your guided health journey.com