World Digestive Health Day (WDHD) is celebrated every year on 29 May to bring awareness to digestive disorders and highlight the importance of maintaining a healthy digestive system. World Digestive Health Day event is organized by the World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO) and aims to provide education and support to individuals worldwide, promoting better digestive health through information dissemination, research, and awareness campaigns.
Good gut health helps keep one away from many illnesses and diseases. For healthy digestion, a healthy lifestyle and whole foods are quintessential. Extreme stress and certain gastrointestinal conditions are also one of the factors that contribute to poor gut health. Gut health has alot to do with the food a person eats, their eating habits, lifestyle habits, water intake and overall health conditions.
How To Boost Digestive Health?
1. Quit smoking
Smoking is not only bad for the lungs but also bad for the digestive system. Smoking is found to significantly increase the risk of developing acid reflux, and quitting it has shown to improve symptoms. Smoking also causes stomach ulcers and increses the need for surgery for gastrointestinal cancers and ulcerative colitis.
2. Exercise Regularly
Regular exercise helps the food move through the digestive system faster and reduces the risk of nausea, bloating, constipation. Regular exercise also helps improve digestive health, including the symptoms of constipation and inflammatory bowel disease.
3. Try Probiotics
Probiotics are considered to be good bacteria. They are in yogurts, juices, snacks, and supplements. They help with diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, different probiotics help with different conditions.
4. Stay Hydrated
It takes healthy muscle tone all over the abdomen for the food to digest optimally. Hence one must ensure optimal hydration which helps with the health of the mucosal lining and supports the small intestinal bacteria for proper digestion, and helps prevent constipation.
5. Eat More Fiber
Fiber helps to keep the colon healthy, makes the stool soft, and bulky, speeds up the transit time through the colon dilutes the effects of any toxic compounds, and also helps to remove the bad bacteria. It is recommended to consume atleast 8-11 servings of fiber in the day consisting of vegetable juices, fruits, soups, salads, veggies, and whole grains. Fiber also helps cleanse out bacteria.
6. Reduce Processed Foods
Processed foods are very challenging for the digestive system. The body has to supply its own nutrients and energy to metabolise, robbing the body’s reserves. These food also have low fiber content which make the digestion of food difficult and aggravates gut problems such as acidity. Hence it is advised to choose whole foods because they are easy to digest.
7. Consume Bitter Foods
It is recommended to increase the daily intake of bitter foods such as dandelion greens, dandelion tea, arugula, spinach, dill, turmeric, and kale. These foods help to stimulate the natural production of digestive enzymes and bile to break down the good more efficiently.
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