Is your digestive system in good shape?
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
Top eating tips from Melanie Flower
We can follow all the right diets for a healthy digestive system, but it could be in vain if we don’t think about when and how we eat.
Nutritional Therapist, Melanie Flower offers some handy tips to help your digestive system work effectively.
1. Are you hungry?
Before you eat, ask yourself whether you are truly hungry. We often eat because we are bored, tired or unhappy, which can lead to overeating and unhealthy snacking; neither of which are good for the digestive system.
2. Be prepared
When we smell food, nervous signals are sent from the brain to the digestive system, causing digestive enzymes to be produced. Try to cook meals from scratch where possible, as the sight and smell of food will prepare the digestive system for what’s to come.
3. Chew your food
Chewing mixes food with saliva, which starts to break down starches. When food is poorly chewed and arrives in the stomach in larger chunks, the enzymes and acid in the stomach have to work much harder to break it down, which can cause bloating and heartburn.
