Have you ever had a nagging feeling and kept poopooing it away? I have, I also think most of us have at sometime or another. Another name for it is intuition, we all have it.
There’s also the guts we live with every single day. The guts that are working hard to keep us alive. The guts that digest our food and move it through our beautifully made system that we so often abuse by putting in the wrong things and expecting it to just keep on doing it’s job.
I honestly know, from experience, that good gut health is so crucial to our overall well being. It is so important to follow good nutrition guidelines as well as staying relaxed and at ease so our system can do the job it was designed to do. For years I was taking pantoprazole to alleviate pain from a stomach ulcer that I had developed, mainly due to stress. Then I took the time to read the warning that came with the prescription. Okay, my bad, I probably should have read it years earlier, before a few bone fractures, that it is said to possible cause. Yikes. Thankfully I never did take it twice a day as prescribed but I did take it once a day for several years. Not any more!!
In my research regarding the things that naturally help with stomach acid and good alternatives to taking antacids I came up with the following 5 things that can help effectively, and are all natural.
- Digestive enzymes…our body makes them naturally, but it is okay to use a supplement. Talk to your healthcare professional to choose the right one for you.
- Probiotics…Often considered a friendly bacteria. It can be found in foods like yogurt, Kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, miso, apple cider vinegar, and the list goes on. Good quality brands of all of these can easily be found at your local whole foods/health food store .
- Chamomile tea…Helps to reduce stress with it’s calming effects and it is also nice before bed as it helps to induce a restful sleep, another factor in keeping stress at a minimum.
- Ginger…I always add fresh ginger to my early day smoothie, as well as put in a pot of hot water and bring it to a boil for a couple of minutes. It’s a relaxing warm beverage to sip on throughout the day. It keeps the stomach settled after a large meal and also has anti-inflammatory properties.
- Rest and Relaxation…I have written on the importance of sleep and rest before andI can’t stress enough the importance of it. Also just slowing down a little to listen to yourself breathe.
With all of these things and a few others that just make sense, you can try to eat smaller portions, eat more slowly by chewing your food, your mouth is the first point of digestion and it’s meant to help your stomach out. Avoid foods that cause indigestion… greasy or spicy are two big culprits for my system. If you smoke, quit, there is nothing good about those damn things and they just wreak havoc on your whole system. Try to not eat in the evenings and go to bed with an empty stomach.
These are just a few of my recommendations. I don’t ever expect anyone to do what I suggest without consulting a professional. I just know what works for me and because I have lived with gut issues and it’s not a fun time.
Reducing stress by meditating a few times a day is good for your guts, without a doubt…If you can’t find time to meditate, JUST BREATHE and pay attention to that to regulate your nervous system.
Meditation is also good to wake up your intuition (gut feelings), so you can make decisions for yourself, to live your best life….From the InsideOut!
