1. High-fiber diet: Keep your insides happy and healthy by incorporating foods that are high in fiber, including whole grains, vegetables, and fruits. Not only will the added fiber keep food moving through your digestive tract, it can also ease the symptoms of various digestive issues, such as irritable bowel syndrome.
2. Diversify your fiber: When adding fiber to your diet, try to include both insoluble and soluble fiber. Both work together to benefit your intestines in different ways. Insoluble can be found in wheat bran, whole grains, and vegetables. Soluble fiber comes from oat bran, nuts, seeds, and legumes.
3. Limit high-fat foods: Some healthy fat in your diet can be beneficial to your overall health but eating too many fatty foods can cause constipation and overall digestive slowing. If you’re going to indulge, pairing high-fat foods with high-fiber foods can help alleviate some of the stress on the digestive system.
4. Lean is better: High fat foods also include fatty protein sources such as beef, pork, and some wild game. While protein is essential to your diet, be sure to focus on lean sources such as skinless poultry, pork loin, and low-fat beef cuts.
5. Power of probiotics: Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that live inside your intestines. They are essential to the digestive process and a healthy immune system because they defend against damage caused by a poor diet and stress. They also help your body maximize the nutritional value of each meal.
6. Snack on schedule: Your body loves routine, even if you do not. You can help your digestive tract stay healthy and active by consuming your meals on a regular schedule. Focus on eating breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks around the same time each day.
7. Hydrate: It’s no secret that drinking enough water every day can help you feel more awake, have fewer cravings, and reduce dehydration headaches, but did you know water can also help your digestive tract? Water in your digestive system helps your body dissolve fats and soluble fiber more efficiently.
8. Ditch bad habits: Too much coffee, alcohol, or cigarettes can impair your body’s ability to digest food and can lead to other digestive issues like ulcers and heartburn.
9. Sweat it out: Exercise is beneficial to almost all of your body’s systems, especially your digestive system. Regular exercise stimulates your intestines, which keeps foods moving through.
10. Stress management: Bodies can internalize external stress. Internal systems have a physical response to stress about finances or a big project at work. When we are overly stressed, our body responds by sending our digestive tract into chaos. Keep an eye on your stress levels and invest time into stress-relieving activities.
How your body feels inside can directly affect your overall wellbeing and health. Be sure to incorporate these ten tips to take care of your digestive system so it can take care of you.
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