How To Fix Your Digestion Throughout The Day
What is digestion?
The digestive system is made up of the gastrointestinal tract—also called the GI tract or digestive tract—and the liver, pancreas, and gallbladder. The GI tract is a series of hollow organs joined in a long, twisting tube from the mouth to the anus. The hollow organs that make up the GI tract are the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and anus. The liver, pancreas, and gallbladder are the solid organs of the digestive system.
Bacteria in your GI tract, also called gut flora or microbiome, help with digestion. Parts of your nervous and circulatory systems also help. Working together, nerves, hormones, bacteria, blood, and the organs of your digestive system digest the foods and liquids you eat or drink each day.
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Why is digestion important?
Digestion is important because your body needs nutrients from food and drink to work properly and stay healthy. Proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and water are nutrients. Your digestive system breaks nutrients into parts small enough for your body to absorb and use for energy, growth, and cell repair.
Why you should improve your digestion
Your digestive system is exceptionally important for your overall health and it’s responsible for processing the food you eat, absorbing the nutrients you need then excreting the waste that no longer serves a purpose.
Unfortunately, many people are experiencing daily signs of discomfort due to disrupted digestive systems, and discomfort as a result of poor digestion can cause frustration and confusion. It can sometimes even become such a nuisance that it can begin to impact your daily life.
Sometimes digestion complications can be the result of more serious conditions such as IBS, Crohn’s Disease, and more. However, an otherwise perfectly healthy person can often experience digestive issues simply due to poor diet or lifestyle choices.
What contributes to poor digestion?
When it comes to poor digestion, there are quite a few possible culprits that may be to blame. Poor digestion is really common if you’re not eating the right combinations of foods or you don’t know how to prepare those foods in a way that aids digestion.
Moreover contrary to popular belief, it’s not just about what you are eating, but also how you are eating and how you are feeling. So the following are just a few factors that could be contributing to you experiencing poor digestion.
Too much or too little fiber intake
Insoluble fiber is responsible for aiding GI motility, and it essentially helps to keep things moving in a timely manner. Soluble fiber, on the other hand, turns into a gel-like substance in the digestive tract to help slow down digestion.
It also promotes the growth of healthy bacteria that helps us to digest appropriately. So when we don’t have enough fiber in the diet, we can experience constipation, gas, or diarrhea. On the other hand, what many people don’t know is that if we suddenly increase our fiber intake substantially overnight, this can also be just as troublesome. Constipation and bloating almost undoubtedly will follow.
Inadequate water intake
Water is another key player for healthy digestion. When we’re either mildly or severely dehydrated due to a lack of water intake, symptoms of constipation, diarrhea, bloating and even malabsorption may occur. Water is essential because it helps to break down food items to promote optimal digestion. It also helps to soften the stool.
Excessive intake of processed foods
When too many processed food items are consumed frequently, a perfect storm is created in the digestive tract. Processed food items are void of fiber, water, vitamins, and minerals, and instead are packed with sugar and artificial ingredients.
Our digestive tract is lined with good, healthy bacteria that help us to digest appropriately. Unfortunately, an excessive intake of sugar from processed food items can lead to an inadequate amount of healthy bacteria, which ultimately results in poor digestion.
Chronic stress
Stress has the ability to wreak havoc on the body. There are two different types of stress that your body can experience. Acute stress is essentially short-term stress, think of that pit in your stomach you feel when you’re nervous about meeting a work deadline or about giving a speech in public.
Chronic stress, on the other hand, is long-term stress. This is the stress that is experienced over a prolonged period of time rather than simply situationally.
Acute stress can cause a lack of appetite and slow down digestion, while chronic stress can cause more severe issues such as constipation, diarrhea, and abdominal cramping. This can also eventually result in a diagnosis of IBS.
Not eating the correct balance of foods at a meal
Our bodies require a combination of what we like to call the Foundational Five — protein, starchy carbohydrates, non-starchy carbohydrates, healthy fats, and the flavor factor.
While the flavor factor is simply for taste, the previous four components are essential for proper digestion. Each macronutrient serves a purpose, when one or many of them are consistently missing, your digestion may start to show signs of distress.
Overeating or under eating
Finding the right amount of food for your body is also important for proper digestion. If we under eat and don’t give our body the proper nutrients it needs, we may start to experience, bloating, constipation, or diarrhea. The exact same goes for the opposite scenario. If we overload our digestive system to the point where it becomes overwhelming, the chances of it being able to digest appropriately are slim to none.
Food Intolerances
Food intolerances present themselves differently in each and every individual. With that being said, abnormal digestion is one of the most common signs. Continuing to eat food items that your body is intolerant to can also lead to long term complications, depending upon the severity of the intolerance and what it is that you are intolerant to.
Reasons why you feel like your digestion gets worse throughout the day
You go first thing in the morning
The first thing people do usually when they wake up in the morning is brush their teeth, get ready for the morning, they have coffee, and they go to the bathroom. So their stomach and everything gets very flat, and they feel really good. There’s no bloat and all the gases are out.
As the day goes on, a variety of things happen. Eating can lead to us feeling full, bloated, or heavy. When that happens, we get the subjective feeling that we’re not able to digest as well. In other words, one of the reasons we feel as though our digestion is worsening throughout the day is that we’re comparing our experience to that golden, post-number two feelings. In reality, your body’s still working just as hard as it did when you woke up, you might just not feel like it is by lunchtime.
Your first meal of the day is typically the calmest
You’ve slept. You’ve had coffee, you’re in peak performance, and your entire GI tract is pretty much empty. And so everything feels like it goes down very easily. As the day goes on, though, our bodies are subjected to tons of stimulatory stress that can be found. You get that SOS request from your boss, your workload piles up, your Zoom meetings wreak their havoc, and suddenly your gut-brain connection is fielding your stress signals and causing indigestion.
The type of neurotransmitters in our brain that control our mood are the same ones that are in our gut, like serotonin and dopamine. Of course, the components of your diet also contribute to how well your stomach feels morning, noon, and night. Breakfast—which really can make or break your stress levels for the rest of the day—sets the stage for how seamless your belly will feel for your remaining hours of consciousness.
If you have a very carbohydrate, starch-rich food in the morning, you’re going to feel really lethargic. If you have a very fiber rich, protein heavy meal in the morning, you’re going to feel fuller for longer, and experience less gas bloating.
To some extent, you can’t really control the rumblings and other noises your body makes for the sake of nourishing and taking care of you. But there are a few ways to tweak your meals, and the activities you do before and after them, to quell the gassiness and discomfort that just might creep up during the day.
How to help fix your digestion throughout the day
Balance your protein, carbs, and fats at every meal
The digestive tract works well when we have everything in moderation, as opposed to a lot of one thing. If you’re like most people, you might snack all day and then wait until dinner to squeeze in your daily recommended four to five servings of vegetables. This vegetable dump might not feel great on your stomach, so compose a plate that’s balanced between the food groups at each meal so your stomach doesn’t throw a temper tantrum.
Skip the self-entertainment while you eat
What you may not notice is that you’re gulping up a ton of air when you’re crying or screaming in frustration at the television screen, and that makes you gassy at a time of day when your body’s already dealing with the add slowness of stress. ‘Good eating hygiene’ includes three components: no distractions, a sprinkle of mindfulness, and a nice glass of water to accompany the meal.
Take a walk
Walking and digestion go together like peanut butter and jelly. After a nice, filling meal, you may want to cozy up and lie down, but it’s in your best interest to stay vertical. The reason why is because the walking stimulates your abdominal muscles, your back muscles. These muscles help the normal colon contractions that help you digest. Make this a priority especially after lunch and dinner, and you might notice that your stomach and other places are making less of a racket than usual.
What you still need to know about the digestive process
It’s important to understand the basics of the digestion process in order to appropriately address digestive issues. Digestion is the act of consuming, breaking down, processing, and utilizing food for energy. There are two ways food is digested:
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Mechanical digestion: when food is chewed and physically broken up into tiny little pieces
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Chemical digestion: where food is broken down into even smaller molecules with the help of natural digestive enzymes
The process of digestion starts in the mouth. Mechanical digestion is conducted by the act of chewing food, and chemical digestion also begins here with the release of the enzyme amylase, which is responsible for digesting carbohydrates.
Our food next travels through the esophagus to the stomach where chemical and physical digestion continues. Gastric juices are released to further break down the food item, while the stomach itself contracts and churns to mix everything up and push the food forward. These contractions are referred to as peristalsis.
Everything then makes its way into the small intestine. This is the first part of digestion where nutrients begin to be significantly absorbed. The liver and pancreas also help out here by secreting enzymes that further the chemical digestion.
Lastly, after the food has passed through the small intestine, the large intestine absorbs all remaining nutrients but mostly any remaining water. This is how stool is formed that then passes out of our bodies via the rectum.
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Now that you understand how the process of digestion works and how it can be disrupted, you can use some of the previously mentioned tips to help improve your digestion. Remember that improving your digestive system may take time and that with all things patience is key. However, one you do improve your digestive issues you might find eating more pleasurable.
Extra tips for digestion
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Protein is an essential part of a healthful diet, but fatty cuts of meat can lead to digestive discomfort. When you eat meat, select lean cuts, such as pork loin and skinless poultry and limit portion size, filling more of your plate with fiber-rich whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.
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Probiotics can enhance nutrient absorption, may help break down lactose, strengthen your immune system, and possibly even help treat IBS.
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Regular exercise helps keep foods moving through your digestive system, reducing constipation, and staying active can also help you maintain a healthy weight, which is good for your digestive health.
