Poor digestion (or dyspepsia) is the difficulty in digesting even small meals with related heartburn, feeling of nausea, abdominal swelling, drowsiness, cramps, etc. It is a very common condition nowadays. today since our diet is largely made up of packaged foods, refined grains, refined sugar and salt, etc. and our life is very stressful and hectic and often also characterized by an absence of physical and motor activity. All these factors lead to alterations in the digestive process which can give rise to the problems outlined above (and it would therefore be appropriate, to solve the problem, to rebalance one’s diet by increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables and reducing that of products based on refined cereals as well as exercising every day).In addition to having a correct lifestyle, to solve this very annoying problem you must first of all chew very slowly (which is very difficult to do when you are under stress or in a state of nervous excitement) in order to avoid swallowing too much air (aerophagia). which then creates serious problems with intestinal transit, and to adequately insalivate the food bolus in order to make digestion easier. In fact, even if many don’t know it, the digestive process begins with chewing food since saliva contains enzymes that facilitate the assimilation of the nutritional principles contained in food. If you don’t chew the food well, not only can it not be sufficiently insalivated but it can’t even be adequately shredded so as to retain it for a short time in the stomach and thus facilitate the digestive process. When food is not adequately chewed and shredded the stomach has to work harder for this purpose and the digestive process becomes longer and more demanding. Therefore, slow chewing is already a first remedy for digesting well and avoiding states of poor digestion and consequent problems. To solve this annoying problem you can also use foods with a powerful digestive action (and which therefore favor the normal digestive process). In particular, apple cider vinegar, fennel, mint, ginger and licorice are very useful. In fact, these foods have a beneficial effect on the digestive process and are able to promote it effectively, also counteracting gastric and intestinal spasms which are in many cases “at the root” of this insidious disorder.
