My New Digestive Repair program includes some of the following guiding principles.Coupled with the GI Map to assess underlying gut pathogens, and a customized digestive plan.
Principles for Healthy Digestion- Digestion is the basis for all health
1. Chew your food thoroughly; digestion begins in the mouth where enzymes are released through chewing and saliva. Add in digestive enzymes.
2. Try a food rotation/elimination diet where you eliminate a highly allergic or difficult and congesting food like cow’s milk-dairy, wheat, eggs, nuts, soy, corn, etc. You must allow 72 hours of each food to be eliminated then re-introduced. Another option is eating a clean diet for 30 days avoiding these foods then re-introducing. Also consider food allergy and sensitivity testing. You must identify the offenders.
3. Eat an alkaline diet. Foods high in acid such as sugar, dairy, breads and other refined foods and meats are difficult to digest-eat a mostly plant based but not exclusively raw diet.
4. Eat foods easy to digest such as cooked fruits, vegetables, soups, rice and other whole (non-gluten) grains, fish and poultry.
5. Use natural antimicrobials in cooking to reduce bad gut bacteria and pathogens; oregano, ginger, garlic, sage, thyme, rosemary, and use fermented foods such as unsweetened kefir, miso or occasional plain yogurt, sauerkraut, and probiotics (good bacteria such as fermented miso, yogurt, sauerkraut) and pre-biotics (dandelion greens, asparagus, leek, garlic, onion, chicory, yams) to replenish good gut bacteria.
6. Eat and cook with foods to stimulate and warm digestion such as bitter foods; turmeric, ginger, dandelion greens, arugula, aloe, herbal bitters. Herbal bitters stimulate the digestive process and have been used for hundreds of years. Also consider HCI and Digestive Enzymes.
7. Understand your own energy- is your system too “hot” or “cold”? If you have a lot of digestive heat, eating raw foods can be helpful. If your system is “cold” eat warm and cooked foods.
8. Repair and soothe mucosal lining of the stomach with slippery elm, licorice root, aloe leaf juice, l-glutamine, or camomile (aloe is naturally a slight laxative). Look for a formula that has all of these. Also look for a multi-type of probiotic with many strains of good bacteria
9. Eat to nourish the brain gut connection, herbs which are calming for brain gut connection include chamomile, hops, valerian, lemon balm, milky oat.
10. Engage in a mind body practice or daily relaxation
11. Take a day such as a Sunday to rest digestion eating broths, fresh juices, soups and steamed vegetables
12. A special Note About contstipation- Eating more fiber, flax, fruits, vegetables, juices, and use magnesium bisglycinate, vitamin c, and other good fats such as flax oil, fish oil to keep the system lubricated. castor oil paks. Vita C every 2 hours until bowels move. Ask me for my constipation protocol you can order on Lynn’s List, available to all past and current clients.