Greetings!
Thank you for your continued support of my newsletter. I sincerely enjoy bringing them to you every month.
 Happy Summer to All of You! The office will be closed the week of July 1st to July 8th. Please plan accordingly by having all the supplements you require before this week. Bill will be in the office July 1st and 3rd - just in case you need something.
I chose this topic because every one of us suffers some form of indigestion at some point in our lives. For some people it is occasionally and for others it is every day. In this newsletter I will discuss different ways that can help mild to moderate indigestion sufferers.
The more severe cases usually are related to food intolerances and microbial imbalance or toxicity. Indigestion can present itself as gas, bloating, stomach pain, burning, and acid reflux after eating a meal. I hope you find this month's newsletter helpful.
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Tips to Help with Indigestion
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Our digestive enzyme activity decreases by about ten percent every ten years after the age of 20. A fifty year old has about thirty percent less digestive capacity than a 20 year old. This is one reason why many people notice that as they age they have more episodes of indigestion.
 Stress decreases enzymatic activity and hydrochloric acid production. If you have less hydrochloric acid and enzymes because of a stress reaction, than some of your food will remain undigested in the stomach. Before the stomach has a chance to empty, inorganic acids from undigested food will travel up the esophagus producing acid reflux type symptoms.
A teaspoon to a tablespoon of unfiltered/raw apple cider vinegar may help someone who doesn't have yeast, candida, or fungus (if you do have yeast, candida, or fungus it may aggravate symptoms).
Another solution can be a supplement such as Zypan, which is betaine hydrochloride coupled with enzymes. Zypan at the end of a meal helps the stomach to digest whatever couldn't be digested on its own. If a supplement is an enzyme product without betaine hydrochloride than it should be taken at the midpoint of the meal.
The reason these supplements are not taken at the beginning of the meal, is that it is important for the body to produce enough of its own enzymes, so it doesn't shut down its normal enzyme production. The body is very smart and will compensate with any addition or subtraction of its nutritional requirements.
Food combining principles may help certain people with their indigestion. Always eat fruit alone. Fruit is digested rather quickly compared to other foods (about 30 minutes or less). If you eat fruit with something like cheese, than the stomach will start emptying after a short period of time taking some of the cheese with it, which needs hours to digest properly. The body has to work really hard to digest fruit if it's combined with fats, proteins, and other forms of carbohydrate.
It is better not to consume proteins and starchy carbohydrates together. Protein requires a high acidic content in the stomach, while carbohydrates require a more alkaline environment.
 A classic dish like meatballs and spaghetti can cause major indigestion, because as the brain gets the message to produce more acid in the stomach to digest the protein, it gets another message to make the stomach more alkaline for the carbohydrate.
This causes a neutralization of the stomach acid, where the food is left not fully digested.
Stay away from combining proteins like meat with grains. A better choice would be meatballs with a cooked vegetable like kale etc.
Chew your food to the point that there is nothing left. Digestion starts in the mouth with ptyalin or amylase. If the stomach has less to do it is going to be happier. Ideally the contents in your mouth should be chewed fifty times. Try getting a New Yorker to do that.
Pay attention to the amount you chew before you swallow. Everyone should chew more. I admit I don't chew enough, but am working on it. This also falls into the category of slowing down. The stomach needs time to digest. The quicker you eat the harder it is on the stomach to digest. Slowing down could help substantially.
Have your salad or raw veggies after your warm cooked foods. Raw foods can be hard to digest, so by introducing raw food after the stomach has been warmed up allows for easier digestion. The digestive organs like to be on the warmer side and raw foods are cooling. Even though the Italians got it right by serving salad after dinner, this actually comes from Chinese medicine.
Don't drink with your meals. Drinking with meals dilutes the acid in your stomach, which leads to undigested proteins and fats. If you can't completely refrain from drinking with meals, than have less liquid with your meals.
Whether you have been tested for underlying causes of your indigestion through nutrition response testing or not, these tips can help you with your digestive health. If these tips don' help than there may be an underlying cause, which I can help you identify.
Call my office if you or someone you know would like more of a solution for your digestive well-being.
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