Camping Pro

There are a plethora of brands out there so how do you pick which protein is the best to buy? some have really fancy labels and others well, lets just say it could be better. But is judging a product by graphics on a label really a good idea?

The best way to determine if the protein product is any good is to look at what type of protein is it. The best protein source out there is whey protein as it’s rich in amino acids and easily absorbed and digested. Only the best protein supplements will be rich in amino acids and especially the essential amino acids.

Stay away from products that contain egg, soy, vegetable protein as these are inferior protein sources when you stack them against whey protein. In some cases some of these inferior protein supplements cost more than whey! so buyer beware, expensive protein supplements does not automatically translate into a great product.

Another thing you should stay clear of is sugar, check the nutritional label of the product. If you see a great of carbohydrates in a product you can bet your mostly paying for sugar, and sugar is not what you need. Some whey protein products try and pass these sugar loaded supplements off as “weight gainers” or “muscle builders” when the truth of the matter is your just getting less of the good stuff and more of the bad stuff.

When looking for the best protein supplement to buy, make sure there is no sugar added and whey is the only protein source in the product.

Ever wonder how you could fill a shot glass with potent nutrients, enzymes and vitamins? Wheatgrass is the answer. It is an amazing superfood. A one ounce shot glass full of wheatgrass juice is all you need to consume in order to benefit from its many health advantages.

There are several ways to attain wheatgrass juice. You can grow your own trays of wheatgrass at home from seeds and juice it using a special wheatgrass juicer. You can also purchase juice from a juice bar. Or, there are growers who sell trays of wheatgrass that you can purchase and then juice yourself.

Many people boast about how easy it is to grow wheatgrass. It takes about 10 days for a tray to grow to the proper length for juicing. You do not want to let it grow too much longer than that. The younger the grass, the more nutrient dense it is. If you grow it to maturity, you will be losing precious vitamins and enzymes.

You can purchase pre-juiced wheatgrass juice in the freezer section of some health food stores. However, use caution when purchasing these products. Many retailers are not permitted to sell unpasteurized wheatgrass juice. However, the process of pasteurization kills all of the nutrients making it worthless as a nutritional supplement.

Wheatgrass is also available in powder form. Try a powder that is organic and has been freeze dried or dried in the sun. This method will retain the nutritional value of the plant. A powder can be used in smoothies or added to juice or water for a potent supplemental boost.

Whatever option you choose to enjoy wheatgrass juice, the benefits to your health are plentiful. Dating back to the late 1960’s, wheatgrass has been touted as one of nature’s greatest gifts. Studies have classified it as one of the most abundant superfoods known to man. Celebrated, for its nutritional content, wheatgrass has been proven to cleanse and regenerate cells in our bodies. It is easily and effortlessly assimilated in our bodies.

The chlorophyll it contains is highly energizing. What is even more impressive is that the molecule in wheatgrass practically mimics blood hemoglobin. It can actually increase the red blood cell count and the capacity of blood to deliver oxygen to cells. It has an alkalizing effect on the body which helps to balance acids and inflammation. When these vital balances are created in our system, we are more able to thwart off chronic disease and degenerative illness. Wheatgrass can even work to normalize blood pressure and promote increased metabolism.

A true superfood, indulging in wheatgrass is a nutritious way to supplement your healthy lifestyle and strengthen your ability to fight off disease.

As a conscientious weight-watcher, you meticulously check the contents of every food packet you buy from the super market, like how much fat, protein and carbohydrate each pack contains and so on. But chances are that you ignore the sodium content of the foods.

Did you know that sodium nutrition can be both good and bad for health, depending on your own health condition? But how can something which the body needs also be bad for you? How much sodium nutrition is good enough for the body? Why is it important to monitor the sodium intake per day?

First of all, sodium stands on every dining table as a compound called Sodium Chloride, which is nothing but common salt! While all foods contain some amount of sodium nutrition, some foods carry remarkably low amounts of it like foods that are fresh, including fruits, vegetables, milk, juices, meats, fish and eggs On the other hand, processed or preserved meats like luncheon meat, hot dots and burgers or canned foods including fish and veggies are high on sodium content. Is there any daily recommended dose of sodium nutrition?

According to USDA’s recommendations, the maximum intake of sodium should not be more than a teaspoon of salt or 2300 mg to be precise. Incidentally, this is four times the amount an average body needs per day! You may be curious to know why sodium consumption is so important and why insufficient or overt consumption can affect your health. Look at these ’salty’ facts:

• An essential mineral, sodium regulates blood volume and other body fluids. It also regulates the cellular water levels and plays a critical role in the proper functioning of our central nervous system.
• Sodium is present not just in foods but also in drinking water, prescription as well as non-prescription medicines.
• Sodium nutrition affects blood pressure and water retention. This is the reason, overweight individuals, who are also subsequent victims of hypertension, are recommended a salt-free or low-salt diet. Sodium sensitivity is usually evident among the elderly.
• Repeated research has shown that the main culprit of excess weight gain can be attributed to overt sodium consumption – an eventuality when you buy processed or canned foods or eat out frequently.
• A research study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has revealed that if sodium consumption is reduced by 3 grams, 44000 to 92000 obesity and hypertension-related deaths can be averted and billions of dollars saved in health costs.
• When the body is saturated with an overdose of sodium, the kidney becomes incapable of flushing it out. This results in weight gain, water retention and bloating.

Therefore, if you are fighting a weight problem it is imperative that you pay particular attention to your sodium consumption and switch to drinking lots of healthy liquids, so that any excess sodium in your body can get flushed out easily. This way your weight loss would be more natural and healthy.

Being overweight can be problematic in more ways than one. Not only is the body less immune to a host of ailments, you also suffer from long or short term sleep disorders like sleep apnea, depression, low self-esteem and more. While sodium nutrition is undeniable, you also need to consume it in low doses. Too much of a good thing can also be bad for health.

Over the past few weeks I have often referred to the ‘blood sugar rollercoaster’ as we discussed the importance of maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. Cravings for sugar are a big part of the vicious cycle. Giving in to these cravings can be the start of a vicious circle where the next ‘fix’ leads to more intense ‘highs’ and subsequently to lower ‘troughs’! Dealing with all the emotional and physical issues from ADD/ADHD is not something to be ignored by staying on the rollercoaster. Avoiding sugar cravings, and properly managing them when they do occur, should therefore be one of your highest nutritional priorities.

Examples to Handle Sugar Cravings:

Make sure that you are ‘powered up’ throughout the day: It is vitally important that you do not get to the stage where you are so famished that you will eat whatever crosses your path! The golden rule that you should always remember in this regard is: Less food, more often! Do not skip a meal and include snacks that are small with the nutrition needed without the excess sugar. Doing will help maintain a steady flow of energy and prevent your body from going to ‘panic stations’ in order to get more glucose into the bloodstream.

Carefully monitor portion sizes: Study after study have shown that most of us will always attempt to clear out plates, no matter how ridiculously big that plate may be! Basically, we tend to eat most of what is on our plate. Therefore, the more food on the plate, the more you will consume! Eating big portions regularly is an almost ‘fool proof’ recipe for sugar rushes (and lethargy to boot). A large quantity of glucose (sugar) is released into the blood stream after the body breaks down all the food consumed that is not needed. This spike will typically last for only a short time, leaving you deflated and, amazingly enough, hungry! Cutting your serving sizes is highly helpful. Just by ordering smaller meals when out, using smaller plates, and getting your own food can help you succeed.

Eliminate sugary drinks: Most medical experts regard our culture’s near addiction to sugary soft drinks with alarm. Drinking a soda or other similar drink with 10 teaspoons of sugar is never looked at as a bowl of sugar in the same quantity! Flooding your system with huge amounts of sugar is almost guaranteed to result in a massive energy spike. Avoidance of soft drinks high in sugar might be the best thing for you. Even artificially sweetened drinks should be approached with care, as people react in different ways to the chemical used to artificially sweeten beverages. In some cases drinking ‘diet’ varieties can even be directly responsible for cravings. Not exactly the kind of thing that you would expect from a product that you use as a means of limiting sugar intake!

Try to include some protein on your breakfast menu: In the Egg Marketing Board once had a marketing campaign that centered around the slogan ‘Go to work on an egg’! These are really solid methods in handling sugar cravings. Including protein in your breakfast meal could help avoid sugar cravings as research has chosen that the absence of the needed protein can bring about the cravings.

Eat chromium rich foods: Studies have shown that chromium can limit the effects of sugar rushes. If you go through a really tough patch as far as sugar cravings are concerned, it would be good to switch to a chromium rich diet for a while. Examples of chromium rich foods are mushrooms, peanuts and whole grains.

Add some spices to your food: There are some spices (notably cinnamon, cloves and bay leaves) that have proven to be quite helpful in reducing sugar cravings, which can lead to help for ADHD symptoms. Think of a few dishes that will be well complemented by these spices and be sure to add them next time!

Be careful with fruit juices: It is generally better to drink fruit juices than sugary soft drinks. This does not mean however that you can drink unlimited quantities. Fruit juices contain (natural) sugars and can certainly cause a sugar spike if you drink too much. The big problem in this regard is that a regular glass of fruit juice will often contain the equivalent of several of the fruit in question. Decreasing the amount of fruit juice consumed can be done by drinking out of smaller glasses. It would be even better if you eat the fruit and drink water instead!

From what has been discussed, realize that sugar does not have to control your life. You can manage it and conquer it! Next week we will continue our look at some of the best ways to do exactly this, and it can go a long way to help coping with adult add adhd.

Sports nutrition is a complex topic, especially since nutritionists do not always agree on the best diet for a particular athlete. Just like all areas of training, professionals have pet theories upon which they build their regimens. There are basics, though, that cannot be ignored. First, hydration is key.

Hydration is incredibly important. Health experts assert that many, if not most, people live in a constant condition of dehydration. Not very many people actually consume as much water as they need. It isn’t necessary to drink hundreds of ounces of water per day, but it is important to get the necessary levels to maintain basic health. Simple things like not confusing thirst for hunger (surprisingly common) can be helpful in strategizing to avoid dehydration.

Athletes must be especially mindful of proper hydration. The loss of sweat through heavy exertion means that water must be replenished to keep the body working in top form. Water is needed in the body to assist in transportation of nutrients and assist in waste elimination from the body. Water is responsible for lubricating joints and tissues, as well as regulating body temperature. Finally, water aids in proper digestion. You can tell that you’re adequately hydrated if you produce a goodly amount of light-colored, diluted urine. Deep colored urine is a danger sign that you should increase your fluid intake.

As for nutrition, getting a proper balance of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins is key to optimal sports performance. Protein facilitates the repair of damaged muscles and helps in building new muscles. Carbohydrates are in charge of causing muscles to contract. It isn’t necessary to go all high-protein or high-carbohydrate when coming up with nutrition strategies. Balance is the best way to create a plan that works. By understanding the consequences of the diet you choose, you will learn much more about your own physiology. One example is that choosing a high-protein diet can make you more susceptible to dehydration.

Vegetarian athletes should consult carefully with professionals about how to design an eating plan. Vegetarians must pay close attention to protein intake, and be sure that they are getting an adequate amount to support their training regimen. It’s also a good idea to get regular testing to determine whether all nutritional needs are being met. Female athletes, for example, can be susceptible to iron deficiencies. Any athletes of both sexes can be dangerously short of B vitamins, as well as vitamin D.

There are many people being or becoming vegetarian for all sorts of reasons. These range from supposed health benefits, ethical reasons or just that they don’t like the thought of eating animal products. The three reasons that I have made above are actually not really valid reasons and I will explain why now.

When we figured out how to eat meat we then became human and compared to something like a chimp we developed much larger brains and much smaller digestive systems. This is how we became human and not just animals. This is because the meat products are so nutritious and helped us develop at a faster rate than ever before. There is no doubt that mechanically and physiologically from our teeth all the way to the other end we are made to eat meat.

Vegetarians and especially vegans are very often depressed and lacking in energy. If this isn’t the case then they are likely heading in that direction. This again is due to the nutrients that animal products gives us that crops can’t. Tryptophan is the precursor to serotonin so every single bit of serotonin in the body came from eating tryptophan. Serotonin is often called the happy hormone as it helps maintain a happy feeling and seems to help keep our moods under control by helping with sleep, calming, anxiety and relieving depression. Another one of its important uses is to control food cravings. So a shortage of serotonin will make the brain and the body scream for the foods that create more serotonin. These are high calorie, carbohydrate rich snacks that will make you fat, unhappy and ill. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid which means that our bodies can not make it, you must eat it. There are no good sources of tryptophan in plants. All plant protein comes wrapped in selulose and we can not digest selulose. So even if you did find a plant with large quantities of tryptophan then we would struggle to digest the protein. Tryptophan is in animal products.

Plants can not scream so we don’t know that they are fighting back. Just one of the ways that they are fighting back is by making themselves poisonous by using phytates. Phytates are chemicals inside seeds off all kinds, including grains. They will bind with minerals in the human digestive tract so that you can not digest the minerals and they pass out the other end. You see this serious mineral deficiency in many parts of the world where they eat very high quantities of grains and this shows by them being much shorter as a population than they should be. Things like sour dough breads have been fermented which can disable the phytates and allow you to digest the minerals again.

There are no animal sources of vitamin B12. There are vegans with permanently damaged eyes, hearing and central nervous systems (brain and spinal cord) by not getting vitamin B12. The next best thing for them is to supplement with a synthetic form as a tablet but even if this does work out for you, you have to ask yourself if it is compulsory to supplement because a vegan diet does not provide the human body with what it needs should you be eating vegan at all? Also the synthesized vitamin B12 is made from yeast which is a living creature so now by definition you are not a vegan!

Many vegetarians eat a lot of soy thinking that its a health food. This really is not the case. Soy is one of the least edible plants for humans and has never been consumed in the huge quantities that it is being consumed in today. Soy is a goitrogen which means that it will damage your thyroid which amoung many other things will make you fat. Soy also contains phytoestrogens which will interfere with the hormone systems in humans and all animals. Phytoestrogens in the diet has the potential to cause infertility and promote breast cancer in women.

Agriculture is the most destructive thing that humans have done to the planet. Top soil is the top 6 inches of soil and this is the most biologically active of all soil. By 1950 we were pretty much depleted in top soil as being biologically active. This should have meant that we couldn’t have grown crops and population should have decreased. What happened instead was the green revolution. Scientists figured out how to make fertiliser from fossil fuel. And thats what we have been eating ever since. That’s where the nitrogen comes from to grow these plants.

When we take a piece of land to grow crops on, we clear every living thing off it including the current trees and plants, animals and even the thriving biotic communities are gone. We are not talking about a farmer clearing a field and growing some crops, entire forests have been completely destroyed to make place for crops. So when vegetarians say they don’t like animals to be killed you have to think of the method of growing the food that vegetarians eat. It actually kills the animals and everything that used to live in the now cleared area. A way of life that is destroying the bases of life itself is never going to be sustainable.

Plants eat dead animals! They need urine, blood meal and bone meal and manure. So if you are eating crops that have been sprayed with manure, are you advertising the way the animals are being kept as you are using something that has come from them? You can eat an animal directly or you can pass an animal through a plant and then eat it. There are always animals involved in this progress and you can not remove animals from this equation. You have to accept that there is a cycle which can not be broken and it basically means that you will eventually eat animals.

Plants need to be eaten. In the wild if there are not animals grazing on the plants then some plants will outgrow others and create too much shade for the plants beneath them and then create bare patches between them which erodes and then finally ends with everything dying. So you need the animals on the land grazing but if you do not eat the animals then there will be other problems.
When an animal does not have a predator their population get too high and this is not sustainable. This has happened on islands very quickly where there are no predators and the dears get introduced to the island one way or another. Within a few generations the place is nothing but sand as the dears have eaten everything and then the dears die anyway. Another place this is also happening is in the north east of America where the dears are destroying forests and stopping young trees from growing.

One interesting thing that you have to remember is that the top soil ultimately eats us all. And then we are taken up by the plants as nutrients and eaten again.

Lastly it is often quoted by vegetarians that it takes 16lbs of grain for 1lb of meat. Which I guess is true but that’s grain fed meat. We are not supposed to be competing with cattle for grains, cattle are not supposed to be eating grains they should be eating grass. Understand that I am not promoting cattle being kept inside all year eating grain. They should be out in the fields getting sunlight, eating grass and getting exercise. However whilst numbers are being thrown around its interesting to note that it takes 250-650 gallons of water to grow 1lb of rice. This would be okay if it was just from the rain but unfortunately water is often taken from rivers to water crops which kills the water life and ruins the rivers.

So before you turn vegetarian or even if you already are a vegetarian, it just doesn’t make sense to not research exactly what you are doing. This article is extremely short and has a lot of facts and information on this subject cut out so get on the internet and make a sensible, educated choice about what you put into your bodies.

Colon cancer is often called the silent killer because it grows for years in the lower intestine before it is large enough to create symptoms. Colorectal cancer is also one of the most preventable of the hundreds of types of cancer but is said to affect around 96,000 people in the United States ever year. While prevention is the key, once the cancer is detected, early treatment can be effective and typically involves surgery to remove the cancer itself as well as chemotherapy, radiation or a treatment. A healthy diet will also be key to recovery and to remaining cancer free as well. In fact, a healthy diet is crucial to prevention of colon cancer in the first place.

The symptoms that you feel with colon may depend on where the tumor is growing and how large it has become and can include fatigue and weakness (right side of the colon) or alternating constipation and diarrhea, a nagging abdominal pain and blood streaked or black appearing stools. There are several tests that are recommended for all people, starting at age 40 and those in the high risk categories should be tested more frequently or may need to start getting tested sooner. The earlier this cancer is found the easier its treatment may be.

A digital rectal exam should be done as part of the annual physical every year starting at 40. The fecal occult blood test should be done every year after age 50. A flexible sigmoidoscopy which not only looks for but can remove precancerous polyps should be done every three to five years, depending on risk factors, after age 50. A barium enema may also be recommended with suspicious or inconclusive results suggesting the need for a colonoscopy, however experts are now suggesting that the barium enema step be skipped and the colonoscopy performed at regular intervals instead.

The high risk category for colon cancer includes: those who have had precancerous or cancerous polyps in the past, family history of colon cancer before age 60 or those who themselves have had ovarian or endometrial cancer before age 50. Heredity plays a role in about 20% of all colon cancers in the United States, however there are other risk factors as well. These include: inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. A diet that is high in fat but low in fiber is also a major risk factor for the disease.

The Best Colon Cancer Prevention Diet

A high fiber, low fat diet is the best way to prevent colon cancer and should include a variety of fruits and vegetables so that you get a rainbow of vitamins and minerals for all the antioxidant power. Fiber is thought to help harmful compounds get pushed through the digestive system before they have a chance to cause any kind of harm and before they get a chance to settle into the walls of the intestine and start building any of the growths that can turn to cancer. The aim of the high fiber diet is to produce one significant bowel movement or more, every day. Good sources of fiber include beans, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. You can opt for a fiber supplement if you are afraid that you are not getting enough.

In addition to plenty of fiber, your healthy diet should include enough water and sources of water to prevent constipation. When fiber is eaten it swells and becomes bulky as it heads down the digestive tract. It sweeps the intestinal walls as it goes, picking up the waste products and harmful substances that have been left behind from previous meals.

Without enough water, the stools can become hard and will not flow through the system correctly leading to constipation and possibly to an impaction. (A fecal impaction can lead to a serious medical emergency which may, if warranted, require surgery.) Just as you can tell that you are getting enough fiber if you have to move your bowels at least once per day, you can tell if you are getting enough water if you have to urinate every two to three hours. The urine should be very light in color with no discernible odor. (Dark, concentrated urine and a strong odor can indicate a bladder infection even without other symptoms).

Red meat should be avoided with protein coming from lean, healthier choices including plant proteins. Red meats are high in dangerous saturated fats and calories. You can eat a small portion of red meat if you cannot give it up completely, however it should be limited to once or twice a week at most. The same suggestion goes for alcohol, which should also be limited to only a drink or two, a week.

A healthy diet should also include enough of the minerals calcium and magnesium which may need to be supplemented in some cases, to make sure that there is enough in the system. Be wary of alternative cures or treatments that suggest that you can take excessively high doses of certain vitamins and be cancer free without surgery or other treatments, not only have they been shown not to work, they may be even more dangerous in the long run.

Your healthy diet should start with the basics of all good nutrition: proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

Proteins — Protein is a part of every single cell in the body and is needed for the role it plays in every function. While it is necessary to build and repair lean muscle mass, protein is also important to sleep, digestion and the act of ovulation. We can get our protein from foods and from protein supplements and we should get the right amount determined by our age, our gender, our health and our activity level. A good guideline is about.6 grams per kilogram of body weight and the American Heart Association recommends that we get no more than 35% of our daily calories from protein of any source.

Protein comes from two sources, plants and animals. Animal proteins are all complete because they supply the eight essential amino acids that humans cannot produce in their own body. These eight (leucine, isoleucine, valine, threonine, methione, tryptophan, phenylalanine and lysine) are broken down during digestion and used to make other amino acids, hormones and enzymes to be used throughout the body. Animal proteins include both meat and non-meat sources and should be as lean as possible. The egg is considered to be the perfect protein and all others are evaluated against it. All of the protein in the egg is digested and used by the body giving it a 100% on the bioavailability score. Low fat milk, cheese and other dairy products are good sources of protein, calcium and other nutrients. Low fat milk, especially chocolate milk has been called one of the perfect after-exercise drinks because it can help in muscle recovery.

Plant proteins are not complete, with the exception of soy because they lack one or more of the essential amino acids. It is a myth that vegetarians or vegans are protein deficient, as long as they are getting a variety of plant materials, especially soy, they will get more than enough protein. Soy protein also has the benefit of being heart healthy and can help to lower the blood cholesterol as part of a healthy diet.

Protein supplements can be added and are especially beneficial to those who have gone through surgery for colon cancer. The body needs extra protein when it is ill or recovering as well as for those who are going through chemotherapy and/or radiation. The supplement that you choose should have plenty of protein, other nutrients and be appealing so that you will actually drink it.

Most people have this impression that all healthy foods are expensive or are fussy to prepare. That is not exactly the case. While most healthy foods require minimal cooking, which is translated to minimal preparation time, they are easiest to make. Also, there are many cheap foods that have high health values. With a little pre-planning, you can continuously enjoy healthy meals right on your budget.

Healthy foods enjoy greater variety. This means that they can be found in all food price ranges. Gaining some important shopping strategies will both be good to your waistline and to your food budget. First, consider making a weekly menu where you list everything you plan to prepare for the week. This should help you complete your shopping list. This should make it easy for you to check some unhealthy ingredients and replace it with healthier and cheaper food. To do that, make it a habit to shop only through the perimeter of your local grocery store. Storekeepers usually place the healthy and cheaper items right in those areas. Stay away from pre-packaged and processed foods, they are unhealthy and expensive. Since protein sources are usually the most expensive items in your shopping list, trying making healthy substitutes like beans, legumes and grains to cut down your meat consumption. Also, start making your own snacks. Even with the explosion of single-serving packs of cereals and cookies, it would be more economical and healthier to make your own wholegrain cookies and peanut butter sandwiches.

As you can see, a tight food budget should not compromise the quality of your health food selections.

You MUST have a high-quality protein intake. This is the secret (along with progressive weight resistance exercises). In this Part 2 of a 3-part article series on the best protein sources, I will reveal to you 2 of the absolute best sources of high quality protein to allow you to build mountains of muscle lightning fast.

2 Absolute Best Sources of High-Quality Protein To Build Huge Muscles Super-Fast

High Quality Protein Source #1 – Milk Is Great (Non-Fat Only, Please) - Milk is one of the most common and maybe one of the most over-looked high protein meals. We are good to remind our kids to drink their milk, but we often forgot that milk has many benefits, protein and health-wise for the adult as well. If your goal is to be muscular and lean, then I would highly recommend that you drink non-fat milk. One 8 oz. glass of milk has 18 grams of high-quality protein. (It is funny to see myself extolling the virtues of milk, when I, am lactose intolerant and unable to drink it. But, soy milk has always been there at my side to come to the rescue.)

High Quality Protein Source #2 – Canned Tuna And Salmon Terrific and Packed With Protein – Solid white albacore tuna packed in water is a high-quality source of low-fat protein. A close cousin to tuna in a can is canned salmon which is even a better source of calcium, omega-3 fatty acids than tuna. Research suggests that the healthy fats in tuna and especially salmon, fight belly bulge by improving insulin sensitivity which in simple terms means that the body is burning fat rather than storing it. With 4 oz. of canned tuna or pink salmon, you get 24 grams of protein. Tuna and salmon is great in sandwiches or mixed into salads.

To have good health, we must have a healthy digestive system. Our bodies need good digestion to extract nutrients from our food and eliminate waste that could become toxic in our bodies. Unfortunately, our culture does not promote a lifestyle that encourages choices that lead to good digestive health. Making a few changes in our choices can make a huge difference in our digestive health.

A healthy digestive system requires adequate amounts of dietary fiber and beneficial microflora to operate correctly. When these requirements are not met we can become bloated and gassy. Eating right, exercising, and maintaining the right amount of microflora can be challenging depending on our age and nutrition level.

The first change we should make is in our diet. It’s important to have plenty of soluble and insoluble dietary fiber. The typical “Western” diet is high in simple carbohydrates, fat, and animal protein – but low in fiber. Fiber helps to slow digestion and allow more nutrients to be absorbed into our bodies. It also keeps the colon cleansed and prevents a build up of toxins within our bodies. Fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are healthy sources of the fiber our bodies need daily.

Increased exercise is a second change that can improve digestive health. Exercise helps with good circulation, muscle tone, and calorie consumption. Maintaining a healthy weight and strong heart is important for all systems of our bodies to function properly, including the digestive system.

Maintaining a healthy balance of beneficial intestinal microflora is the third change that can improve digestive health. Many things can upset the natural balance of microflora, such as aging, a poor diet, or taking antibiotics – especially in children. Keeping a high number of beneficial microflora in the digestive tract is important for enhanced immune function and detoxification of the colon.

The two primary microflora that benefit the digestive system are lactobacilli, found mainly in the small intestine, and bifidobacteria, found mainly in the colon. These good bacteria control the bad bacteria and keep the digestive system healthy. Having a high number of the good microflora is essential to good digestive health and difficult to achieve with the typical diet. Therefore, supplementation with probiotics is a healthy and natural way to maintain optimal levels of beneficial microflora in our bodies.

Making a few changes to our lifestyle can go a long way toward improving our digestive health. Adding fiber, exercise, and a good probiotic supplement can benefit the function of the digestive system and improve our overall health. These changes can even pay for themselves with the boost we receive to the immune system that could cut both short-term and long-term medical expenses. These are changes that are well worth the effort.