Now let’s move on to what can we actually do to improve our digestion.
Free: eat slower and chew more!
Nearly free: drink more purified water (buy a good gravity fed water purifier – they tend to run about $300 – I love my “Alexa Pure”)
Low stomach acid is a common issue, particularly as we age.
Supplemental HCl (stomach acid) is an inexpensive and easily tried home intervention. You can try many of the folk remedies like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar but dosage and effectiveness may be inconsistent.
My preference is for actual HCl supplements (“Source Naturals” is a good brand at a reasonable price). Dosage is fairly easy. Start with one capsule with a normal meal (do not take HCl on an empty stomach!). Increase by one capsule with a similar meal until you feel a slight burning in your stomach, then back off to one less capsule and you’ve found your personal appropriate dosage. If you eat a large meal you might take an extra one, if you eat a light meal you might take one less with that meal.
A 650 mg capsule is also known as “10 grain”, this is a standard dosage but pay attention to other products with different dosages. For many people two or three capsules will work well, but the normally functioning stomach produces the equivalent of about thirty capsules. Some cases may need about ten capsules. Again, it’s very important that you test on yourself and find what works well for yourself. Use care! HCl is a supplement where too much is not good!
Note for women: acid secretion decreases during days 15 to 28 of your cycle and then increases during days 1 to 14 of your cycle.
Low stomach acid also leads to low digestive enzyme levels (the pancreas depends on the acidity to trigger release of digestive enzymes). A digestive enzyme supplement is another excellent recommendation for improving digestion, especially as we age. Use both HCl and a digestive enzyme supplement for a while, then as your body gains more nutrition it can improve it’s own ability to produce more stomach acid (reducing the need for supplementation).
Note: digestive enzymes are especially sensitive to heat so be selective in where you get them from. It’s best to store them in your refrigerator. A suggested product would be NutriCology’s “Complete Digest”.
Fiber, comes in many types and is essential in two ways for digestion: fiber is food for good bacteria (probiotics) and fiber provides good transit time (helping to avoid constipation). The easiest way to get fiber is to eat real plant foods not processed foods. Fiber supplements are also available. I would not advise the typical off the shelf “anti-constipation” products. A perfect example of getting fiber is to eat the whole plant rather than juice (there is a world of difference between eating an apple vs drinking apple juice). While we are on the topic of juice, I generally advise no more than about 4 ounces of juice maximum per day (even the best juices can be a huge source of sugar).
If you want some supplemental fiber, one product I use is Life Extension’s “FLORASSIST® Prebiotic Chewable (Strawberry)”.
Speaking of sugar, cut back on your sugar consumption. This may be the number one most important thing for better health. As a reasonable target, aim for 15 grams or less of sugar per day. This can be very, very hard for most people as, depending on the source you consult, average American sugar consumption is now up to 199 grams per day! Downright toxic!
“But I like to bake sweet things!” Never use “artificial sweeteners”. My preferred alternatives are “Monk Fruit” or “Allulose” powders, these work great. Stevia is popular and can work well when combined with other things but for example in tea, I can’t stand the bitter aftertaste of stevia.
Supplementing with probiotics can dramatically improve your health and strengthen your immune system. Aim to take a probiotic which has many strains (like 12 strains) and an effective dosage (50 billion CFU or more). My preference is to take probiotics once every four days or so and to take 100 billion CFU or more at a time. If I’m sick, I will increase this a lot.
Gluten is your enemy! Modern wheat has been bred to have an incredibly high gluten content. This is wonderful for soft delicious treats but horrible for your health. Gluten contains a protein gliadin which releases zonulin which causes intestinal permeability (aka “leaky gut”). Most people can tolerate a little without too bad of an impact on their health, but the less the better. Wheat is the worst offender but in general I advise people to avoid grains. (entire books have been written on this subject – I highly recommend “Grain Brain” by David Perlmutter)
If you do consume grains, it’s extremely important that you digest them well. In particular, stomach acid and digestive enzyme status must be good!
Allergies are often blamed for digestive problems. My view is the opposite way around, poor health is responsible for allergies rather than the other way around. Certainly other practitioners have a different viewpoint and will often spend a lot of time and money testing for what you are “allergic” to and then push you to make sometimes drastic changes to your diet. My experience has been that I can “cure” incurable allergies by simply restoring the person to good health.
We are all allergic to gluten (gliadin), but none of us are allergic to the amino acids that such proteins are made from. Sufficient digestion does wonders to eliminate problems (and cure “leaky gut”).
I also agree with allergies and how we obtain them ! I loved this read , John ! Please write more on things that we are taught that are misinformation or misinterpreted! On digestion and nutrition specifically
This is good information. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last year and my diet has always been an issue for me. I'm learning though, although stress and emotions often get in the way of willpower.
It's a struggle. Thanks for this article.