A digestive system is a group of several organs that is accountable for breaking down food into components for other body parts to use. As we age, many people complain about poor digestion that mainly arises due to the change in years of diet, diseases, lifestyle, and medications. 

Following a healthy diet offers plenty of benefits for your overall digestive health. Consuming nutritious and variety of foods, fibre, roughage, etc is crucial to control diarrhea, constipation, and diverticular disease. The average amount of fibre a woman older than 50 years of age should aim for is approximately 21 g of a day, while for men in the same age group should be 30 g. Apart from fibre, one must consume ample vitamin D as they age. 

Sufficient sleep is also one of the many methods to cure poor digestion. Sleeping for 7-8 hours is immensely helpful to improve digestive health and functioning. Stress is one of the major factors that contribute to poor digestion. Several practices that can control unrequired stress and help digestive system are regular physical activity, quality time for yourself, a decent belly laugh, breathing exercises, and keeping an eye on unwanted negative thoughts.

Steps To Improve Digestion Naturally | Frequent Digestive Problem Solution

Everyone experiences poor digestion such as upset stomach, heartburn, nausea, gas, constipation, or diarrhea at least once in their lifetime. But, if these signs appear repeatedly, they can cause poor digestion and major disturbances in your life. Luckily, several diet plans and lifestyle changes are formulated in such a way that they can influence your digestion leading to a positive impact to help digestive system and improve your gut health.

Read further to know the digestion problem solution that can help you improve your digestion naturally:

• Eat Real Food

A proper diet that is rich in nutrients and contains whole foods, proteins, roughage, fibre, etc is believed to be the best digestion problem solution. You should also try to eat food that helps increase your metabolism. Apart from this, controlling the consumption of processed foods is effective for optimal digestion.

Foods that are high in processed carbs, saturated fat, and food additives come with a major threat of developing digestive disorders. Food flavourings such as glucose, salt, and other substances, are believed to cause gut inflammation, which can also lead to a condition called leaky gut.

In addition to carbs, processed foodstuffs such as low-calorie drinks and ice creams frequently include artificial sweeteners, which may lead to poor digestion.

• Fibre-rich diet

Fibre is an important part of the diet that help digestive system. Soluble fibre is efficient as it absorbs water and aids to put bulk into your stool. Oat bran, pulses, kernels, and seeds are good sources of soluble fibres whereas insoluble fibres can be found in vegetables, whole grains, and wheat bran are good suppliers of insoluble fibre.

A diet enriched with fibres is the best digestion problem solution and is associated with a reduced risk of digestive conditions like ulcers, reflux, hemorrhoids, diverticulitis.

• Include Healthy Fats to Your Diet

The next digestion problem solution is to include enough healthy fats in your diet. Fat helps fulfil your hunger cravings and makes you satisfied after a meal. Consuming healthy fats is also needed by the body for appropriate nutrient assimilation.

The few foods that are a rich source of healthy fats are chia seeds, nuts, fatty fish salmon, sardines, mackerel, and omega-3 fatty acids. The omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial in a diet as they reduce the risk of creating inflammatory gut infections like ulcerative colitis.

5 steps to prevent digestive problems as you age

If you are worried about ‘how to improve digestion’ then you are in the right place. Read further to know the basic steps that might help you get a strong stomach as you age.

• Maintain a healthy diet.

As you age, it is important to include a lot of fibres, proteins, and roughage in your diet. Including raw vegetables, fruits, and whole grains in your diet is the easiest way to get fibre. Staying hydrated and consuming non-caffeinated and non-alcoholic drinks is also essential in maintaining a healthy diet as you age. One should also reduce consumption of salt and include a variety of proteins like beans, fish, and lean meat in their diet.

• Avoid foods that cause indigestion or reflux

As you age, certain foods can cause poor digestion. For some, dairy products lead to the worst stomach problems while for others, gluten becomes the source of indigestion. The digestion problem solution to avoid reflux is by eliminating certain foods that can lead to food allergies or digestion issues.

• Consider a probiotic

Probiotic supplements, come in the form of certain yogurts which contain helpful bacteria that can help relieve people with constant constipation.

• Check your medications

Non-prescription and over-the-counter pills can lead to serious digestive problems. It is important to talk to your doctor about potential consequences that might arise while taking medications. It is also essential to ask for an alternative if a certain drug is causing vomiting, looseness, stultification, or other health concerns. 

• Stay active

There is no particular age to start and stop exercising. Physical activity offers lots of health benefits like strong immunity, a better body structure, a better digestive system, and so much more. Getting an average of 1 hr of physical activity is the best thing for digestive problems.

While there is a risk of developing digestive problems as you age, a well-balanced diet, exercise, and a routine checkup with your physician can help you in maintaining a healthy lifestyle into those wiser years.