Living with a digestive ailment can be difficult. It involves walking a fine line of balancing your diet and knowing your triggers. Thankfully, with some small adjustments, you can ease your pain and improve digestive health.
Common Irritants
We all have our own triggers, but there are common foods that cause more harm than others. Lactose is one such irritant. So if you’re lactose intolerant, limit your dairy, except for yogurt. Acidic foods, like sodas, can disturb the lining of our stomachs, causing pain. Oily, fried, and processed foods can create chaos in our guts. This is especially true for foods with artificial sweeteners. Moderation is key, so consume less caffeine, alcohol, spicy foods. and foods heavy in salt and sugar. Grains of all kinds may be the culprit of many stomach aches, so pay attention when you eat them. Many of these foods cause inflammation, which harms our gut health.
Eating for Gut Health
In order to keep your digestive system (and the rest of your body) in good shape, it’s crucial that you focus on improving your gut health. This means eating a balanced diet of fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as taking probiotics. Fermented foods aid the good bacteria in our stomachs. Just make sure that you’re choosing unpasteurized options. Kimchi, kombucha, and sauerkraut are all excellent choices. Further, foods rich in collagen, like fish, can restore gut balance. If you’re too busy to shop for fresh food every few days, opt for a meal delivery service. You can customize your specifications and ensure that your diet protects your health, rather than damages it.
Amp Up Your Fitness
Working out in the right manner can improve our digestive wellness, too. Studies suggest that the more regularly you exercise, the more diverse your good gut bacteria will be. Exercise helps with digestion and can even strengthen our bodies’ ability to handle lactose. If you’re not sure where to start, try some simple at-home workouts such as chair dips, wall sits, push-ups, and walking lunges. Pick up a pair of comfortable leggings and some footwear and simply use what you already have at home, such as a dining chair or the kitchen counter, to perform the moves.
Keeping Stress Down
Stress is another thing that can destroy our stomachs. When our anxiety skyrockets, our gut stops working the way it should. Our blood sugar might spike, we can fall ill, and any digestive issue we have could be exacerbated. It’s in our best interests to lower our stressors. Meditation is one means to do so, but not the only way. Therapeutic massage, breathing techniques, and herbs can also help. Look to your loved ones for support as well. They may be able to help around the house more or lend an ear so you can get your worries off your chest.
Monitor Yourself
Keeping track of when you have flare-ups may help you identify what’s causing them. However, it can be difficult to remember to journal about your experiences as they happen. Thankfully, there are apps out there to help us monitor our gut health. You can quickly put in what you eat, how much water you drink, and other valuable details into these apps. Then, when you do experience an issue, your app may offer insights into why it happened, and how you could avoid it in the future.
It takes work, but each step is worth it. Eat to stimulate gastrointestinal health, work out regularly, and keep your anxieties down. Every little bit goes toward your overall well-being. Your gut doesn’t have to be your enemy. When treated with care, it will look after you, too.
Image Courtesy of Pexels.com
Leave a Reply