Did you know that having a healthy digestive tract is one of the most important things you can focus on if you want to boost health and vitality?
In fact, 70% of your immune system comes from your digestive tract!
However… this can be compromised if you don’t consume the nutrients you need from your food and even worse could be the cause you can’t lose weight!
How can this happen? Let’s start by imagining 2 different people…
One person has excellent digestion! Their guts can turn a rock into peanut butter if need be. The other suffers from indigestion and constipation or diarrhea.
Now, imagine that both of these people eat the same meal. Are they each getting the same macro and micro-nutrients from the foods they eat?
Since the second person in our example above suffers from digestive issues we need to assume that they aren’t able to squeeze as much nutrition out of their meals as the other person with perfect digesting.
Why is this an issue? Bare with me for a sec while I explain…
Most dietitians consider that a calorie is just a calorie (a unit of energy), and due to the law of thermodynamics, energy can never be created or destroyed so therefore if you eat 500 calories and I eat 500 calories then we would both be absorbing these 500 calories.
Here’s the problem…
Using the law of thermodynamics as a reference is illogical as this law also states the words, “in a closed chain system” energy cannot be created or destroyed. Last time I checked, my body wasn’t a closed chain system.
What this means is that for you and I to get the same amount of nutrients from a particular food we would have to be a closed chain system (i.e. no poop, no pee, no sweat etc.)
Considering that everyone’s digestive tract and bowel movements are different, you may be absorbing less or more of the food and nutrients you eat then the person next to you and furthermore, you may be absorbing the wrong macro-nutrients and/or the wrong vitamins for your body!
This is an issue because high mineral and vitamin foods reduce your overall appetite while eating foods devoid of nutrients tends to promote appetite and fat gain!
To fix this, you can do a couple things to help rebuild your digestion…
First of all, contrary to hat you’ve been told, I recommend avoiding water or other liquids right after a meal.
Drinking water after a meal can dilute the digestive juices and reduce your chances of getting the maximum amount of appetite suppressing vitamins and minerals from your diet.
Instead give your body 60 or more minutes to digest the food you ate before consuming any liquids.
Next, make sure you consume a minimum of one of the following sources of probiotics daily:
PROBIOTIC – Take a probiotic with breakfast every day. A probiotic supplement is one of the few supplements I take on a regular basis and it is one that I always recommend as one of the top supplements to all of my clients.
FERMENTED VEGGIES – Eating fermented veggies like, sauerkraut and kimchi can be just as effective as taking a probiotic supplement. Consume these fermented veggies as a part of your salad or with your steamed veggies.
OTHER FERMENTED FOODS – Consuming other fermented foods can also make a big difference in your digestion. My favorites are keifer, yogurt and kombucha. Just make sure you tolerate dairy if you consume keifer or yogurt.
Remember… building a strong digestion will allow you to get better results from the foods you eat regardless of what diet you’re on. So…
Take care of your guts, avoid deleting your digestive juices and consume probiotics and fermented foods :
QUICK HABIT RECAP: Work on your digestion daily by avoiding the consumption of water or other liquids within 60 minutes of your meals and either take a probiotic supplement or consume a fermented food ever single day.
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