5 Things to Understand About Good Digestion →

One of root causes of so many common ailments and diseases is poor digestive health. Different people suffer from poor gut health for different reasons, but there are some explanations that are quite common and in some cases, preventable. In my work with clients, I always ask some preliminary questions – and the answers often reveal some basic and important things that these clients never even noticed about themselves.  Some clients realize for the first time that they are dehydrated.  Others realize that eating on the go is making them sick.  These preliminary questions help so many people feel much better very quickly.  Along those lines, I will dive into the basics of good digestion for the first few posts and then get more nuanced as the weeks progress.  No matter where you fall on the continuum, I hope you learn just one new thing about your digestive health.  As always, please feel free to comment or ask questions.

GOOD DIGESTIVE HEALTH Post #1

Eat with intention:  Good Digestion starts in the brain

One of my favorite things about Winter is walking into the house and delighting in the deep aromas of thyme and rosemary, perhaps a savory broth or something charred and flavorful; I know there is a delicious (and usually nutritious) meal waiting for me.  I am lucky, my husband, like me, loves to cook and enjoys creating in the kitchen.  I take a wiff and ingest the steam and smoke that escapes the pot in preparation for what I know will be a scrumptious meal.

At this point, my body is already preparing for dinner.  Each smell sends a signal to my brain that I am going to eat- very soon.  This message gets relayed to my salivary glands, food is coming!  I then sit down, take a deep breath, look at the gorgeous table in gratitude, and on some occasions, I even bless my food. These rituals, passed down through generations dating back to old sages, religious figures, tribal leaders and the like, can be very spiritual.  For some folks, they are based in religious observance.  For others, it is an exercise in mindfulness. But no matter the origin of what inspired you to pause, these actions actually help the body begin the digestion process.  When I eventually take my fork to my mouth and take my first bite, everything is online.  I begin to chew and bam, out comes the requisite saliva necessary for the proper breakdown of food- that food and saliva have now combined into ­­­­a bolus.  That bolus eventually goes into the stomach where acid breaks it down so that the nutrients in our food can be absorbed in our small intestines.  This critical step is the basis for good digestion and good health- if our food doesn’t break down in the stomach none of the other important steps of digestion and elimination will work.

So, how do we prevent poor digestion if we don’t cook or have someone to cook homemade meals for us? We are busy, we eat on the go – in the car, while we walk, at our desks.  We often eat for sustenance, when we realize we are hungry.  Or the opposite, when we are bored and are emotionally eating.  In both of those circumstances, we are less likely to be mindful about what we are doing.  We lack ritual and forgo the smelling, the looking, the salivating- we dive right in before our brain has activated the digestion process.  When this happens, our enzymes do not release, we don’t properly break down our food and myriad problems may arise.  So how do people on the go let their bodies fully prepare for digestion?

The old sages were onto something.  Indeed, nearly every religion has some sort of grace or blessing prior to eating.  Perhaps it is because we eat at least three times daily and it is a constant way to connect to the divine.  Maybe it gives us pause for gratitude that we live with abundance and can afford to eat.  Perhaps it serves as a way to get us ready for the spiritual practice of eating – especially if it is something grown from the earth. All of these things might be true.  But it definitely is true that eating with intention and readying the body to eat serves the practical and physiological purpose of triggering digestion before we even bring food to our lips.

So next time, think twice before you shove something into your mouth while you’re looking at your computer, driving your car or walking to your next meeting. Give yourself just a few moments of readiness before you eat and see if you can feel the difference.

Homemade Almond Milk

The new alternative milk craze (almond/cashew/hemp/coconut and good ‘ol rice or soy) is in full gear. These products take up nearly an entire aisle of Whole Foods (or your local equivalent)! This is a good thing for those of us who don’t do well with dairy - it allows us to try different varieties of nut milks and have some non dairy milk on hand in case of a culinary emergency. However, the commercial brands, even the best of them, contain some or many undesirable preservatives (think carageegan) to keep them fresh for a longer shelf life. It really is incredibly easy to whip up some homemade almond milk if you have a good recipe and a high-powered blender. And trust me, once you go homemade, you will never want to go back to commercial.

EASY AND SUPER DELICIOUS HOMEMADE ALMOND MILK

YIELD: 3.5 CUPS
PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES

INGREDIENTS

1 cup raw almonds, soaked in water

3.5 cups filtered water

1-2 pitted Medjool dates

1 whole vanilla bean chopped (or 1/2-1 tsp vanilla extract)

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

small pinch of fine grain sea salt, to enhance flavor

DIRECTIONS

Place almonds in a bowl and cover with filtered water. It’s preferred to soak them overnight (for 8-12 hours) in the water, but you can get away with soaking for 1-2 hours.

Rinse and drain the almonds and place into a blender along with 4 cups filtered water, pitted dates, and chopped vanilla bean.

Blend on highest speed for 1 minute or so.

Place a nut milk bag over a large bowl and slowly pour the almond milk mixture into the bag. Gently squeeze the bottom of the bag to release the milk. This is a tad labor intensive and messy, but trust me, it is worth it.

Rinse out blender and pour the milk back in. Add the cinnamon and pinch of sea salt and blend on low to combine.

Pour into a glass jar to store in the fridge for up to 3-5 days. Shake jar very well before using, as the mixture separates when sitting. Enjoy!

Bonus: The leftover almond meal is great for gluten free baking recipes- I also use it as a filler for homemade veggie burgers and salmon patties.

Transition To A Healthy Lifestyle

I was not born this way. I was not born into a family of hippies, vegetarians or yogis. I was not born watching what I ate, supplementing with vitamins or meditating.

I grew up in a suburban Philadelphia community where my friends and I went to TGI Fridays after the movies, ate cheesesteaks and soft pretzels and drank plenty of alcohol once we got to high school and college. We really didn’t think much about our health, the food we ate, where it came from or why the produce looked so shiny in the supermarket.

Like most people, my friends, family and I did talk about losing or gaining weight. That was the one subject that to us, marked how healthy we were.

The house where I grew up was stocked with cans of diet soda, boxes of Sweet N’ Low, frozen Weight Watchers desserts and diet salad dressing. My parents have been on one diet or another since the Carter administration.

One day back in 1999, my cousin told me that her New Years resolution was to cut out all artificial sweeteners. I didn’t understand why she would do this or how she could! How can one drink coffee without lots of cream and Sweet N’Low? But she shed light on how these chemicals could really harm us and that it would be a noble effort to rid them from her diet. It made sense to me, so I did it.

First, I switched from Diet Coke to Coke. Coke was so sticky sweet I could taste the syrup. I somehow got used to regular Coke but eventually grew sick of it.

I gave up cola, then soda, entirely. I couldn’t drink coffee black or coffee without sweetener (sugar never quite made it there for me), so I switched to tea.

I educated myself on the benefits of organic produce and began to buy organic from a neighborhood delivery service in New York City.

When I moved to Brooklyn, I joined the local food coop and worked several different jobs as required by the coop. I spoke with the educated cashiers, read the coop newsletter and website and listened to others around me while I shopped. I learned an enormous amount in a very short period of time.

Then when my son got sick and we went to a developmental pediatrician who suggested we take dairy and gluten (and eventually soy) out of his diet, my learning curve went through the roof. The internet can be an amazing resource for learning about food and how you can make little steps toward a healthy lifestyle.

I eventually gave up dairy, started taking omega 3s and probiotics and began to heal myself.

I encouraged my mom to join my shift to a healthier, more-chemical-free, diet. My mother had watched me evolve over the past decade yet, when she saw my daily regimen, she was like a deer in headlights - unable to move and protect herself from a dangerous appetite for industrial food.

But like me, she too has evolved; she must, if she wants to prevent disease and live longer than her parents. For many years, my mother looked at me and thought that she could never do what it took to change her lifestyle - she thought she was too old to change. But she is getting there, at her own pace. She now drinks green tea, no longer has diet soda, buys organic food and takes probiotics.

I imagine that for my mom, it was inspiring to see her daughter cure herself of ulcerative colitis. There it was, proof that changing diet and lifestyle could have a profound impact.

Will she take up yoga anytime soon? I don’t think so. But I guess one never knows how people evolve. I never would have thought I’d adopt my current diet - I had no idea how much I didn’t know when I gave up artificial sweeteners so many years ago.

So if the idea of change and learning all that there is about diet and supplements seems overwhelming, the best advice I can give is to focus on one goal. For me it was taking one ingredient at a time out of my diet – and it had a domino effect. Once you start to feel good (and successful!) with one change, you’re more likely to get excited and energized to do more - if more is something you need.

Pick one thing for yourself and take small steps - the first step is always the most difficult. With a little help from yoga, meditation or some other tool you might use to remain mindful of your body and your goals for good health, the rest will probably flow naturally. It did for me and for my mother - two very different women, on two different paths who each found what they needed, in due time.