Tuesday, July 14, 2009

20 Tips to Healthy Digestion


           
Dr. David Jockers DC, MS, CSCS           Exodus Health Center
  1. Drink Plenty of Water: 
    1. Water is the conduit thru which all nutrients are absorbed & utilized.
    2. Hydrated cells produce more energy with less energy expense (efficiency).
    3. Minimum:  Half your body weight in ounces of water
    4. Ideal:  Your body weight in ounces of water.  

2.  Use Probiotics:
a.   Balances essential gut microflora
b.   Enhances cellular detoxification processes
c.   Maximizes nutrient absorption & energy levels
d.   Maintains normal colon pH levels, & enhances oral health.
e.  Optimizes immune responses by inhibiting bad bacteria & viruses.

3.  Maximize Your Nerve Supply
      a.   Brain-body connection – the bodies innate healing network
      b.   Enhanced nerve flow to small intestine allows for optimal absorption.
      c.    Spine & nervous system degeneration causes a massive amount of acidic                       materials and free radicals that rob life from the body. 
      
      4.   Avoid Sugar:  (Healing Diet)  - Use Stevia as Sweetner
a.       Sugar causes B vitamins,  calcium, magnesium, & zinc among other things to be leached from the body.
b.      Sugar also creates an acidic environment & impairs the immune response.
c.       Sugar feeds opportunistic organisms that create disease in our bodies.

     5.  Practice Deep Breathing:
a.   Enhances cellular oxygenation & blood flow to major tissues.
b.   Increased oxygenation = increased fat burning, & nutrient optimization..
c.   Reduces harmful amounts of stress hormones
d.   Relieves stress, fear, & worry.

     6.  Go Organic:  *More Important than You May Think* 
a.  50% more nutrients than conventional
b.  No toxic pollutants, pesticides, herbicides, etc.
c.  Stand up for a system that works in harmony with nature & God’s intention as opposed to a system that focuses on manipulating nature for profit with little to no regard for God’s design.  `
     7.  Eat Fresh, Raw Fruits & Vegetables on a regular basis.
a.  Fruits are best in the morning
b.  Raw vegetables in the afternoon – snack on celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, kale, collards, asparagus, broccoli, etc.
c.  Raw foods have the natural enzymes & probiotics to aid in the break-down & assimilation of nutrients.  Reduce digestive energy needs.
d.  Juice vegetables when you have the opportunity.
     
     8.  Use A Greens Powder:
a.  Load your body with an assortment of fresh ground vegetables.
b.  Powerfully alkalizing grasses alfalfa, wheat, barley, &  kamut grasses
c.  Potent detoxifying agents like spirulina & chlorella.
d.  Best Brands:  Perfect Food (Garden of Life), Green Vibrance

     9.   Eat A Salad Everyday:
a.  Set it into your schedule – have a lunch and/or dinner salad
b.  Use baby spinach as your base, put cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, etc.
c.  Use extra-virgin olive oil,  apple cider vinegar, fresh squeezed lemon, & high quality salts as your dressing

     10.  Vital Salts & Lemons, Limes, & Apple Cider Vinegar:
    1. Vital SaltsHimalayan Sea Salt, Celtic Sea Salt, & Real Salt – 84 trace minerals highly potent alkalizing buffers that are readily absorbed.
    2. Lemons/Limes:  Lemon ash is rich in 3 highly alkaline minerals:  ionic calcium, magnesium, & potassium – together they improve fat burning.
    3. Apple Cider Vinegar:  Contains natural alkaline minerals that enhance fat-burning. – Use a tablespoon in water 2x daily for an energy boost.

     11.   Ferment Your Vegetables:  www.wildfermentation.com 
1)   Secret Key to Fermentation = Fully submerged in liquid*
2)      Chop and/or grate vegetables to create greater surface area
3)      Provide a liquid medium:  solvent for fermentation process
4)      Lots of salt, creates an osmotic effect that draws water out of vegetables.  Also, the salt prevents anaerobic bacteria formation, thus preserving the food. 
5)   Try 3 Tbsp per 5 lbs of vegetable. 
More salt = slower fermentation
Less salt = faster fermentation

     12.  Use Inulin & Fructooligosaccarides:
            1)  Prebiotics that feed the good bacteria in the digestive tract.
            2)  Naturally in raw fruits & vegetables.
            3)  Highest amounts found in asparagus, Jerusalem artichoke, garlic, chicory root.
            4)  Many supplements cotain FOS & inulin as well, important in a probiotic supp.

     13.  Increase Your L-Glutamine content:
            1)  Amino acid that is the major fuel of your intestines
2)  High in grass-fed meat products, non-denatured grass-fed whey & goat protein (Fit 365), cabbage, spinach, avocados, etc. 

     14.  Make Red Cabbage Saurkraut: 
                        1 Gallon Glass Jug (Old Olive Jar)
                        5lbs of Red Cabbage (shred small)
                        3 Tbsp of Pink Salt
                        5 Tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar
                        5 Lemons squeezed
Can also mix other vegetables with it.  Pack the cabbage down real tight and cover with a cheese cloth.  Put a weight on the lid to produce more pressure and pull more water of the cabbage.  Let sit for 3-5 days, scrape off the top layer of “skum” that may look moldy.  Then put in the refrigerator and eat.

15.    Go Gluten-Free: 
a.       Minimize wheat, barley, oats, rye, spelt, & kamut.
b.      Use hemp, coconut, brown rice, or quinoa flour.

16.  Get Out in the Sun: Stimulates Vitamin D production and which is a potent immune boosting pro-hormone.
a.       Minimum of 20 minutes daily without sunscreen
b.      Avoid commercial sunscreens (they are highly toxic)
c.       Use coconut oil as a sunblock and/or post-sun moisturizer.
d.      Watch sunrise & sunset as often as possible: extraordinary health benefits – genetically codes your cells for a harmonious vibratory frequency.

17.   Use Carminative Herbs & Vegetables:
a.   Very effective at expelling gas and easing griping pains in the GI tract.  
b.   They tone the mucous surfaces & increase peristaltic action (esophagus,  stomach and intestine movement which propels its contents onward).
c.   Allspice, carrots, aniseed, cinnamon, coriander, ginger, juniper, oregano, fennel, liquorice, cloves, caraway, dill, peppermint, thyme, & mint.

18.    Healthy Fiber Sources:  Ideal ratio  75:25  Insoluble: Soluble
a.      Insoluble Fiber:   Move bulk through the intestines and balance the pH (acidity) in the intestines   
i.   Dark green leafy vegetables
            ii.  Fruit skins and root vegetable skins
            iii. Whole-grain products 
            iv.  Seeds & Nuts
b.      Soluble Fiber:  Bind with fatty acids and prolong stomach emptying time so that sugar is released and absorbed more slowly   
                                                              i.      Dried beans and peas
                                                            ii.      Nuts, Seeds, & Psyllium Husk
                                                          iii.      Fresh fruits & vegetables

19.    Liver Cleansing:
a.      Juice Fasts:  Beet juice, barley grass juice, carrot juice, wheat grass, etc.  Try to replace at least 1 meal weekly with a fresh vegetable juice
b.      Use Liver Friendly Herbs such as dandelion, cilantro, aloe, milk thistle, peppermint, ginger, tumeric, oregano on a regular basis.
c.       Drink Liver Cleansing Teas (Yogi Tea), & do a quarterly colon/liver cleanse with proper supplementation formulas (Perfect Cleanse). 
      
      20.  Reduce Exposure to Chemicals & Toxins In:
a.       Medications
b.       Processed Foods & chemical additives
c.       Air pollutants: 
d.       Artificial Lighting
e.       Smoking/Alcohol
f.        Electromagnetic Pollution:  Cell phone/radio  
g.       Chlorine & tap water contaminants:
Air Filters:  Clean the toxins out of your air www.mercola.com 
Lighting:   Full-spectrum natural lighting  www.naturallighting.com
Cell Phone:  Air tube, q-link or bio-link 
Water Filters for drinking & bathing  www.mercola.com