Powerful Tips to Improve Your Digestive System's Health

Powerful Tips to Improve Your Digestive System's Health: From a Conversation with Nancy Spahr, CBE & Colon Therapist

Posted April 29, 2007.

Your digestive health has adirect link to your body's health. In fact, the quality of food you eat affects your quality of life AND energy. Find out how to improve your digestive health.

Your digestive tract...that mysterious 30-foot tube holds more solutions for your health than most of us could ever imagine.

Unfortunately, most of us feed our taste buds before thinking about how it affects our digestive health.

It's true, isn't it? Most of us have received our nutritional education from the media, influencing us with delicious tastes designed to meet every craving and convenience. It's not surprising that we'd forget the correlation between the quality of our food and thequality of our digestive health.

While it seems like a simple formula on the surface, it's much deeper than you'd think. That 30-foot tube which makes up your digestive tract is responsible for delivering the components of what you eat into your body.

So this tube needs to be in good condition to deliver needed nutrients to their critical digestion and absorption points.

In order to understand digestive health better, we talked with Nancy Spahr, Certified Body Ecologist, Certified Colon Hydrotherapist and Certified Natural Health Practitioner. She's studied AND seen it all from what goes in to what comes out at her healing center, Cleansing Waters.

Here are Nancy Spahr's 7 key steps for your digestive health:

1. Choose high quality, fresh organic foods - Nancy has seen incredible changes when people go from boxed and canned foods to fresh, organic whole foods as part of the Body Ecology program.
   • Incorporate a healthy mix of raw and cooked foods - raw foods have their own enzymes which are especially important when your body is healing and may be low on enzymes in general.
   • Follow the 80/20 rule and have 80% of your plate full of healing vegetables.
2. Chew thoroughly -Digestion of carbohydrates (starches, sugars) starts in your mouth with saliva and enzymes. The enzymes not only help break down your food, they also attack bacteria. Most people don't chew thoroughly, which makes digestion of food much harder when it reaches your stomach. Chewing is stage one of proper digestion.
3. Understand the importance of stomach acid (HCl) - Stage two of good digestion happens in stomach and it is your stomach's job is to temporarily hold food and begin to break it down. Stomach acid is important for in this stage of digestion and while it does not actually digest the food, it triggers the enzyme pepsin to break down proteins. The stomach acid also destroys pathogenic bacteria and parasites, eggs and larvae.
   • Aging, poor diet and lifestyle habits can cause an acidic condition of the blood. If your blood is acidic, your stomach thinks it doesn't need to secrete stomach acid.
   • Not enough stomach acid means you cannot digest protein properly. The food stagnates and ferments (the wrong kind of fermentation), setting you up for illness.
   • Heartburn, gas and bloating result from too little HCl, not too much. If you have these symptoms, you could be missing HCl or digestive enzymes. Nancy recommends Assist Dairy and Protein, which has HCl and pepsin to help your stomach do its job of digesting proteins.
4. Pay attention to digestive enzymes -your food moves from your stomach to your small intestine, where 90% of nutrients are absorbed.
   • Your pancrease produces digestive enzymes so that you can digest carbohydrates, fats and proteins. It relies on the gallbladder and liver for the bile necessary for the digestive process to take place. LivAmend can be useful at this stage of digestion also because it increases bile flow from the liver and gallbladder. Bile is necessary for healthy peristaltic movement and healthy elimination.
   • Taking digestive enzymes with each meal , like Assist SI and Assist Dairy and Protein can help your body digest foods. They improve your body's ability to extract nutrients from the foods you eat. The enzyme, pancreatin, available in our Assist SI, is an excellent enzyme for this stage of digestion. All these enzymes help you avoid the gas, bloating and other digestive discomforts that often result when your body lacks the digestive enzymes necessary to break down and assimilate your foods.
5. Incorporate prebiotics and probiotics - Your intestines (small and large) are the home of your inner ecosystem, where the friendly microflora (bacteria and yeast) live. The microflora help you digest and assimilate foods and keep your immunity strong.
   • Most people's inner ecosystems are imbalanced, which can lead to leaky gut, an overabundance of pathogenic bacteria and yeast (like candida) and illness. Probiotic-rich fermented foods and drinks add healthy microflora to your intestines, bringing your inner ecosystem back into balance.
   • Including probiotic-rich fermented foods, like cultured vegetables and probiotic liquids has been key to transforming people's health, in Nancy's experience.
   • Nancy always recommends organic, unpasteurized Apple Cider Vinegar with "the mother." An excellent prebiotic, it feeds healthy microflora and aids your digestion. Try it in salad dressings in place of regular vinegar.
6. Hydrate - Nancy has noticed that many people who first come into her healing center drink a lot of soda and coffee. Some even start their day with these acid-producing beverages and changing this habit can really bring about positive changes in your digestive health.
   • Soda and coffee dehydrate your body, which can also sap your energy. Drinking filtered water, organic herbal teas and probiotic liquids provide energy and hydration.
   • Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine both say that cold drinks slow your "digestive fire" or your "chi" (energy). Since life and healing require energy, focus on room temperature water and beverages or warm tea.
7. Cleanse and Detoxify - The Body Ecology program goes a long way to helping your body cleanse and detoxify. At Cleansing Waters, Nancy and her team provide a variety of other detoxification services, an important one being colon hydrotherapy. Donna Gates is a huge proponent of colon hydrotherapy as a way to support your cleansing and detoxification.
   • Pay attention to your stool - bowel movements should occur at least once per day and ideally after each complete meal. If you are not eliminating frequently enough, toxins will be accumulating in your colon and also throughout your entire body...right down to each individual cell. Your entire body will look and feel toxic!
   • Cleanse your colon - everyone could use a colon cleanse. Colon hydrotherapy (colonics) is an ideal choice because 10 gallons of water are used to hydrate your colon, softening up hardened fecal matter and sweeping it gently out of your body. This actually allows your whole body to detoxify. Releasing toxins from your colon allows your liver to release more toxins, not to mention all of the cells in your body.
   • Nancy recomnends 2 colonics within the first 48 hours. This allows you to get comfortable with colon hydrotherapy and also allows the water from the first session to soften any old hardened fecal matter to be swept away during the second session. Thereafter, her clients have 2 colonics in the next week and one per week for 6 - 8 weeks. After this, the colon hydrotherapist and client decide upon a maintenance protocol tailored to the client's needs.
   • Enemas are excellent between colonic sessions or as part of your healthy cleansing program. If you are experiencing constipation, gas, bloating, skin erruptions and other symptoms of die-off, doing a home enema can clease toxins from your body right at home and have you feeling more energetic and happier soon. When your body is cleansing faster than it can eliminate the toxins, you will experience the Herxheimer's die-off effect. Stay ahead of your toxins by actively cleansing. Your goal is to smoothly eliminate them in a consistent, steady manner.
   • The Health and Yoga Home Enema Kit is perfect for doing home enemas because it includes a 2 quart stainless steel bucket and a 20-inch catheter that allows you to get water deep into your colon, where it can soften old hardened fecal matter.