Are you trying to figure out what is causing your digestive problems? Like many people, you may suffer from constipation, intestinal gas, bloating, heartburn or abdominal cramps. These symptoms are quite uncomfortable and are not normal.
Digestive problems are usually caused by the food you put in your mouth, or can be the result of an unhealthy gut flora. A poor diet will not only provoke a slow digestion, it can also disrupt the balance of your microbiome.
People usually suffer from digestive issues right after a meal. Feeling bloated and tired is now so common that people don’t even consider that these symptoms are not normal.
Digestive troubles may not seem like a big deal to you, but a lifetime of eating the wrong foods may lead to more serious health problems such as IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), leaky gut, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and colon cancer.
Most articles about digestion that you will find online, talk about the best foods we should eat to be healthy, to have regular bowel movements and a strong immune system. But they never talk about the crap that we consume regularly and that are the worst foods for digestion.
We should treat our body like an expensive car. Would you put cheap gas in your 100K dollar car? Of course not! You would break the engine. You should treat your body the same way. Some foods are worse than others when it comes to your body engine.
You should eat the best food possible and avoid these six worst foods for digestion.
6 Worst Foods for Digestion
1. Fried food
Fried food is the worst food for digestion. Our body has such a hard time processing it. Those who suffer from digestive sensitivities will usually have to deal with acid reflux and heartburn.
Any type of fried food can provoke contractions in the digestive tract, which can either worsen constipation or cause diarrhea. French fries, onion rings, donuts, nuggets, samosas and fried chicken are good examples of foods to avoid if we want to improve our digestion.
Fried foods can either move through the digestive tract too quickly, resulting in undigested food in the stool or diarrhea, or it can stay in your intestines for too long, provoking constipation, bloating and gas.
Fried foods that are made of animal products are completely deprived of fibre, another element that makes digestion very difficult. A lack of fibre in the diet usually results in fewer bowel movements and chronic constipation.
2. Processed Food
Refined and processed carbohydrates are also the worst foods for digestion. They move fast through your digestive tract and they can cause discomfort like bloating, abdominal cramps and gassiness.
What foods are processed carbs? Chips, pastries, pizza dough, soda, white bread, kids cereals and pasta are. In the long run, a lifetime of eating these processed foods can also cause you to develop food intolerances and illnesses like leaky gut syndrome and IBS. They can also disturb your gut flora and disrupt the balance between your good and bad bacteria.
Processed foods are usually high in fat and calories, and very low in fibre, which doesn’t help your digestion either. Processed foods contain preservatives and artificial colouring, two substances that are highly toxic for your body. They can provoke symptoms in those suffering from digestive diseases and sensitivities.
Processed foods are the worst foods for digestion. We should avoid them if we want to have regular bowel movements and to prevent certain diseases.
3. Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners are everywhere. They are found in pretty much all the processed food you can buy at the grocery store and they are one of the worst foods for digestion.
The sugar industry has done a great job making us believe that their products are not harmful. But on the contrary, the truth is that our digestive system is affected when we substitute natural sugars with industrial sweeteners.
Artificial sweeteners increase inflammation in the body. They can cause different digestive symptoms and intolerances. One example is sorbitol. It is a hard-to-digest sugar that is commonly used to sweeten chewing gum and diet products. When sorbitol sugar reaches the large intestine (the colon), it can provoke gassiness, bloating and diarrhea.
Artificial sweeteners also feed the bad bacteria and the yeasts in your digestive tract. People who eat a diet that is rich in industrial sugar tend to have problems with the yeast-like fungus Candida Albicans. When the candida cells overpopulate the gut, different digestive symptoms, allergies and immune responses are felt. And it can be quite difficult to get rid of the problem.
Artificial sweeteners also feed intestinal parasites and worms, allowing them to multiply faster. Parasites can provoke important imbalances within the gut microbes, lowering immunity and affecting your physical and mental health.
4. Alcohol
Alcohol may not be a solid food, but many of us still consume it regularly as if it was a food! And alcohol should be classified as one of the worst foods for digestion.
Even if consumed in moderation, alcohol can cause acid reflux and heartburn, which is like a burning sensation felt from the stomach to the throat. How does it work?
The valve at the entrance of the stomach is called the lower esophageal sphincter, and it is supposed to close when food passes through. If that valve doesn’t close properly, the acids produced in the stomach can come up and cause heartburn.
Alcohol has the ability to relax the sphincter so it’s common to see people suffering from acid reflux after consuming a few cocktails.
Nutritionally speaking, alcohol does not provide you protein, vitamins, or other essential nutrients. It is actually toxic to the stomach lining and to the liver.
Drinking too much alcohol can also create inflammation in the stomach. Alcohol is a toxin that irritates the lining of the stomach and makes it produce more acids than usual. This is a condition that is called gastritis. It can result in bleeding, ulcers and vomiting. Heavy drinkers often suffer from gastritis.
The sulfites found in wine produce hydrogen sulfide in the colon, which can provoke rotten eggs gas. It may also play a role in the development of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and ulcerative colitis.
5. Dairy Products
Dairy products like milk, cheese, ice cream and yogurt can be very hard to digest because many of us are lactose intolerant. This is a condition that should be considered normal, since we are not cows and are not designed to digest the breast milk of other species.
People who are lactose intolerant are not able to digest the milk sugar lactose. This happens because humans stop producing lactase, the enzyme responsible for lactose digestion, around the age of three years old.
For lactose intolerant people, the undigested milk sugars start to ferment in the colon and produce gasses that cause bloating, cramping, nausea and sometimes diarrhea and vomiting.
Think about it, don’t you think it’s odd that humans drink the breast milk of another species, even after weaning? No other species does it. All mammals are breastfed by their mothers, then learn to feed on their own.
We humans decided that we should replace our mother’s breast milk with a formula made from cow’s breast milk, and then drink that same breast milk for the rest of our lives.
No wonder we have so many health problems. We are going against nature and eating the wrong food!
6. Coffee
Coffee is a part of people’s routine and everyday life. It is often the first thing people will consume in the morning. Unfortunately, coffee is also one of the worst foods for digestion.
Just like alcohol, coffee is able to irritate the stomach lining. Its consumption can result in heartburn and acid reflux. Coffee can also cause dehydration and inflammation in the digestive tract.
Caffeine is a stimulant, everybody knows that. But it does not only give you a boost before getting in your car for work. It also stimulates your gastrointestinal motility, which makes the food you eat move more rapidly through your digestive system. This can be responsible for a poor assimilation of nutrients and diarrhea.
Drinking coffee first thing in the morning stimulates the overproduction of stomach acid, which is not a good thing. This reduces the amount of acids available for digestion later on.
People suffering from digestive issues are usually advised by their doctors to avoid caffeinated drinks. So why not reduce your consumption of coffee before the problem start?
Best foods for digestion
So now that you know which foods are the worse for digestion, let’s look into what you should actually eat.
According to Dr. Michael Greger in his book How Not To Die, a balanced diet should include daily:
- 2 portions of greens (including 1 portion of cruciferous)
- 2 portions of other vegetables
- 3 portions of beans
- 3 portions of fruit (including 1 portion of berries)
- 3 portions of whole grains
- 1 portion of nuts and seeds
- 1 to 2 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds
This ideal new menu will provide you with an optimal amount of fibre, which is necessary for maintaining a healthy digestion. It will permit natural colon cleansing with daily elimination.
Ideally, we should have one to three easy to pass bowel movements per day. A life without constipation is a sign of colon health and a balanced microbiome.
If you are suffering from any digestive issues, following a detox diet may be helpful to you. It will allow you to eliminate the root cause of your symptoms. you should start by avoiding all allergenic foods, like gluten and dairy, processed foods and junk.
If you experience bloating, abdominal cramps and constipation, you may have an overgrowth of Candida Albicans in your gut, and that you need to control. Foods that kill candida include pumpkin seeds, garlic, onion, hot peppers, bentonite clay, oregano oil and turmeric. There are certain home remedies that you can take to kill candida and heal your intestinal wall, like caprylic acid, probiotics (Acidophilus), and L-Glutamine.
If you have an unhealthy gut flora, you may also be infected with intestinal parasites (worms). Along with our 7 day detox and colon cleanse, you can take a natural parasite cleanse that contains wormwood, clove and black walnut. A complete body cleansing program will help you get rid of all these unwanted guests.
Fasting and colon cleansing is a great way to heal your digestion and start fresh. A 7 day detox will not only flush the colon, it will also allow rapid weight loss and the rejuvenation of every cell in the body.
