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Tip-Top Digestive System

Published:Tuesday | February 21, 2017 | 12:00 AMJody-Anne Lawrence

There is often unexplained discomfort in the stomach. At times, it is so severe that we try several remedies which are not necessarily helpful. To avoid worsening the situation, nutritionist Rosalee Brown gave Food some tips on how to maintain a healthy digestive system.

Two of the most popular irregularities of the digestive system are constipation or loose bowels. You would be surprised how changing your diet a bit can correct either of these. Constipation on the one hand can be due to your not including enough liquids."One’s stool does include fluids and thus a lack of fluid in your diet can make you constipated" she told Food.

You should also keep an account of the food that you eat. Are you having enough fibre? Or are you having too much? A lack of fibre or too much of it will cause you to be constipated. If you increase your fibre intake you will also need to increase the amount of water that you drink. This is something that many persons that take the over the counter fibre medications sometimes forget or fail to recognise.

However, when it comes to loose bowels this is mostly due to the amount of liquid one intakes for example you are juicing you will more likely have loose bowels and some foods causes one to have this. Going more than one or less than twice a day is not necessarily an indicator that something is wrong according to Brown everyone’s body is different so you should consult a physician before jumping to any conclusions.

Here are some tips for healthy digestive system
1. You have to know your body first. Know what is regular or irregular for you. If you are checking your food intake and eating healthy and you might go three times a day that is possibly you regular. So firstly just get a clean bill of health.
2. If at you have to take antibiotics for one reason you might lose the good bacteria on your digestive system that your body might need. Thus having things like yogurt and dairy, vegetables and legumes will help bring back the wall.
3. Have a food journal, this will help you to have an account of the food that brings you discomfort, making you better able to avoid them.
4. For those that are lactose intolerant, you should ensure to read the labels. For example when one purchases powdered coconut milk they assume that it is non dairy but there are some that has dairy components added.
5. Ensure that you have good hygiene and bathroom habits. When you want to go to the bathroom, go. Do not hold it. This can cause constipation.
6. Watch out your stress levels because this impacts you in every way even your digestive system.