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Human Digestion The Key To HealthIt's true, the Human Digestion system is truly the key to health, and as a previous long-term sufferer of digestive problems, including ulcers, IBS and Helicobacter pylori infection, myself, this is a subject that is close to my 'heart' – so to speak! I can say from experience that months of medication for ulcer and acid reflux basically simply treated symptoms without ever getting to the real issues behind my own human digestion problem. It's my guess that many folks who suffer these digestive problems are also 'victims' of pharmaceutical mis-management and ill-informed medical advice. Yet I now know that digestive health is CRITICAL to long-term health and well being. As some of you will probably have heard, if you are like-minded, there is a famous proclamation by a Russian Nobel Laureate, who stated that 'Death begins in the colon' (it's such an important 'motif' that you'll find it repeated elsewhere on this site, for which I do not apologize!). Many people spend years, and $$$ assuaging the symptoms of problematic human digestion without ever re-establishing proper good digestive health. Poor human digestion has so many 'knock on effects' and this is really of little surprise if you think about it. The digestive tract is so badly treated by us –- being assaulted as it is with all forms of chemicals (many used routinely in processed foods) and regularly damaged by caffeine containing beverages, and that highly toxic, yet highly popular relaxant -- alcohol, as well as numerous other abuses. Some suggest that up to 80% of us probably 'jog along' with severely impaired digestive flora – the natural bacteria that help us to get the most out of our food, and protect us against other 'baddies' that we may inadvertently ingest. Over what can be many years it is little wonder that we start to feel constantly debilitated, fatigued, washed-out, lacking in get-up-and-go. It is also little surprise that many people find their lives dogged further human digestion problems such as either constipation, or diarrhea, or both (in an alternating hellish cycle!). In between these 'delights' we also suffer flatulence, bloating, even substantial pain and discomfort. Not to mention often experiencing severely affected sleep patterns, being woken with nausea, acidity and worse. We can come to see these traumas as something we just have to live with. This is a dangerous and misguided belief. It is, in actual fact, imperative that we do what we can to get things back on track, and to be honest, as with so many things, the ONLY answer is concerted effort to establish effective positive lifestyle change. Here are just one or two things that you really need to consider to start regaining your human digestion intestinal health – there'll be more on this topic here soon: How much are you drinking? POSITIVE: Are you drinking enough water? That's about 2 liters of 'clean source' water a day (this is NOT usually tap water – but good quality, natural mineral water is OK, and perhaps 'distilled' water is perhaps even better) NEGATIVE: Alcohol! Are you a regular tippler? ...for the relaxant effect? ...as a reward for a hard days work? ...as a necessary 'evil' of the job? ...as a consequence of going along with the crowd? Whatever the excuse you use –- you need to start to cut back now. Try to minimize and even cut it out completely, at least for a period, whilst you regain your digestive health. (BE PREPARED though this will take at least 3 or likely 6 or more months!) What are you eating? POSITIVE: Plenty of fresh vegetables lightly if cooked at all, with an accent on green vegetables in particular. Naturally this is pretty much what you'll read in many places –- but there is a strengthening school of thought that suggests you should eat less of the sweeter fruits which can contribute too much to acidity. In fact some maintain that acidity is the REAL problem that faces us...and not just because of acid reflux! NEGATIVE: Processed food is increasingly commonly part of Western diets. These food require the routine use of chemicals that assist in prolonging life, or 'maintaining quality' or texture, color or flavor (but at what cost to human digestion health?). Many processed food use 'modified' starches and other 'unnatural' man-made elements (colors; flavors; flavor enhancers -- like MSG)that the human body has never evolved to digest properly. Yet this is only the 'tip of an iceberg' of issues that potentially impact upon digestive and other aspects of health. The simplest resolution to this problem is to revert to eating only fresh foods (yep! That means a little more prep time, but frankly this is a minor inconvenience to eradicate the possible problems that 'convenience foods' could pose to your system!). But there is more, as not all fresh foods are born equal. Naturally foods with minimized levels of chemicals and other unpleasant constituents are preferable whenever possible. So this means going organic whenever you can. ...Of course this is just one small step towards a better dietary regime. It is also important to support the re-establishment of a proper balance of healthy intestinal bacteria. This may be the single most important issue, in fact, for many long-term human digestion problem sufferers. One way this can be assisted – besides eating cleaner – is to take a supportive and effective probiotic. We have information about one of the only products we confidently endorse from direct personal experience here on the general probiotics page, and here on the super supplements page. I'll be adding more information shortly to this section of GoNandO.com, which I think is a very important part of the site. The establishment of healthy effective human digestion is, as we have said, critical to long-term health. Remember, without efficient human digestion it does not matter whether or not you are eating good, clean, organic food and try to have a great diet, because you just WON'T be getting all the nutritive benefits you should be from it. To recap: As this begins to happen you WILL be amazed at how much better you begin to feel all round thanks to improving the workings of your human digestion system - the undoubted key to good health. SEE ALSO: |
