11 Crucial Tips For Better Digestive Health

By Jack Adam Weber L.Ac., Dipl. C.H.

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

The following tips are helpful for everyone, especially those with digestive issues. They are culled from years of personal and clinical experience, as well as from the annals of both Eastern and Western medicine. Many of these tips have conflicting research and opinions. The suggestions I offer, therefore, are ones that I have seen work.

These are guidelines; try them and notice what works for you.

Remember too, however, that future imbalance may develop from poor habits, even if they feel okay in the present. If you suffer from poor digestion, or want to optimize your health, I recommend you give these a try. These tips are not meant to diagnose or to treat any specific disease. Please consult with a physician if symptoms are severe or persist.

Tip #1: Do not drink liquids just before, during or just after your meal — especially not cold ones.

Explanation: This can dilute your digestive enzymes (conflicting research on this) and weakens digestive fire. If you do drink, a cup of warm tea or water is usually okay, and will likely not affect enzyme activity. Meals high in salt are doubly injurious because they promote imbalance of excessive thirst and water intake. Pay attention; notice what works.

In TCM terms, drinking excessively (and any cold drinks at all) while eating injures the Stomach and Spleen Qi, the two organs systems most important for digestive health.

Tip #2: Try squatting while you eat. 

Explanation: The rest of the world does it for good reason, not just for the absence of chairs. Squatting is helpful especially if you have been sitting or doing sedentary, intellectual work, where energy stagnates in the upper body (e.g., computer work). Squatting stimulates digestion by encouraging energy to flow downward, helping to relax breathing and the diaphragm, as well as activating the “middle and lower burners,” the areas of the torso corresponding with digestion.

The Spleen and Stomach meridians/channels on the leg are activated by squatting; these are the primary channels and organ systems responsible for digestive health in Chinese medicine.

Tip #3: Talk minimally while eating, if at all, and chew your food really well.

Explanation: Talking impairs chewing, allows excess air into digestive tract, and often creates tension, which hampers good digestion. Excessive talking while eating distracts one from body-awareness and leads easily to over-eating. On the other hand, if you are upset/stressed and you have to eat, talking might help you alleviate your upset, in which case it is beneficial. This highlights the importance of listening to your body for what feels good.

Chewing well increases the surface area of your food, making it easier for digestive enzymes to further break it down. Chewing well allows digestive enzymes in your saliva, HCL in your stomach, and pancreatic enzymes in your intestines to mix thoroughly with food to further the digestive process. Remember also, you want your food to be as liquefied as possible by the time you swallow your food.

Tip #4: Do not eat when stressed or emotionally upset.

Explanation

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