Tropical fruits, seeds, nuts and berries arranged on a table.

Eight Tips on How to Optimize your Digestion

1.  Eat at regular times and when your mind and body are relaxed. Taking time to really enjoy the flavors and sensations will help you feel satisfied (before overeating) and it will support healthy digestion. If you don’t take time to break down food properly, your body will crave MORE in order to satisfy the basic energy requirements (taking the time to chew your food creates more surface area to take up in the stomach and intestines and reduces the bodies need to eat more).

2. Eat like a king in the morning, and a pauper at dinner! Have a large breakfast, a medium-sized lunch, and a small dinner. Your stomach and spleen are working it’s hardest between 7-11 am. Their energy is weakest during it’s opposite time which is 7-11 pm.

3. Every morning before breakfast, squeeze the juice of 1-2 lemons (or limes) into a glass of room temperature water. This “sour” flavor helps with the release of bile from the gallbladder and increases intestinal peristalsis, which helps with elimination of stool from intestines.

4.  Consume drinks separately from meals (preferably room temperature water). Cold fluids can slow down the digestive process, deplete digestive enzymes, and can weaken digestive fire. If you must drink while eating, try hot water (with lemon) or herbal teas. Otherwise, drink beverages separately from meal time to enhance overall digestion.

5.  Eat according to the seasons. Nature provides the best sources of foods locally where you live to help with seasonal changes and the nutrients that are necessary for maintaining a healthy weight.

6.  Keep a journal of your food cravings, and notice what foods make you feel more energetic or lethargic. This can help you to decipher which systems are out of balance and what supplements, herbs, and or nutritional foods to incorporate more of in order to help you enhance your digestion and feel more energy. Generally, food cravings can be easily addressed through implementing nutritional foods, herbal therapeutics, and supplementation. When the bodies cravings are addressed, then the body is able to lose the weight much more effectively. Keep in mind WHAT you are CRAVING and WHAT TIMES of the day or night are very important.

7. Monitor your food combinations to reduce possible bloating, belching and gas.  Try eating protein and carbs separately from each other to see if you feel better after a meal (for example eat main protein at lunch with vegetables and grains and vegetables at dinner).

8. Go to bed by 10:30 PM. Getting sufficient bed rest by going to bed before 10:30 helps the liver and other organs work most efficiently to fully detoxify the body between 1 and 3 AM. When you allow the body to rejuvenate and cleanse itself properly, you don’t allow for stored toxins to accumulate in the body and be potentially stored as fat.

www.emilyfarishhealth.com

ADDRESS:
400 S. Jefferson, Suite 203
Spokane, WA 99204

Feel Good At Any Age
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Tel: 509-217-9262

Fax: 509-931-0448

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