Nutrition is important
You know how important nutrition is and how it affects the body as a whole. But perhaps you don’t think about how the food you consume is digested in your body. This is an important process, because the digestive system is responsible not only for the breakdown of food, but also for the absorption of important nutrients and their entry into the body.
This is often forgotten, but according to research, this stage of digestion often becomes a catalyst for the development of many diseases of the gastrointestinal tract-leaky bowel syndrome, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome( IBS), Crohn’s disease, etc.
What are digestive enzymes?
Digestive enzymes, some of which are naturally present in the body and produced by the pancreas, help the body break down the food consumed into small digestible particles. But key enzymes can also enter the body in a different way: together with food and plant ingredients.
Such enzymes perform a different function. They help the body absorb the essential nutrients we need to stay healthy. When you eat few nutritious foods, such as vegetables, fruits, and greens, and consume a lot of highly processed foods, your body does not receive the necessary digestive enzymes.
This creates problems, because without these enzymes, the body spends too much energy on digesting what it eats, resulting in a decline in strength, exhaustion and, worst of all, inflammatory processes. Inflammation is a factor in the development of many chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol.
What is leaky bowel syndrome?
A lack of digestive enzymes can cause leaky gut syndrome — another unfortunate consequence of chronic inflammation in the digestive system. Leaky intestines can be caused by a variety of factors, including stress, medications, poor nutrition or poor food quality, alcohol, smoking, and even hormonal changes.
You’re probably wondering what the term “leaky”actually means? In fact, in a healthy gut, nutrients are absorbed, and in an unhealthy one, nutrients are “leaked”, which in turn causes an inflammatory reaction in the body.
6 steps to gut healing
General recommendations for treating leaky gut syndrome (and promoting gut health in general) start with nutrition.
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- First remove gluten and dairy products from the diet, as these proteins can be difficult to digest for your body, which will negatively affect the already inflamed mucous membrane of the digestive tract.
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- Another tip is to cut down on alcohol and sweets, as they also disrupt the bowel. Drink no more than four glasses of alcohol a week and make sure that your daily intake of refined sugar does not exceed 40 grams.
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- Adding foods and dishes with natural digestive enzymes to your diet is a great strategy for improving digestion and fighting leaky intestines. Avocado contains lipase, an enzyme that helps digest fats, and pineapple and papaya are rich in amylase, which breaks down starch. Bananas and kiwis also contain digestive enzymes. Ginger also makes digestion easier.
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- Some dietary supplements, including probiotics, live bacteria and yeast, can also help treat leaky intestines. Taking a quality probiotic supplement will help to balance the microbiome (the habitat of bacteria), as well as improve digestion and absorption of nutrients by your body. Look for supplements with a large number of colonies of microorganisms (more than 20 billion CFU).Try Kombucha (Kombucha) – a drink rich in probiotics. You can buy a ready-made drink or prepare it at home yourself. Non-dairy kefir, bone broth and sauerkraut are additional sources of food-based probiotics.
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- L-glutamine is an amino acid with proven efficacy in the treatment of leaky intestines or malabsorption. Add 1-2 grams of glutamine to your favorite morning smoothie – this is another simple way to improve the functioning of the digestive system.
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- Finally, taking supplements with digestive enzymes can improve the condition of the intestines with a serious violation of the absorption of nutrients from food. Choose an enzyme that contains amylase, lipase, and protease. Some digestive enzymes also contain hydrochloric acid, or HCl, which promotes further digestion of food.
The health of the body as a whole directly depends on the state of the intestines. Digestion, immunity, energy levels and hormonal balance.
If you care about the restoration of the intestine, the balance of microflora and the saturation of the intestine with nutrients, you can see the positive impact of this approach on the entire body.