The Importance of Digestion

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Digestion is the key to the healing process of almost any condition. We are not what we eat, we are what we absorb, assimilate, utilize and eliminate. A block in any of these functions will give sub-optimal health. With all of my clients, I make sure we address digestion as a priority to ensure all our clients get the best possible results.

The first thing to do to ensure success you need to see if any of the symptoms of poor digestion. If you have any of these symptoms you may need to optimize your digestion

-bloating

-excessive gas

-cracked nails

-fullness

-nausea

-constipation

-diarrhoea

-Acne

-candida

-food allergies

-dermatitis

-weak finger nails

-iron deficiency

Don't let poor digestion ruin your health and fitness goals!After you have identified if you have any of these symptoms, we generally will recommend a blood test and a HCL tolerance test. Thorough analysis of blood can identify low levels of digestive acids and also possible causes. A good functional medicine practioner will recommend what tests you need to get. We will combine this with a HCL tolerance test. This test will identify how deficient you are in digestive acids. It is best to do this under a practitioners supervision to truly identify what is going on.This process will generally take 2 weeks to go through.

After this we will then use an elimination diet to see if you have any unidentified food intolerances. This is one of the most effective ways to identify what foods may irritate your digestive system. The main culprits for most people are wheat, dairy and different additives. This is one of the reasons why a lot of people feel better on a paleolithic diet.If you do identify some food intolerances it is highly likely that you have irritated the intestinal lining as well.

To help with gut health I recommend most clients consume glutamine with their post workout shakes to help heal the gut and to use it for a few weeks to help heal the intestines.After this we need to look at the bowel. Optimal elimination is essential for both gut health and estrogen metabolism. Ideally you should go to the toilet 2-3x a day, dependant on food intake. To get this up to speed we will recommend people increase their fiber intake, preferably in the form of vegetables and fruits and then look towards fiber supplementation.

Hopefully this brief article gives you some useful information about digestion and how to improve yours so you feel, look and function better!

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