Everyone experiences occasional digestive symptoms such as upset stomach, gas, heartburn, nausea, constipation or diarrhea. Improving digestion is no big task.
However, when these symptoms occur frequently, they can cause major disruptions to your life.
Fortunately, diet and lifestyle changes can have a positive impact on your gut health.
Here are 8 evidence-based ways to improve your digestion naturally.
1. Add Healthy Fats in Your Diet
Good digestion may require eating enough fat. Fat helps you feel satisfied after a meal and often needed for proper nutrient absorption.
Additionally, studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acids may decrease your risk of developing inflammatory bowel diseases like ulcerative colitis.
Foods high in beneficial omega-3 fatty acids include flaxseeds, chia seeds, nuts (especially walnuts), as well as fatty fish like salmon, mackerel and sardines.
2. Chew Your Food
Digestion starts in your mouth. Your teeth break down the food into smaller pieces so that the enzymes in your digestive tract are better able to break it down.
Poor chewing has been linked to decreased nutrient absorption.
When you chew your food thoroughly, your stomach has to do less work to turn the solid food into the liquid mixture that enters your small intestine.
longer you chew, more saliva made. Saliva helps start the digestive process in your mouth by breaking down some of the carbs and fats in your meal.
In your stomach, saliva acts as a fluid, which is mixed with the solid food so that it smoothly passes into your intestines.
Chewing your food thoroughly ensures that you have plenty of saliva for digestion. This may help prevent symptoms such as indigestion and heartburn.
What’s more, the act of chewing has even been shown to reduce stress, which may also improve digestion.
3. Eat Always Real Food
The typical Western diet — high in refined carbs, saturated fat and food additives — has been linked to an increased risk of developing digestive disorders.
Food additives, including glucose, salt, and other chemicals, suggested contributing to increased gut inflammation.
Trans fats are found in many processed foods. They’re well-known for their negative effects on heart health but have also been associated with an increased risk of developing ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease.
What’s more, processed foods like low-calorie drinks and ice creams often contain artificial sweeteners, which may cause digestive problems.
One study found that eating 50 grams of the artificial sweetener xylitol led to bloating and diarrhea in 70% of people, while 75 grams of the sweetener erythritol caused the same symptoms in 60% of people.
Studies also suggest that artificial sweeteners may increase your number of harmful gut bacteria.
Gut bacteria imbalances have been linked to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and irritable bowel diseases like ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
Fortunately, scientific evidence suggests that diets high in nutrients protect against digestive diseases.
Therefore, eating a diet based on whole foods and limiting the intake of processed foods may be best for optimal digestion.
4. Stay Hydrated
Low fluid intake is a common cause of constipation.
Experts recommend drinking 50–66 ounces (1.5–2 liters) of non-caffeinated fluids per day to prevent constipation. However, you may need more if you live in a warm climate or exercise strenuously.
In addition to water, you can also meet your fluid intake with herbal teas and other non-caffeinated beverages such as seltzer water.
Another way to help meet your fluid intake needs is to include fruits and vegetables that are high in water, such as cucumber, zucchini, celery, tomatoes, melons, strawberries, grapefruit, and peaches.
5. Ditch Bad Habits
You know that bad habits such as smoking, drinking too much alcohol and eating late at night aren’t great for your overall health.
And, in fact, they may also be responsible for some common digestive issues.
Alcohol
Alcohol can increase acid production in your stomach and may lead to heartburn, acid reflux and stomach ulcers.
Excessive alcohol consumption lead to bleeding gastrointestinal tract.
Alcohol associated with inflammatory bowel diseases, leaky gut and harmful changes gut bacteria.
Reducing your consumption of alcohol may help your digestion.
Smoking
Smoking nearly doubles the risk of developing acid reflux.
Furthermore, studies have shown that quitting smoking improves these symptoms.
This bad habit also been associated with stomach ulcers, increased surgeries in people with ulcerative colitis and gastrointestinal cancers.
If you have digestive issues and smoke cigarettes, keep in mind that quitting may be beneficial.
How to Improve Digestion Avoid Late-Night Eating
Eating late at night and then lying down to sleep can lead to heartburn and indigestion.
Your body needs time to digest, and gravity helps keep the food you eat moving in the right direction.
Additionally, when you lie down, the contents of your stomach may rise up and cause heartburn. Lying down after eating strongly associated with an increase in reflux symptoms.
If you experience digestive issues at bedtime, try waiting three to four hours after eating before going to bed, to give the food time to move from your stomach to your small intestine.
6. Get Moving
Regular exercise is one of the best ways to improve your digestion.10 Foods That Helps You To Make Strong Muscle(Opens in a new browser tab)
Exercise and gravity help food travel through your digestive system. Therefore, taking a walk after a meal may assist your body in moving things along.
One study in healthy people showed that moderate exercise, such as cycling and jogging, increased gut transit time by nearly 30%.
In another study in people with chronic constipation, a daily exercise regimen including 30 minutes of walking significantly improved symptoms.
Additionally, studies suggest that exercise may reduce symptoms of inflammatory bowel diseases due to anti-inflammatory effects, such as decreasing inflammatory compounds in your body.
7. Eat Mindfully
It’s easy to eat too much too quickly if you’re not paying attention, which can lead to bloating, gas and indigestion.
Mindful eating is the practice of paying attention to all aspects of your food and the process of eating (26).
Studies have shown that mindfulness may reduce digestive symptoms in people with ulcerative colitis and IBS.
How to Improve Digestion eat mindfully:
- Eat slowly.
- Focus on your food by turning off your TV and putting away your phone.
- Notice how your food looks on your plate and how it smells.
- Select each bite of food consciously.
- Pay attention to the texture, temperature and taste of your food.
8. Get Plenty of Fiber
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It’s common knowledge that fiber is beneficial for good digestion.
Soluble fiber absorbs water and helps add bulk to your stool. Insoluble fiber acts like a giant toothbrush, helping your digestive tract keep everything moving along.
Soluble fiber found in oat bran, legumes, nuts and seeds, while vegetables, whole grains and wheat bran are good sources of insoluble fiber.
A high-fiber diet has been linked to a reduced risk of digestive conditions, including ulcers, reflux, hemorrhoids, diverticulitis and IBS.
Prebiotics are another type of fiber that feed your healthy gut bacteria. Diets high fiber have been shown to reduce the risk of inflammatory bowel conditions.
Prebiotics found in many fruits, vegetables and grains.
