You may not realize it, but the health of your stomach and intestines is a vital component to your overall health.  Seventy percent of your immune system resides around your gut.  That means that the health of your bowels and stomach largely controls the immunity of your whole body! 

Most people don't even know the simple basics about how to keep their gut healthy.  We each come into the world without an owner's manual, unfortunately.  So here's what information I've been able to absorb through my years of clinical experience and research.  This isn't a replacement for treatment if you have a condition, but if you're looking to improve your overall gut function try a few of these things:

Chewing
Your stomach and intestines are designed to break down the food you eat, absorb nutrients, and excrete waste products.  At each stage of digestion there are things that can be done to help you feel better and be healthier.  The very first thing you can do to help digestion is create more surface area on the food you eat by chewing it up completely.  Sounds easy but if you're in a hurry alot, like myself you may swallow food whole without even chewing it.  When you do this you skipping an important first step.  Chewing breaks up food into small chunks and begins digestion by mixing it with enzymes and saliva.

Fiber
Fibers are substance in plants that we can't digest.  They are REQUIRED for our bowels to be healthy.  They create bulk for our bowels to push against and they bind bile from the liver which allows us to detoxifiy our bodies.  We are supposed to get 30 grams of fiber a day.  Most Americans get something around 8 grams.  There are two kinds of fiber: Soluble Fiber and Insoluble Fiber.  Both are need to be healthy!  The Soluble and Insoluble Part revolves around whether it dissolves in water or not.  Good examples would be Brocolli and Lettuce (insoluble) and Oatmeal (which gets thick with water due to large amounts of soluble fiber).  How do we get more?  Try to get a fruit or vegetable (not potatoes, corn, or bananas) each meal and eat oatmeal or take a Metamucil or Citrucel once a day.

Harmful Bugs Damage Gut
Did you know that 70% of your immune system sits around your gut?  That means that the health of your Gastro-Intestinal Tract is very important to your overall health.  You may also not realize it but our bowels house 10 times more bacteria than we have cells in our body, something on the order of 10 Trillion bacteria!  Before you start ingesting hand sanitizer, please understand this is a normal state of affairs.  Bacteria help us digest our food and the right kind of bacteria can help protect us from gas, bowel pain, constipation, diarrhea, and bloating.  These right kinds of bacteria help protect and soothe the gut from harmful foreign invaders they take up space and not allow harmful kinds of bacteria like Strep, Staph, E. Coli or fungus like Candida Albicans (yeast) to get to out of hand.

Probiotics, the Right Kind of Bugs
The "right" kind of bacteria to have are the following strains:  Lactobacillus Rhamnosus GG, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Bifido Lactis, and there is a form of healthy yeast called Sarcomyces that works well.  When you supplement with these to improve bowel function they are called "Probiotics."  Probiotics help restore function to the gut, they help microscopic tears to heal up and prevent something called "Leaky Gut Syndrome."  There is evidence that they help with food allergies by helping our bodies break up large proteins so we don't react to them once absorbed.  Probiotics also take up space on the intestinal wall and keep more harmful species like "salmonella" from attaching.  That means you could potentially gain a better resistance to food borne illness.

The Acid Debacle
Medicine's approach to all stomach issues is "reduce stomach acid."  Why is this?  Largely due to the marketing and influences of Big Pharma.  But how does your doctor know it is too much?  Couldn't it be too little?  What about the digestive enzymes you need to digest protein?  They actually require acid to activate.  That means your stomach can't break down your food so it sits there, waiting to be digested.  This inhibits gastric emptying and you'll be more likely to reflux.  So before you consider visiting with a Medical Doctor on this issue try this simple experiment.  The next time you have heartburn, take a couple tablespoons of vinegar and see if it makes the difference.  The ascetic acid can help activate dormant enzymes in your food and move the process along.

Natural Buffers
If you are experiencing acid and indigestion consider taking a bufferinstead.  Buffers calm down acids in the stomach, antacids would be a good example.  Personally I don't like Tums and other because they contain aluminum which is known to have harmful effects in the body.  I prefer either Calcium or Magnesium.  Calcium 1,000mg or Magnesium 500mg usually does the trick.

Natural Laxatives or Normal Function?
Most doctors would agree that a movement at least once a day is a part of being a healthy person.  If your bowels are slow or stopped, it is an indicator something is going on.  A Magnesium deficiency can lock your bowels up and make other muscles in your body tight as well.  I usually recommend Magnesium at 800-1200mg to get things moving again.  Once they have I recommend 400-500/day to avoid deficiency.  Magnesium deficiencies are extremely common.  Inversely, Calcium can slow things down a bit.

Calcium th Protector
Calcium is the most plentiful mineral in the body.  When you ingest it you can absorb about 500mg/intake.  That means if you supplement with 1200mg/day then about 700mg will not be absorbed.  That excess Calcium lines the inside of the gut and protects it from infilitration of the gut.  This could be one reason that Calcium has been linked in several studies to the reduction in size and quantity of colon polyps which are a risk factor for colon cancer.  So if Calcium reduces the size and amount of precancerous lesion in the colon that would be something good to take if you have colon polyps or a family history of colon cancer.  Calcium also buffers stomach acid which is a good thing if your stomach is upset.

There is more to this important subject, but this will do for now...