Only after food is digested, absorbed, and transported by the digestive system can nutrients be delivered to all parts of the body. If the food from your three daily meals is not fully absorbed and utilized by the body, the consequences are predictable—the body's machine will run inefficiently, leading to neglect of one part while attending to another, and frequent breakdowns. This is reflected on the face as a sallow complexion, an outbreak of spots and acne, and a rough, dry texture.
A healthy digestive system is a crucial condition for ensuring nutrient absorption. Here are 8 dietary tips to help you cultivate a healthy gut.
8 Dietary Tips for a Healthy Gut
1. Eat Mindfully
When under high stress, people often lose their appetite, and in severe cases, may even experience stomach pain. Digestive problems and ulcers are most likely to occur when work is stressful, because long-term over-excitement of the sympathetic nerve inhibits the activity of the autonomic nervous system, including its digestive and absorption functions.
Therefore, no matter how busy you are, do not eat while looking at the computer, do not discuss work at the dinner table, and certainly do not lecture your children there. Put work aside, forget your worries, relax your mind, and focus on your meal.
2. Chew Thoroughly
Everyone knows this saying, but few actually do it. For those with weaker digestive functions, thorough chewing is especially important. If your teeth do not do their job properly and saliva cannot help sufficiently, the stomach is forced to work overtime to further break down large food particles into a soft enough chyme.
Think about it, does the stomach have teeth? Of course not. How tiring it is for a soft organ to grind food! If the food is not broken down enough, it will not be easily digested by the various digestive enzymes in the small intestine.
Think about it, is it easier to digest a hard lump or a soft paste? The small intestine will then have to work even harder. Therefore, the simplest way is to chew your food as thoroughly as possible, which not only aids digestion but also helps control your food intake.
3. Eat on Schedule
The digestive system thrives on routine and secretes digestive juices at specific times. If you often miss meals at these times, it is very easy to cause indigestion or heartburn and acid reflux.
Irregular eating patterns, such as alternating between long periods of hunger and fullness, can cause the stomach to lose its ability to judge hunger and fullness, making it difficult to control appetite. Never use dieting as an excuse to skip a meal.
If you really need to control your weight by eating less, it is recommended to still eat three meals on time, but reduce the amount of staple foods and animal-based foods. Replace greasy dishes with less oily ones, but do not reduce the amount of vegetables and fruits—in fact, increase them. Also, drink more soups and water to increase the "volume" of your meal.
4. Prepare Healthy Snacks
If you are too busy with work to eat on time, be sure to prepare "emergency foods," such as fruits, yogurt, or nuts. Even something less healthy, like cookies (preferably low in fat and not too sweet), is better than nothing.
The timing of snacks is crucial. Be sure to eat these snacks before you are starving. For example, if you know you will be hungry at 6 p.m., have a yogurt at 5 p.m.; then, at 6 p.m., eat a banana or apple to delay hunger for another hour.
This way, when you finish work at 8 p.m., your stomach won't feel too empty, and you can relax with a bowl of multigrain porridge and a plate of fresh vegetables, allowing you to rest comfortably on schedule at night.
5. Choose Soft Foods
The foods that place the least burden on the digestive system are those rich in starch and low in anti-nutrients, such as fine-textured foods. Examples include mashed yam, taro, potato, rice congee, and millet congee.
Tough corn on the cob is not suitable for people with poor digestion. However, this does not mean that those with digestive issues can only eat refined white rice and flour, as their nutritional value is too low and is not beneficial for improving digestive function in the long run.
For foods that are difficult to cook but highly nutritious, you can reduce the digestive burden on the gut by blending, grinding, or cooking them thoroughly, ensuring their rich nutrients are better absorbed by the body.
For example, use a soy milk maker to blend ingredients rich in B vitamins and various minerals, such as brown rice, black rice, red beans, oats, sesame seeds, and nuts, into a浆 (paste) to drink daily. Your digestive system will feel very comfortable, and the ease of digestion and absorption will be significantly improved compared to before blending.
6. Reduce Unhealthy Fats
Repeatedly heated oil in many restaurants is extremely harmful to the digestive system. Research has shown that this type of oil is linked to chronic intestinal inflammation and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and other chronic digestive diseases.
Therefore, those with digestive problems should be more disciplined and avoid fried, smoked, and grilled foods. Also, avoid greasy stir-fries and various snacks from street vendors where the type of oil used is unknown.
Try to use cooking methods like steaming, boiling, and stewing. Don't worry too much about the heat destroying nutrients, because losing a bit of vitamins is better than eating something that is hard to digest. You can compensate for lost vitamins by diversifying your diet.
7. Get Enough Sleep
No matter how much stress you are under, go to bed on time. Relax your mind half an hour before bed and forget about anything other than rest.
Getting a full 8 hours of sleep gives your body enough time and energy to perform internal repairs. The cells of the digestive tract are renewed every 3-4 days, so it can be inferred that the repair of the digestive system is very sensitive to sleep conditions.
Many people have this experience: once they lack sleep or have poor sleep quality, their digestive function declines, leading to loss of appetite, stomach bloating, or constipation.
8. Exercise Lightly
After a meal, taking a walk or doing some light housework is a good habit for those with indigestion. Vigorous exercise or fast walking is not suitable right after a meal, but it doesn't mean you can't take a leisurely stroll.
The benefits of going for a walk after a meal lie largely in helping you relax mentally. If you don't walk, you might watch TV, use the computer, or read a magazine, and mental activity is even more detrimental to digestion and absorption.
Two hours after a meal, you can do some light exercise, such as brisk walking, jogging, aerobics, or yoga. Moderate exercise helps improve blood circulation and is also beneficial for digestive and absorption capabilities.