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Optimal health is much more than the
absence of disease. The term 'optimal health' has emerged in
the last twenty years as a description of the most desirable
state of health and well being that one can experience. Serious
concerns over the quality of the foods we eat have given birth
to a growing number of health conscious consumers willing to
take responsibility for improving their own health. The human
body has a miraculous natural ability to protect and heal itself
from sickness, but there is a limit to its endurance. If we
are to achieve optimal health we will have to acquire the knowledge
and tools to heal ourselves.
Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, set a medical precedent
in considering the role of nutrients in relation to health and
disease. It only took us fifteen hundred years to start coming
to the same conclusions. After centuries of denial the medical
establishment has finally begun to acknowledge the role dietary
habits and nutrition play in creating disease.
Cancer, arthritis,
diabetes, and heart
disease, four of the Western civilizations most common diseases,
do not happen over night. They are degenerative diseases that
develop over the course of many years. There are certainly other
mitigating factors such as lifestyle, stress, smoking, genetic
predisposition, and environmental
toxins that also greatly influence the onset of disease.
Successive years of eating highly refined, over-processed, hormone-filled,
and pesticide ridden foods can take their toll on the health
of even the strongest human. Chronic, sub-optimal nutrient intake
from a deficient diet, gradually erodes the body's defense system
and reconstructive healing abilities, thus opening the door
to many preventable health problems.
Tips for Better Digestion
Set aside a special time and place
for meals in a clean and harmonious environment
Eat only when hungry, calm, and focused
on eating
Leave as much time as possible after eating
for unhurried digestion
Avoid eating during peak liver
detoxification activity (between one and three o'clock
in the morning)
Smaller more frequent meals promote better
carbohydrate metabolism, triggering less insulin production
Eat frequently to stabilize blood-sugar
levels for sustained energy
Eat dinner preferably before six o'clock
Always slightly under-eat. With less food
you digest easier and have greater clarity, more energy, and
require less sleep
Drink plenty of water or herbal tea between
meals to promote regularity and the elimination of toxins
Limit the amount of liquids taken with
meals. Too much liquid can dilute digestive juices
Eat raw, natural foods frequently. Processed
and refined foods are depleted of enzymes due to the heating
methods used to prepare them, including canning, baking, frying,
and pasteurization
Supplement eating cooked food with digestive
enzymes*
Enzyme deficient foods not only inhibit proper digestion, (which
can lead to a host of health conditions and elimination problems)
they tax the body's ability to function at an optimal level.
Without enzymes all metabolic functions start slowing down,
making the body more susceptible to disease and premature aging.
Without the presence of enzymes, efficient nutrient absorption
is impossible.
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Digestion...You are what you
absorb
Proper digestion leads to optimal
absorption and assimilation of food nutrients and supports
their effective use and distribution through the body. The
foods and beverages we choose to eat and drink can either
assist or impede healthy digestion. Millions and millions
of people suffer from chronic
indigestion and constipation
(one usually leads to the other) when a healthy change in
dietary habits is often the primary answer to alleviating
digestive problems. Understanding the basis of digestive and
enzymatic functions is one of the first steps to improving
your own digestion and subsequently, your long term health
and longevity.
A simplification of how the digestive system works: Imagine
a thirty-foot or longer, maze like passageway winding its
way through the whole center of your body. This miraculous
food transport system is your digestive or gastrointestinal
tract, and has numerous connecting points all along its route
where food is broken down into simpler chemical forms (nutrients),
by specialized enzymes for the digestion and absorption of
macronutrients (Protein, carbohydrates, and fats) and micronutrients
(vitamins and minerals).
The complex digestive activity in the stomach lasts anywhere
from one to four hours per meal depending on the combination
and amounts of food ingested. Liquids pass through the stomach
most quickly, then comes carbohydrates, then proteins, and
finally, fats.
The small intestine (which is actually not small in length)
is a twenty-foot section of the digestive tract assigned with
accomplishing a very huge task. The unlocking and absorption
of micronutrients from macronutrients. Enzymes from the foods
we eat support the activity of enzyme function in the small
intestine. Over the course of three to four hours, the small
intestine, with the aid of the pancreas, liver and gallbladder,
breaks down proteins into amino acids, carbohydrates to simple
sugars, and fats to fatty acids.
The large intestine is basically used as a holding tank for
waste produced by the digestive process. The large intestine,
also referred to as the colon, is largely an elimination organ,
although vitamin K, water, and some electrolyte minerals are
absorbed in this final section of the digestive tract.
A great many bacteria live in the colon, some of them friendly
and very beneficial, and others, dangerous and destructive.
Incompletely digested food substances can be absorbed by the
body as toxins or they can feed noxious intestinal bacteria.
Proper elimination of waste and bacteria from the colon is
largely dependent upon a high fiber diet, since fiber binds
toxins and aids their passage through the colon. High quality
colon
cleansing products can greatly assist this process, along
with gently removing old impacted matter off the colon walls
to allow proper nutrient absorption and assimilation.*
Short-term colon cleanses, such as those that only take a
few weeks, cannot perform this function effectively. Also,
harsher purges for the colon generally are not tolerated by
anyone other than maybe by very healthy people with strong
constitutions. So make sure your cleanse is gentle but also
effective, and that the ingredients cleanse
and support the gastrointestinal tract. Many formulas
have either very strong active ingredients that should not
be taken for very long (or not at all by some people), or
they have so many ingredients that the therapeutic value is
greatly diminished or lost. Flavorings and sweeteners may
taste great, but they take up a significant percentage of
the therapeutic value of the formula and in some cases chemically
hinder or stop the full cleansing process altogether.
Eating fermented foods with live bacterial culture (e.g. yogurt)
and supplementing the diet with probiotic
formulations ensures the cultivation of healthy intestinal
flora.* Also consider taking an herbal liver
cleanse, which cleanses your liver of wastes and toxins
and promotes more efficient liver functioning.*
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