Suggestions for Healthy Digestion
All over the world, people equate celebration and feasting. At the mere mention of a holiday meal, our salivary glands start doing a happy dance, followed by visions of holiday tables overflowing with steaming plates of deliciousness. ( I can't wait! ) Fast forward to part two of this vision: hubby or grandma or uncle Jim or everyone, is groaning, holding the belly, and heading for the couch for the infamous post-holiday dinner nap.
Traditionally we blame this compulsion to snooze on the turkey. In defense of the turkey, it would be more accurate to blame this discomfort on the body's release of insulin in reaction to the huge amount of carbohydrates just ingested. In essence, this is the body's desperate attempt to manage its blood sugar levels! At this point, you may be ready to stop reading! Please don't.* My motto is "be informed and then make conscious choices of what you eat."
On a personal note, I was born to two highly-disciplined parents. My father was born in Japan into a family of inordinately-healthy people. His eating motto is, “always stop when you are 3/4 full.” My mother simply stops eating when she is approaching a feeling of fulness. Same outcome (no, it doesn’t seem to have been passed on to me, but I am conscious of how I eat just enough when relaxed and overeat when I am stressed).
Studies have shown that one of the commonalities among centenarians (people who live to or beyond 100) is not their living stress-free lives, as we might expect, but that they don’t overeat.
So, how much is too much? A healthy stomach is approximately the size of your fist, a good guideline to begin with. Find a bowl that size, put your food into it, and after eating that amount, see how you feel. After twenty minutes, if you are still hungry, you might eat a little bit more.
To help you on your "comfortable digestion" journey, here are a few more tips:
1. Healthy digestion starts with a relaxed nervous system.
SUGGESTIONS: sit when you eat, don’t talk about things that are emotionally charged, eat with people whose company you enjoy. Also, since gratitude has been shown to be relaxing, take some nice slow breaths and say your own personal prayer of gratitude before picking up your fork.
2. Saliva and teeth are part of your digestive tract.
SUGGESTION: chew your food thirty-to-forty times before swallowing. This gives your stomach acid lots of surface area to help break down your food more efficiently.
3. Good digestion depends on strong stomach acid.
SUGGESTION: (see number one. Stress decreases stomach acid and relaxation increases stomach acid). It helps to drink a mixture of 2 tsp. of raw apple cider vinegar in a small glass of water 10-15 minutes before you eat.
*I hope you've found it helpful to read this far!
I wish you healthy, happy holidays!!!
Dr. Ajana Miki