Have you ever experienced significant discomfort after you eat? Discomfort in the stomach region? Pains like stomach ache or acid reflux can be horrible to experience occasionally, let alone regularly, but many people suffer from digestive problems and accept them as an inevitable part of life. You shouldn’t need to just accept your ailments, particularly in your GI tract as your stomach has a close relationship with brain health and mental wellbeing. If it feels off, it can impact your life in many ways that you shouldn’t have to bear. Luckily, even simple changes can help to prevent some digestive problems.
What are Digestive Problems?
The digestive system is the way that your body breaks down food and drink so that it can take nutrients from them and absorb them into your body. It also gets rid of waste. Food moves down the system, going from mouth, through the stomach and intestines and waste is expelled through the rectum. However, the digestive system also includes the liver, the gallbladder and the pancreas, as each plays a role in making sure the food we eat is safe and good for us. When you have any problem in your digestive system, you might get symptoms like constipation, diarrhoea, gas, heartburn, nausea and vomiting and insufferable cramps.
How to Prevent Digestive Problems
Understanding your digestive problem will make it far easier to deal with and prevent. There are many different organs involved with digestion and your symptoms could be to do with any of them. If you’ve found difficulty getting a clear medical solution, you should try some of the following common fixes for digestive problems.
Test for Food Intolerances
One of the most common causes of digestive problems are food intolerances. Intolerancelab.co.uk describe how issues don’t just have to be digestive – if you’re also getting acne, insomnia, eczema, asthma and more, you could be suffering from a food intolerance. If you suspect that’s the case, getting a test is the quickest way of finding out for sure. You can begin the process of cutting out foods from your diet or just get a hair test. It’s worth noting that sometimes intolerances can be overcome, but it helps to know which foods your intolerant to, to work out whether that’s possible in your case.
Eat More Frequently
If you eat a few large meals a day, your digestive system can get overloaded. This can cause problems including heartburn (acids going back to the oesophagus), gas, nausea and vomiting. If you consume several mini-meals instead, your metabolic and digestive health can improve (assuming your diet is balanced).
Eat More Fibre
Fibre is a key to a healthy digestion, it’s in the bulk of plant foods and keeps you full while aiding your intestinal process. The Mayo Clinic has a daily fibre intake recommendation of 38g for men and 25g for women aged 50 or younger. People older than 50 need less per day.
It’s also crucially important that you stay as hydrated as possible throughout the day, as this helps every organ function properly.
