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Tag: bloating

A Deep Dive Into Digestion: Is Your Digestion Normal?

Have you ever wondered if your digestion system is working properly? Do you ever suffer from bloating, constipation, diarrhea or abdominal pain? Even if you are having bowel movements consistently, if they are too hard, too loose or too smelly, that could also be a sign that your digestion system isn’t working properly.

When your body isn’t digesting normally, it prevents your liver from being able to get rid of all of the toxins in your body, causing the overall level of toxins in your body to increase. This can cause a host of issues, including fatigue, brain fog, depression, sleep impairment, and an increased risk of inflammatory diseases.

What Is Normal Digestion?

So what does normal digestion look like? According to Dr. Kelsie Lazzell, DC, ND, a chiropractor and naturopathic practitioner at the Center for Holistic Medicine, most people should be having between one to three bowel movements a day, ideally one hour after eating, and they should be well-formed (like a sausage or hot dog), easy to pass with limited straining, should not contain any undigested foods except corn or quinoa, and should lack a foul smell.

Dr. Lazzell also says it should take about 10 to 20 minutes to fully pass a bowel movement — something many of us don’t give ourselves proper time for. “Unfortunately, if our diets and busy work schedules don’t allow for this, our digestion begins to suffer,” she says.

How to Improve Your Digestion: Diet, Stress Reduction and Exercise
Not surprisingly, an unhealthy diet, high levels of stress and lack of exercise can all affect how well our body is able to digest our food.

Here are a few tips on ways you can improve your diet and stress levels to support proper digestion.

  1. Eat Plenty of Fiber
    If you aren’t getting enough fiber in your diet, your stools are going to be harder and less frequent. Standard recommendations say that women should be getting 25 grams of fiber a day and men should get 30 grams of fiber a day, but Dr. Lazzell says most people get barely 15 grams daily. To eat a diet high in fiber, aim to get plenty of fruits and vegetables, brown rice, whole grains, legumes and nuts.

    Dr. Lazzell says it’s also important to understand the difference between soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fibers are one that absorb water. “Soluble fibers are broken down in the digestive process and help bulk up stools and prevent diarrhea,” Dr. Lazzell explains. Foods that contain soluble fibers include oats, peas, beans, apples and carrots.

    Insoluble fibers do not break down in our system, but instead help draw water into the digestive tract, which helps support movement and reduces constipation. So, if you are suffering from constipation, you need to eat more insoluble fibers, such as whole wheat flour, green beans, potatoes and cauliflower.

    “People can be eating the wrong types of fiber to support their digestive and potentially causing their symptoms to worsen,” she says.
  2. Drink Enough Water
    “Drinking water is important to promote healthy digestion,” says Patricia DeAngelis, a functional medicine nurse practitioner at the Center for Holistic Medicine. “Both the small and large intestines absorb water. Water is used to absorb nutrients and assists with motility.”

    DeAngelis says people should aim to drink half of their body weight in ounces per day. So if you weigh 150 pounds, you need to drink 75 ounces of water a day, or the equivalent of nine cups of water a day. If you are sweating a lot or live in a warm climate, you need to drink even more.
  3. Reduce Your Stress
    Have you ever had a big date or an important meeting and had to run to the bathroom with diarrhea because you were so nervous? That’s because our gut is highly sensitive to stress. “When we are stressed, the body is signaled to be in a state of alarm. Motility can slow down or speed up rapidly,” DeAngelis says. “Healthy digestion requires a state of rest or parasympathetic tone of the nervous system.” 

    To reduce your stress, DeAngelis suggests trying meditation or a type of gentle movement, such as stretching, yoga, pranayama, or tai chi, to support the nervous system and promote healthy digestion. 
  4. Avoid Too Much Sugar or High-Salt Foods
    Strangely enough, eating sugary and salty foods cause also a stress response in our gut. “Sugary and salty foods can trigger the sympathetic nervous system (also known as our fight/flight response), and can act as ‘stressors’ to our gut,” says Allison Musso, ND, a naturopathic coach at the Center for Holistic Medicine, adding that they can cause issues with mood, sleep, metabolism and more.

    Musso says the more sugary and salty foods we eat and the faster we eat them, the more it will affect our digestion. “They are most stressful when consumed without the addition of protein or fiber to allow our body to process them slowly,” she says.

    If you are going to eat sugar, Musso recommends avoiding processed foods and instead eating home cooked foods that are sweetened with fruit, honey, molasses or agave, which allows you to monitor how much you are adding to your food.
  5. Get More Exercise
    One of the reasons that so many people suffer from digestive issues these days is that many of us are used to a sedentary lifestyle. To digest your food properly, it’s better to get up and walk around. “Light physical activity is a good habit for digestion health,” DeAngelis says, adding that light to moderate physical movement increases blood flow to the digestive tract and promotes forward movement in your digestive tract. “Most people’s digestion can benefit with as little as 15 to 20 minutes daily of brisk walk following a meal,” she says. However, DeAngelis doing an intense workout right after you eat can cause the body to redirect blood to your muscles and away from your digestive organs, resulting in digestive issues.

    And remember, before you start a new exercise plan, get the okay from your healthcare provider. 
  6. Take Supplements
    If you’re looking for supplements to support your digestive health, try taking fish oil, magnesium or ground flax seed.

    “One of my favorite supplements for digestive issues is fish oil due to its anti-inflammatory effects as well as the mucus promoting effects it can have in the digestive tract,” says Dr. Lazzell. “This helps improve immune system and intestinal barrier function, as well as provide lining support with essential fatty acids found in the omega 3.”

    Dr. Lazzell also recommends taking magnesium, which helps relax the smooth muscles that line your intestines. “There are many different forms of magnesium, and some act more directly on the digestive system, like magnesium citrate, which can help loose compacted stools and promote bowel movements,” she says. Dr. Lazzell suggests taking magnesium at night before bed to support a healthy morning bowel movement.

    If you’re suffering from constipation, DeAngelis recommends taking two tablespoons of ground flax seed, which she says can also assist with detoxification of hormones.
  7. Be Aware of How Foods Make You Feel
    Musso says one of the best ways to improve digestion is to be more aware of how we feel after we eat certain foods so we can try to eliminate foods that are causing us problems. “Do you always feel tired or sluggish after you eat a certain food? Do you feel jittery or restless after another? These are sympathetic responses which can let you know how this food affects you,” Musso says. “These states can also become addictive to our nervous system, and we may feel more cravings to eat a food that actually fuels our body’s stress and dysfunction.”

    If you identify a food that often causes you problems, Musso says try abstaining from it for a week or two to see how your body responds without it. “Giving ourselves space from a food and reintroducing can allow us to experience the ‘acute’ response as opposed to getting lost in a ‘chronic’ response, especially when we are not certain of which food it is. Give your dietary habits a challenge!”

Want to find out more about how to improve your digestion? Schedule an appointment with Dr. Kelsie Lazzell, Patricia DeAngelis or Allison Musso today!

8 Naturopathic Remedies for Bloating, Abdominal Pain, Constipation and More

Having persistent digestive issues such as chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating and constipation is not usually something people talk about in polite conversation. That’s why many Americans suffer from these issues in silence, often assuming that there is not much they can do to feel better.

And it’s not just adults who suffer from constipation and digestive issues, either. Many children don’t get the adequate nutrition they need, making them just as susceptible as adults.

However, Dr. Kelsie Lazzell, a functional medicine doctor of chiropractic and naturopathy at the Center for Holistic Medicine, says digestive issues and constipation don’t have to be a regular occurrence.

Here are eight all-natural remedies that Dr. Lazzell recommends for both children and adults that can help relieve the bloating, discomfort, gas, diarrhea and constipation.

  1. Eat More Fruits and Veggies and Less Sugar
    If you suffer from constipation, Dr. Lazzell says the first thing you should do is increase the amount of fruit and vegetables in your diet. That’s because as fiber passes through your system, it regulates the digestion and passage of food, making digestion and elimination more comfortable and consistent.

    Dr. Lazzell says this is especially a problem for kids, who are often reluctant to eating their fruits and veggies. “That’s why you’ll end up with kids who will take 30 minutes to poop in the morning,” she says. She recommends making kids a smoothie in the morning with green powder to help them get more fiber in their diet.

    Meanwhile, if you suffer from bloating or abdominal pain, Dr. Lazzell says that could be caused by having a diet that’s too high in carbs and sugar. Carbs serve as food for the bad bacteria in your gut, which release gas when they eats the food. When the bacteria multiply, they can spread to your small intestine and release gas there, which causes the abdominal pain.

    To keep your gut healthy, Dr. Lazzell says you need to eat foods that contain natural probiotics, like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, miso and kombucha, to help support the good bacteria that live in your gut, which you need for regular bowel movements as well as overall health.
  2. Get Tested for Food Sensitivities
    A lot of times, digestive issues such as bloating, abdominal pain and diarrhea are caused by food sensitivities in your gut. To determine exactly what is causing the problem, Dr. Lazzell analyzes each patient’s diet and has them provide a stool sample, which can help determine if the patient has a bacterial imbalance, a fungal overgrowth or a parasitic overgrowth in their gut.

    “If you’re reacting to food within an hour, it’s usually due to underlying inflammation in the gut as a whole,” she says.
    After getting the results of the tests, Dr. Lazzell then usually recommends that patients eliminate certain foods to help bring their gut flora back into balance. “When a lot of people cut out gluten and dairy, they are able to eliminate a lot of bloating,” Dr. Lazzell says. “But food sensitivities can be very individualized, so it’s not the same for everyone.”
  3. Drink More Water
    If you want to relieve constipation, Lazzell says you need to drink more water and less caffeine, which can dehydrate you. Lazzell recommends that people drink half their body weight of water in ounces each day. That means if you weigh 120 pounds, you should drink 60 oz. of water a day, or about 7.5 cups. And if you drink caffeine, which dehydrates you even more, Lazzell says you need to drink an extra two cups of water for each cup of caffeine that you drink.

    And make sure you stay away from juice or sugary drinks, which can increase the amount of sugar in your gut and feed the bad bacteria, which leads to more gas.
  4. Move That Body
    Avoiding a sedentary lifestyle with lots of movement and/or exercise is crucial in preventing constipation, according to Lazzell. “If you’re not moving, you’re not helping bowel movement,” Lazzell says. “It’s also crucial for lymphatic drainage and blood flow to the heart and organs to eliminate free radicals and toxic metabolites.”

    Exercises like yoga, bicycling and swimming are all low impact ways to get and keep the body in motion, but virtually any movement, including walking, is preferable to being a complete couch potato.
  5. Get Enough Sleep
    As important as movement and exercise are to keeping yourself regular, Dr. Lazzell says that getting enough sleep and down time are just as important. “Resting and digesting go hand in hand,” Lazzell says. “Sleep especially is when our system restores and repairs. For our digestive system, that means our enzymes, our acids and our bile can counter the cortisol stress response, which inhibits digestion and elimination.”
  6. Eat More Slowly
    One of Dr. Lazzell’s most important suggestions to relieve constipation and bloating is to eat more slowly. “Ten minutes is not enough time to chew and digest food properly,” Lazzell says. “I ask my patients to slow down and take time to chew their food. This makes the digestive process so much easier. Eating too fast decreases the absorption of nutrients.”

    When you don’t chew your food enough, your bacteria have to work overtime to break down the larger chunks of food in your digestive tract, and that causes the bacteria to release more gas, which leads to bloating.

    In fact, eating too quickly can cause a cascade of issues, including sugar imbalances in the gut, slower transit time (the interval between consumption and elimination, ideally about 16 to 20 hours) and yes, constipation.

    “See the food; smell the food,” Lazzell says. “This gives the digestive enzymes time to start flowing, which is a big help. Think of it like a lock and key action.”
  7. Take Supplements
    If you’re suffering from constipation, Lazzell says three supplements can be a big help. “Magnesium is a deficient nutrient for many people, and it’s very useful for relaxing the smooth lining of the intestine and helping in neurotransmitter production,” Lazzell says. She also recommends Vitamin D and zinc supplements to ease constipation. “All of these are essential to the health of the gut lining and help reduce inflammation,” Lazzell says.

    If you’re suffering from an upset stomach or inflammation in the gut, Dr. Lazzell recommends drinking chamomile tea.

    If you’re trying to improve the bacterial imbalance in your gut, Dr. Lazzell recommends taking acacia or arabinogalactan, which are both good sources of prebiotic fiber.
  8. Get a Chiropractic Adjustment or Acupuncture Treatments
    For people with chronic digestive problems, Dr. Lazzell sometimes suggests more advances treatments, such as chiropractic adjustments or acupuncture.

     “Chiropractic adjustments for the nervous system can optimize inputs for the gut, specifically the vagus nerve, ” says Dr. Lazzell, who can perform adjustments on both children and adults.

    She also says acupuncture treatments that focus on the migrating motor complex — a sort of housekeeping function of the small intestine that keeps solids moving through the system in a timely fashion — are also a fantastic treatment for chronic constipation as well as gas and bloating in the small intenstine. Dr. Lazzell can perform acupuncture on adults as well as children ages 10 and up.

If you’re struggling with chronic constipation or digestive issues, schedule an appointment with Dr. Lazzell today to see what naturopathic treatments would work best for you.

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847-236-1701

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