5 Reasons to Heal and Strengthen your Digestive System
There are many signs and symptoms of digestive weakness and dysfunction:
constipation, diarrhea, aches and pains, blood in the stool, eczema, asthma, itchy scalp, thrush, PMS, central weight gain, headaches, mood swings, dry skin and many more.
Ignoring these can have a huge impact on your overall health. Healing generally includes reducing irritants (common ones include dairy, gluten, soy and egg) and the chemical impact on your life (chemical cleaners, cosmetics, washing detergents, air fresheners and other chemical aspects of your life you can control), whilst at the same time including digestive healing nutrients (proteins, fibre in terms of fresh fruit and vegetables, anti-inflammatory foods, essential fats, probiotics and many other key nutrients). Every client and case is different so if you think you may need some digestive support please contact your Naturopath or other health practitioner.
1. The Digestive System is the root of all health– without digestive system function (digesting, absorbing nutrients and eliminating waste products) optimal health is almost impossible to achieve. It is also our largest link to the environment around us. Essentially a long tube with 2 openings, it is completely open from mouth to anus to the outside world. It is intrinsically linked to all of the other body systems through messages and supply of nutrients.
2. It can help you to lose weight – By identifying and eliminating irritants to the digestive system and healing the mucosal lining or increasing the body’s ability to digest and absorb nutrients you can help to lose any bloating, help to adjust water retention, help to balance blood sugar levels, reduce cravings and increase your energy production (metabolism). By changing your lifestyle and eating real food you can look how you want to and feel great.
3. It can help to reduce aches and pains – Systemic inflammation showing up in achy joints can be a strong indication that there is some digestive weakness. If your body has holes in the digestive system (leaky gut for example) then the body’s immune system will naturally mount a response to unidentified factors in the blood and lymphatic system. This systemic inflammation can be seen in the skin (dry skin, red blotchy skin, eczema or psoriasis, itchy scalp and anything else that looks hot, damp and red), in the breathing (lots of mucous, getting out of breath, asthma, persistent dry coughs etc), in the circulatory system (poor circulation, cold hands and feet), the immune system (chronic infections, thrush, cystitis and general sluggish lack of energy), reproductive issues (such as PCOS and PMS) and as mentioned achy joints.
4. It can help to restore hormonal balance – Hormones are made from your fats and proteins. The endocrine system is the collection of glands, each of which secretes different types of hormones that regulate metabolism, growth and development, tissue function, sexual function, reproduction, sleep and mood, immune function, impact every system in the body and are involved in every organ and indeed cell’s function. By healing your digestive system and providing the necessary nutrients to help the endocrine system to work at optimal levels you will impact most systems in your body and feel more balanced in weight, mood, hunger levels and general health. Also balancing blood sugar and insulin levels by eating real food and consuming fermented foods, balanced levels of protein, natural carbohydrates (fruit vegetables, beans, legumes and grains) and natural fats (coconut, flax, ghee/butter, olive oil and other fats from nuts, seeds and fish), your hormones will also start to balance out.
5. It can improve your lifestyle – The digestive system is at its most vulnerable when using pharmaceuticals. Common medications such as aspirin, antibiotics and antacids may disrupt natural process and in their non-natural ingredients and actions can irritate and damage the digestive system and how it works- thus impacting the rest of the body. By disrupting enzyme function, pH regulation and gut bacteria levels the body has to adapt to survive and the longer this continues the more adapting the body has to do and the more damage there is to repair and heal from. By healing your digestive system you may find you no longer need some of the other medications; not to mention the increase in energy, memory, mood, sex drive, general strength and finally having a clear head. It can’t hurt to try!
Thank you for the image; By Olek Remesz (wiki-pl: Orem, commons: Orem) [CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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