7 top tips for a healthy

Smile Health meals! Happy 7 Top Tips for a healthy family digestion

Ahealthy digestion is really the key to good health. Here are some ways to ensure that you and your family are looking after your gut and building resilience to keep a strong immunity – managing a common cold to autoimmune illnesses such as food allergies and asthma.

The Kiss approach to food Keeping it super simple when it comes to recipes and ingredients is one good way to help a strong digestion – try making smaller, healthier meals using fewer, better quality and healthier ingredients.

Eat meals at the same time each day.

For example, breakfast between 7-8, lunch between 12-1pm and dinner at 5-6pm. Or whichever schedule best suits you and your family. That way, you can better monitor any possible changes in your digestion or the digestive habits of your children.

Start with a few simple recipes – for example try making your own tomato-based pasta sauce. You can add cream for a richer sauce. Or a small tin of tuna and some black olives for a different night of week.

For another teatime treat, add some courgettes, red peppers and a diced aubergine for your own twist on a ratatouille.

Eat lots of fresh and cooked fruit and veggies that are in season (they are usually cheaper then, too!). And be sure to take the time to enjoy the food you have prepared – chew your food properly and keep the conversation and mood light during mealtimes.

Make sure you’re drinking enough water and other unsweetened and non-caffeinated drinks and avoid anything fizzy at mealtimes as this can easily make you feel bloated and uncomfortable. Remember that regular exercise also helps to keep digestion healthy and regular, ensuring that digestive muscles and detoxing processes are active and working properly.

Start the day with a long glass of water and be sure to drink between 6-8 glasses a day, more if it’s hot or you’ve been doing a lot of sport or activity that causes you to sweat.

If you feel that some foods cause bloating and or tummy issues, or make you feel tired or bring you out in a rash, then eat less of them or eliminate them from your diet for a while and see if the symptoms are alleviated. Pasta can easily be replaced with rice or potatoes in a meal.

When it comes to intolerances, autoimmune diseases and allergies… If you think you might have an intolerance or an allergy to a certain food or food group then be sure to get yourself tested for it so you’re absolutely sure of the cause. It’s important to continue eating the foods you suspect may be the cause of your symptoms so that the test results reflect your diet including the troublesome foods. Be sure not to make any changes to your or your family diet without consulting a medical and nutritional professional, as you may risk excluding a food group altogether and this could end in a nutritional deficiency. The exception of course, is in cases of severe allergic reactions to foods, such as nuts, which can in extreme cases be fatal. Any extreme symptoms should be checked out straightaway.

iFor more information on how to keep your digestion healthy visit: https://www.nhs.uk/

live-well/eat-well/common-digestiveproblems-and-how-to-treat-them/

Easy low Cobra - in 9 simple steps Let’s Cobra Smile Health A gentle low cobra is a great way to activate and tone many muscle groups in the body. Combined with deep, attentive breathing and a counter pose this exercise can offer Building this posture – Section 2 1 Place your hands palm down on the mat under your shoulders, leaving your Remember: only go so far as feels comfortable for your body. a dynamic way to start your day or gentle way to relax in the evening. Here’s how to get started: forehead resting on the floor. Make sure that your fingertips don’t poke out too far forward beyond the edge of your shoulders. Take a breath. Counter Posture: Press hands into the mat and push yourself back, bending your knees, so 2 See if you can lower your shoulders away from your ears and slightly your buttucks rests on your heals, arms stretched forward. The so-called child pose helps to relax your lower back and squeeze your shoulder blades together so shoulders after the cobra position and is that your elbows move closer to your body. good for general relaxation.

3Point your toes so the backs of your feet touch the floor and your knees automatically activate, kneecaps losing contact with the floor. Keep breathing. Do not do this pose in cases of

See how this feels for your lower back. Carpal tunnel syndrome If you feel like you need a break then Headache gently release the tension in your Pregnancy muscles and repeat Section 1 before Back injury

You’ll need: A yoga mat or similar (a Pilates mat or simply a rug that does not slip building the posture again. If you feel comfortable here, then move on to Section 3. Into the Cobra – Section 3 Some benefits from practising the cobra posture Strengthens the spine

out of place when you move on it) Building on Section 2 Stretches chest and lungs,

Some comfortable clothes Getting started – Section 1 1 Start lying on your stomach (if you like, you can slowly lower yourself into position from plank if you’d like to strengthen 4 Tense your buttocks so that your lower back is supported, and so your pelvis pushes into the mat. 5 Gently raise your head from the floor, continuing to look at the mat or shoulders, and abdomen Tones the buttocks Stimulates abdominal organs Helps relieve stress and fatigue Opens the heart and lungs core and upper arm muscles). forward. If your neck is strong and it feels Soothes sciatica 2 You can rest your forehead on your hands and relax your body. Let your heels flop outwards and toes towards each other. 3 Breathe in for a count of 3. And out for a count of 4. Repeat the breathing comfortable for your neck then you can raise your head enough to face forward, paying attention that your shoulders are low and not hunched towards your ears. 6 Be sure that your hands are just hovering above the floor and merely supporting the posture, that way you Therapeutic for asthma For more on the cobra posture: https://arogyayogaschool. com/blog/10-health-benefitsof-cobra-pose-bhujangasana/ i a few times. Get ready to activate your body are strengthening your lower back and stomach muscles. For more information on the benefits of yoga visit: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/

– continuing to inhale and exhale You can hold the posture for 3-5 deep exercise/guide-to-yoga/

throughout the practice. breaths and then release, release, take Or see if you can find a qualified teacher in a break and repeat. For a full cobra straighten arms. your area.