We often deal with customers who are suffering from digestive problems and there are some easy ways to treat problems which can be really effective. Sometimes digestive problems manifest themselves as bad skin not just as indigestion or bowel problems. We often see that in children.

Understanding how your digestive system operates is really important.  The first stage is often forgotten – your digestive process begins when you smell the food.

It all begins with the smell

The smell of your food stimulates your body to begin producing stomach acid.  The process of chewing also releases smells that your body needs to to produce gastrin.

It is really important to chew your food properly

Your stomach is a muscle and it needs to be relaxed to operate properly.

Make sure you sit down and take your time eating your meal

You need to make sure that your body can absorb your food efficiently. Chew chew chew – help your stomach by properly chewing your food. The process of chewing will also help your stomach to produce the necessary stomach acid to help food absorption. Your body is also producing bile and salts that break down fats.

Don’t drink water with a meal

Drinking whilst eating can dilute the digestive juices in your stomach so that your body will struggle to digest your food.  If you drink with your meal and don’t chew properly, your body will not produce enough digestive juices and those that are produced will be diluted.

Drink water an hour before and an hour after a meal.  You need to consume 1 1/2 litres of water a day, sipping water regularly is the ideal way to hydrate yourself.

Avoiding Bowel Problems

When the body is not absorbing food properly, due to not chewing, sitting down or drinking with meals, it can lead to bowel problems like constipation. It can also be caused by not drinking enough water between meals. Hard poo sticks to your intestinal wall and leads to constipation and blockages. When food remains in the bowel for too long it means that toxins can be reabsorbed and will go to your liver.

• Chew your food
• Drink water between meals not with them
• Sit down and relax when you eat
• Exercise – try pilates or yoga
• Eat regularly
• Avoid refined sugar, alcohol, cafeine, yeast (e.g. Marmite), Greasy food.
• Make sure you get enough sleep

 Natural remedies for digestive problems

If those simple tips don’t help here are some natural remedies that are available from us which are very effective. REMEMBER – everyone is different, come in and talk to us and we will be able to help you with your particular complaint.

Centaurium

A brilliant remedy for indigestion for both adults and children.

Centaurium is well known to herbalists as a ‘stomach bitter’ – one of the classes of herbs with bitter taste and used to aid digestion. For these herbs, it is important to taste the bitterness – and because of this, it is better to use herbs such as Centaurium as a tincture taken 30 minutes before meals.

Yarrow

Made from freshly harvested yarrow, dandelion and other digestive herbs Yarrow Complex takes its name from the herb Achillea millefolium (Yarrow), found in this fresh herb tincture combination. Yarrow is one of the digestive herbs used traditionally. It is a small plant with finely divided leaves – these ‘thousand leaves’ are the origin of part of its botanical name ‘millefolium’.

Lepicol

Lepicol provides gentle encouragement for the bowel for both adults and children.

Lepicol is a multi-fibre source product containing gentle psyllium husk known to maintain normal bowel transit, as well as inulin which is a prebiotic fibre source.

Linoforce

An excellent remedy for constipation. To help maintain bowel comfort Linoforce is made entirely from linseeds, senna and frangula and is one of Alfred Vogel’s very first remedies. Use Linoforce to help maintain normal bowel regularity and comfort.

Molkosan

Molkosan is a probiotic and is particularly good for the pancreas and to deal with blood sugar cravings.

Whey has a long history of use in healthcare and was known as far back as the time of Hippocrates (400 B.C.). Using prebiotics such as Molkosan® to improve the internal environment of the gut increases the likelihood that a probiotic supplement will work well.
Available as a 200ml bottle, 500ml bottle, or Molkosan Vitality (powdered).

Bowel Essence

Sometimes bowel problems are due to emotional problems and we have found Jan de Vries Bowel Essence to be particularly effective in those effected. It promotes rebalance in the body.

Omega 3

Omega 3 can be really effective in helping children with digestive problems. We stock a large range of omega oils for both adults and children click here to see the products.