What a concept!        START DIGESTION RIGHT – CHEW YOUR FOOD     (adopted from Dr Mercola’s website)

In today’s crazy time crunch world, we often neglect to savor the simple pleasures of life. For example, nothing matches the satisfaction of sharing a leisurely, healthy meal with family, friends and loved ones*.

Besides the obvious enjoyment of sharing meals with friends & family, there are  powerful physiological reasons to take your time and thoroughly chew your food .

To begin, chewing mashes your food into small pieces and partially liquefies it, making it easier to digest.

Secondly, when food is in your mouth, it stimulates your saliva production. Saliva contains its own digestive enzymes, so the longer you chew, the more time these enzymes have to get to work while your food is still in your mouth. This makes it easier on your stomach and small intestine.

Physiologically, there’s  a third reason to chew your food thoroughly.  The chewing process stimulates a reflex that primes your pancreas and other digestive organs to do their jobs. It’s a brilliantly designed part of the automatic communication system that keeps your body’s organs working in harmony. Don’t mess it up by skipping the important first step — chew thoroughly!

If you’re a gum chewer, as some people on diets chew gum rather than eating food… here’s another important change you can make to save your digestive tract lots of stress:

Chewing gum interferes with the coordinated digestive tract reflexes described above.

“Every time you put a stick of gum in your mouth and start to chomp, your brain thinks you’re eating food. So it sends signals to your stomach, pancreas, and other digestive organs to get them ready to digest that food.

Your pancreas is fooled into manufacturing a batch of the digestive enzymes your brain thinks you’ll need.

If you keep this pattern going month after month, your pancreas gets exhausted from the repeated over-production. Then it won’t be able to produce the digestive enzymes you need when you actually require them.”

In this hurried world, even if you follow these important health habits, your digestive enzymes could still become depleted.   The common results are usually annoying occasional bloating, minor abdominal discomfort, occasional constipation, and more.  This can reduce your enjoyment of good foods and the nutritional benefit of the healthy diet you’re eating.

You may need some extra help with your digestive process.  For many of us, digestive enzyme supplements can assist in digesting and absorbing our food.  Taking a high quality digestive enzyme combination may help make your life and the enjoyment of good food easier.

One recommendation is Multizyme, a proteolytic (protein digesting) enzyme combination, from Standard Process, is a strong aid in breaking down foods.  It contains pancreatin, fig, almond and pineapple and no hydrochloric acid (HCL).

Another is Zypan, a pepsin and HCL combination, aids with indigestion, flatulence, constipation, poor calcium & iron absorption and sudden dietary changes, (such as foreign travel).

For those who like herbals, a super product is DiGest, from Medi-Herb, a full spectrum digestive aid that promotes endogenous HCL, gastric enzymes & bile secretions ( which aid in fat digestion).

ProSynbiotic, by Standard Process is a natural food combination of probiotics and prebiotics that

• support gut flora
• help maintain a healthy gut environment
• support normal bowel regularity and consistency
• improve nutrient digestion/absorption
• support the body’s natural immune response
• contribute to absorption of calcium and magnesium

Use of one or several of these type digestive aids may help move your body into a more balanced state of being able to digest and truly utilize the foods you consume more easily and efficiently.

More to come…In the meantime, please do CHEW your food.  You’ll enjoy life even more and your body will thank you.  For information about the supplements, please feel free to email me.  http://www.mchealthymatters.com/contact

A Fast Food Tummy Treat: Fruit

 In the ideal world of – “eat what you want and the weight will NOT follow” – fruit plays a sweet part.  As fast food or convenience food, fresh and dried fruits are nourishing and easy to carry without any preparation, other than careful washing  and/or peeling.  It’s also one of the most healthful and important food groups we can stomach on a daily basis.

 A sweet suggestion: Eat fruit by itself; especially melons. And it’s best to eat fruits before your meals! And the reasons are easy to digest: Fruit takes about 15 – 20 minutes to digest and make its way through the stomach and your small intestine.

 Quell the potential rebellion: If there’s a cheese and tomato sandwich or turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes, salad and French bread ‘n butter, etc. in its way, the fruit cannot get to where it will digest easily and your body knows it.  The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food and digestive juices in the stomach, the entire mass of food attempts metabolize itself. With the topping of fruit, the whole meal begins to ferment and turns to acid, producing a rather uncomfortable feeling we call acid reflux or indigestion. 

Not fun at all. The fire in your tummy makes life uncomfortable. 

Enhance your enjoyment of fruit (and your meal) by eating it alone or before your meal. For my clients and anyone whose tummy is sensitive or prone to acid reflux, this works well.  For those of you who need reasons – according to researchers and other nutritionists I’ve consulted – it’s the best way to eat fruits.

Remember when you were a kid and you ate the fruit cocktail before your meal?  It served a couple of purposes; one, to cleanse your palate and two, to get your taste buds ready for the rest of the meal.  It can also play a major role in detoxifying your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities. 

 Tips for enjoying your fruits – eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice.  If you drink the juice, sip it slowly, because it’s best to let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it.  Eeating 2 – 4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessen the risk of colon cancer.  Organic strawberries are protective fruit and may aid your immune system against cancer-causing, blood vessels-clogging free radicals.

Organic kiwis: Tiny but mighty, are a good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E & fiber.  Bonus:  Kiwi’s vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.

Amalaki, an Indian fruit in Zrii, a powerful liquid nutritional,   has more antioxidant power than most other fruits.     Zrii*

An apple a day keeps the doctor away although an apple has a low Vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoids which enhances the activity of Vitamin C and pectin (fiber) thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.

 So please enjoy some fruit for breakfast, between meals or as a tantalizing appetizer before you partake of the rest of your meals.

 If these suggestions help you, please feel free to email me. Your comments and feedback, (pun intended) are welcome.

HEALING FOODS AND YOU

Everyday foods and herbs and spices add flavor to your cooking and lives and  promote healthy bodies.  Here’s how:

The use of many date back 5 centuries to Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine.  Herbs are usually leaves of plants or trees – basil, bay leaf, celery leaves, chives, cilantro, dill marjoram, mint, and more.

Spices come from the rest of the plant, such as the bark (cinnamon), root (garlic, ginger, horseradish and onion), buds/flowers cloves, saffron), seeds caraway, cardamom, coriander, cumin, mustard, sesame) berry (black, cayenne, chili pepper) or fruit (allspice, anise, mace, nutmeg and paprika). Spices are usually dried.

Coming from the same plants, sometimes herbs and spices “crossover” as both herb and spice. Coriander, is known as Chinese parsley, and in the US and Mexico as Cilantro. You can buy it in fresh form and in bottles as seeds and powder. And, different parts of the plant can taste different, so their uses in foods vary.

Some more than others truly help heal. For example:

• Mushrooms control blood pressure, lower cholesterol, kill bacteria and strengthen bones- some protect against cancers
• Oranges support the immune system (vit C) combat cancer, protect your heart, straighten respiration
• Tomatoes protect the prostate, combat cancer, lower cholesterol, protect your heart
• Cinnamon is good for circulation, cold and flu dissipation

Along with spices and herbs which help make foods taste great, they feed your body and brain with nutrients that help children grow and learn and adults maintain their cognitive and digestive powers.

Herbs and spices have been used traditionally for more than 5000 years. Traditional Chinese Medicine was on of the first cultures to integrate food, nutrition and health. In specially prepared soups, dishes and beverages for medicinal benefits and sustenance ginseng is used to improve stamina, ginkgo biloba to improve cognitive abilities and memory, nutmeg for diarrhea and cinnamon for colds and flu.

Ayurveda, 5000 year old traditional medicine of India, focuses on disease prevention and health with its emphasis on diet. Using turmeric for jaundice and inflammation, basil for the heart, mace for stomach infections, cinnamon to stimulate circulation, and ginger for nausea and indigestion. Each of these herbs and spices are used for flavor and help provide the 6 tastes*, in Indian cooking.

These are just a few of the herbs and spices you can add to your foods for new flavors and health.  They are also available in health food & grocery stores and through alternative practitioners in supplemental forms.  A wonderful liquid nutritional that makes use of Ayurvedic principles and ingredients is Zrii*. It’s tasty and effective in fighting many of today’s common digestive and inflammatory ailments.

Herbs and spices contain a variety of antioxidants, and boost your immune system – some have antimicrobial effects. The oil of Oregano is anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal. Combined with saline solution it can help you prevent and soothe sinus infections and is great used in crowded places such as buses and airplanes to prevent infection.

*6 Tastes of Ayurveda:  sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, atringent.  for foods that exemplify these tastes see my next blog post

To your good health,

Ricki McKenna, C.N., a.k.a. Mchealthy