Top Tips for Healthy Digestion

Eating is just the start of the complex process by which food is digested by your body to supply you with vital nutrients.

The sight, smell and expectation of food cause your body to produce saliva, contract stomach muscles and release enzymes in preparation for digestion. Special enzymes in saliva begin to break down the food as we chew, and the tongue helps push it down a pipe called the esophagus. The food is pushed toward the stomach by a series of wave-like muscular contractions known as 'peristalsis'.

In the stomach, foods are further broken down by powerful muscle contractions as well as strong acids and enzymes. Food is separated into smaller chemical building blocks, and nutrients are released and absorbed into the bloodstream and sent around the body. Substances, such as dietary fiber that cannot be digested, are passed to the large intestine or colon. The bulk that remains, consisting mainly of fiber, is excreted as 'feces'.

There are several factors that can improve your digestion and keep your gut healthy avoiding stomach upsets.

• Eat moderate portions; you stomach only produces a certain amount of digestive juices.

• Don't rush. Eat slowly and chew each mouthful.

• Eat whole, natural food. Processed foods are more difficult to digest.

• Eat at regular times. The digestive systems works best when it has a regular schedule of breakfast, lunch and dinner.

• Relax, at and after meal times. Digestive muscles function better and digestive juices flow more freely when you relax.

There are a number of things you can do to aid your digestion, including eating certain kinds of fiber and herbs and making sure your body is properly hydrated.

Insoluble fiber acts as a bulking agent for eliminating waste and toxins from the digestive system, absorbing water in the digestive tract and making it easier for food to pass through the body.

Fiber acts like a scrubbing brush, removing bacteria and waste matter from the large intestine as well as encouraging regular muscle contraction. This speeds the passage through the system.