Health

3 Tricks To Improve Digestion Today

By Dr Don Colbert

Are you in the majority? Believe it or not, the majority of Americans want to improve digestion since they experience digestive issues on a monthly (or more frequent) basis. In fact, according to the National Institutes for Health, 60-70 million Americans are affected by all digestive illnesses. Surveys also suggest that over 70% of adults suffer from diarrhea, indigestion, nausea, constipation, and more at least monthly.

Is it really that surprising?

Our digestive tracts have a really big job, every day. They never get a break. They are one of the only organs bombarded daily with external substances.

In fact, they are in the initial filter by which most of our body interacts with outside substances. Like the lungs, they come in direct contact with both healthy and unhealthy substances from our environment. Think about the filters in your home or vehicles. They get dirty, beat up, and torn down. The same can happen to your digestive tract if not properly cared for.

The digestive tract is also really large. It includes about 7 digestion organs (the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine (aka colon), rectum, and anus) and 4 digestion accessory organs (the salivary glands, pan-

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creas, gallbladder, and liver)). The tract itself covers a surface area of about 400-500 square feet. Interestingly, this number has been reduced from an estimate of 2500-3000 square feet to 400-500 in just the last 10 years after new evidence emerged that it is smaller than previously thought.

In other words, there’s a lot to this system of organs, it does a lot of work every day, and a lot can go wrong.

How can you improve digestion today? Here are 3 tricks to get started.

TRICK #1 TO IMPROVE DIGESTION: USE YOUR BRAIN

Amazingly, there is a strong brain-gut connection. In fact, as digestive health falters or becomes inflamed, the brain experiences inflammation. This may look like brain fog, memory loss, fatigue, and even invite neurodegenerative issues. In fact, a recent study published in Scientific Reports showed a link between gut bacteria and dementia.

On the flip side, as brain health falters, the digestive tract is affected and often impaired. Stress, for example, can ignite a series of digestive issues from ulcers to diarrhea to nausea. Why do we “feel things in our guts?” It’s the braingut connection.

To improve digestion, then, do everything you can to support brain health. Try to:

• Reduce stress as much as possible through activity reduction, journaling, praying, etc. • Incorporate laughter into your everyday schedule • Get 7-10 hours of goodquality sleep every night • Eat brain-healthy, antiinflammatory foods like omega-3s from seafood, spices, and supplements each day • Hydrate well • Incorporate fasting into your diet

TRICK #2: ELIMINATE AND FORTIFY WITH NUTRITION

Simply put, some foods and nutrients damage your gut. Some fortify it. The more we damage our guts, the more digestive issues arise, and more and more foods become intolerable to it.

In some cases, food simply does not “set well” in our guts. In other cases, the food or nutrient actually hurt. This can lead to inflammation and a cascade of digestive issues.

On the other hand, there are many foods that fortify both the healthy bacteria and cells in our guts. Most of these foods contain soluble fibers (prebiotics) and healthy bacteria (probiotics).

To improve digestion, eliminate or reduce:

• Inflammatory carbohydrates such as sugars and white flours (consider the Keto Zone Diet) • Sugary drinks • Gluten, if not tolerated (in some people, gluten actually harms and flattens the tissues in the digestive tract responsible for nutrient absorption) • Processed foods, especially those with inflammatory fats like soybean oil • Alcohol • Foods and medications with antibiotics (when not indicated)

To improve digestion incorporate:

• Fermented foods such as plain yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, tempeh, fermented vegetable powders like Greens Supremefoods©, and living foods like Living Chia with Probiotics • Vegetables and plant foods that provide prebiotics and polyphenols and living vitamins • Plant-based protein powders such as Divine Health Vegan Protein Supremefood© • Nuts like walnuts, which support healthy gut bacteria, every day (5) • A daily probiotic supplement such as Beyond Biotics Ultra Blend Probiotics

IMPROVE DIGESTION TRICK #3: SLOW DOWN AND LOOK UP

Are you a victim of the rush, rush, rush mentality? Are you overscheduled and burnt out? Do you have little time to cook at home and focus on foods that improve digestion? If so, your busy lifestyle is likely hurting your digestion.

If you can find ways to slow down, you’ll have time to really utilize tricks #1 and #2 to improve digestion and brain health. It’s challenging to slow down in the midst of many demands, but it’s incredibly important.

What can you do to simplify your life and leave the hustle and bustle of the modern stressed-out schedule? How can you make more

See DIGESTION on Page 47

How To Eat to Lose Weight

By Angie Lewis

Why do we gain weight? We gain weight because we are eating more calories than we burn. There really is a simpler way to lose weight rather than dieting. Dieting is no fun! Why deprive yourself of food or feel guilty for eating when you’re hungry? That’s not right! Reduced calorie diets don’t work!

Reducing diets do not work because they were never meant to work in the first place. Only when we eat foods that are not natural do we gain weight. With the everevolving food processing that humans so much love to do comes weigh gain, there's no way around it. However, when we stop eating these processed packaged foods and go all natural, weight seems to stay regulated.

Sadly, the meat in the USA is full of fattening hormones. These chemicals not only fatten the cow but fatten the person eating the meat! HORMONES IN THE FOOD MAKES US FAT! It is a vicious cycle.

What can you do? You could buy only organic (grass fed, non-caged, free of anti-biotic) meats and be 100% healthier. Unfortunately, the price tag on organic in North America is out of this world and only the real wealthy can afford to eat organic. It's sad.

Eat Only Whole Foods and You Will Lose Weight

It’s very important to feed our body well. By “well” I mean to feed it real, whole foods. This is what the body craves. The body craves natural, wholesome food. And here is what’s so neat about it. When your body realizes it is being given what it needs, it runs much more efficiently, giving us more energy—energy to burn off the food we eat so we lose weight! What else happens to our body when it is fed natural, whole foods? Let’s take a look. * All the organs function quite efficiently, working together to give YOU, the person inside your body a good physical, mental, and spiritual outlook. * Natural (organic) foods burn more efficiently than denatured foods do. * Whole foods keep your body in balance because elimination occurs more readily and naturally. * Irritable bowel syndrome symptoms go away when the body is fed good food

See LOSE WEIGHT on Page 49

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