Individual Support
Suggestions for Smoother Digestion
I am currently seeing many clients with digestive problems, which I think may often be causing them other health problems as well. Because of this, I have added the general guidelines below to my website.
Following these guidelines will often ease symptoms sufficiently to allow further healing to take place. If you suffer from IBS, bloating, wind, constipation, loose bowels, variable bowel movements, gut ache or cramps, try to follow most of these suggestions for a few weeks as a first step. If this doesn't settle things longer term, a detailed consultation may be necessary to sort out the problem for good.
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INITIAL EATING PLAN FOR
SMOOTHER DIGESTION
Please follow these guidelines and read the notes below.
First steps to a smoother digestion
1) Eat mostly soft and/or warm food and drink: e.g. herb teas, hot water, porridge, soups, stews/casseroles, scrambled egg, fish, beetroot, avocado.
2) Avoid cold, hard foods such as salads
3) Eat more vegetables than fruit.
4) Aim to eat more slowly and chew your food well.
5) Keep your meals simple (not too many ingredients/complexity)
6) Avoid ready meals and processed foods with unknown ingredients
7) Aim to follow “ food combining” principles: eat fruit only between meals, and keep protein and starch separate (e.g. porridge for breakfast, vegetable soup/oatcakes/hummus or protein-based soft salad for lunch, fish or meat or eggs with veg. but no potatoes or rice in the evening)
Avoid these windy foods |
Reduce these |
Eat more of these |
• Lettuce
• Beans and lentils
• Hard salad veg.
• Cabbage and kale
• Cauliflower/sprouts
• Dried fruit
• Yeasted bread
• Mushrooms
• Cakes and biscuits
• Raw apples
• Cow’s cheese/milk
• Lactose-containing foods
• Fruit juice
• Chocolate bars and other snack food
• Citrus
• Added sugar
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Wheat (max. 1 daily)
Rye
Soda bread
Green peppers
Alcohol
Tea and coffee
Cigarettes
Butter
Goat’s or sheep’s milk or cheese
Fatty foods
Steaks and chops
Foods you think you react to
Chinese food
High additive foods, e.g. ready sauces
Strong spices (chilli)
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• Porridge
• Herb teas, esp. fennel, peppermint and camomile
• Soups (vegetable or meat/fish based, but free of dairy and pulses)
• Stews/casseroles
• Omelettes and scrambled eggs
• Live yoghourt
• Oatcakes/ryvita
• Fish
• Broccoli, spinach, watercress, rocket
• Soft salad vegetables
e.g. avocado, beetroot
• Roast vegetables
• Stewed fruit
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Symptoms and causes of fermentation or Irritable Bowel
When the usual control of the bowel by the nervous system is disturbed, the muscles can go into spasm, preventing food from moving smoothly through the system.
This can cause bloating, cramps or aches, trapped wind, nausea, constipation, diarrhoea or generally inconsistent bowel movements, fatigue and mood disturbance.
• In my clinical experience the most common reason is active fermentation in the bowel caused by one or more of poor eating patterns, stress, food reactions and an imbalance in the live organisms in the gut (often involving low levels of good bacteria).
• Other contributing factors can include gut infection (bacterial, fungal or parasitic), low digestive enzymes or stomach acid, and drug reactions (especially antibiotics, nervous system drugs, the contraceptive pill, steroidal nasal sprays and some antacids).
• The most common offending foods are grains (esp. wheat), dairy products (esp. cheese and milk), coffee, citrus and sugary foods.
Follow-up treatment can include planned reintroduction of foods, and use of one or more supplements of digestive enzymes, probiotics, glutamine for the gut lining, aloe vera, herbal anti-microbials and anti-fungals, and nervous system support.
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