Your digestive system doesn’t run by itself. It needs proper nutrition with foods that help calm the stomach, increase motility, and decrease the gas in the gut. Here are some great foods that can help you maintain excellent digestive health:
- Foods high in fiber. High fiber foods add bulk to the stool so as to prevent constipation. They also hold onto sugar so that sugar can’t flood the bloodstream, resulting in the release of excess amounts of insulin and eventually resulting in diabetes. There are two types of fiber, insoluble fiber and soluble fiber. Insoluble fiber is the type that is not digested and that bulks up the stool. Soluble fiber is the type that holds onto sugar for the prevention of diabetic complications. The best sources of fiber include brown rice, whole fruits, whole grain bread, oats (oatmeal), and beans. If you get bloated from consuming grains and cereals, use fruits and vegetables to get the fiber in your diet.
- Clear, noncarbonated liquids. Keep on drinking fluids, particularly plain water. The drinking of water helps promote the passage of stool through the digestive system, softening the stools and helping to relieve constipation. The fiber in your diet can’t function without water to help it bulk the stools. Fiber without water will just cake up in the digestive tract and won’t help you with your problems of constipation. Only with the addition of liquids, can the fiber fully expand and be softened by the liquid. Try to drink a glass of water with each meal and avoid caffeine as it can lead to heartburn symptoms. Some doctors recommend drinking even more water to help flush toxins out of the GI tract. Up to 8 glasses of water a day are recommended by some doctors.
- Low fat foods. Fat is not healthy for your gastrointestinal tract and can increase the workload of your stomach. This means decreasing the intake of difficult-to-digest fried foods, hamburgers, chips, and pastries. Instead, select lean cuts of meat, trimmed of fat, fresh fruits and vegetables, and skimmed milk. When you cook your meats, use the grill to cook them with instead of frying your meats.
- Food without spices. Even though spicy food tastes good and many people can tolerate it, those with digestive problems will have upset stomachs when eating spicy foods. This means foods with chili peppers in them and even foods like onions and garlic. These foods, like fat, result in gastroesophageal reflux disease and indigestion. Try eating foods like potatoes, rice, and whole grain bread, which don’t contain a lot of spice and are easily digested. Rather than eat foods spiced with hot peppers, onions, or garlic, try flavoring your food with ginger, which is good on the digestive tract and helps prevent nausea.
- Decaffeinated beverages. Those foods that contain caffeine, such as black tea, colas, coffee, and energy drinks, increase the stomach acid and lead to heartburn. Instead, drink green tea, milk, and water, which are more easily digested and don’t cause heartburn. Green tea also contains healthful anti-oxidants that protect the body, including the gut from the negative effects of oxygen free radicals on the cells.
- Yogurt. Yogurt is extremely healthy for the digestive tract. It contains probiotics, which are healthy bacteria necessary for proper metabolism and good digestive health. If you eat yogurt, you help colonize the gut with healthy bacteria and drive out unhealthy bacteria that result in traveler’s diarrhea and irritable bowel syndrome. Probiotics can also be taken as a supplement but, by eating live yogurt cultures, you can colonize your gut with good bacteria the natural way and with real food.
