Many naturopathic practitioners
recommend a teaspoon to a tablespoon
of apple cider vinegar to aid in digestion,
but some people’s stomachs are a bit
too sensitive and they may not be able
to handle it. I recommend hydrochloride
lactose-free pepsin, a digestive enzyme
especially useful for digesting proteins.
And of course, I recommend Thorne
as the best manufacturer for this
supplement. It will help acidify your
stomach during digestion and add much
needed enzymes to your food.
Combine your food properly. Don’t
eat protein with starches. Eat meat
with vegetables; eat
grains or potatoes
with vegetables. Eat
fruit alone.
Eat an alkaline
diet. Acidic diets
indirectly inhibit
proper digestion.
By acidic, I don’t
mean citrus fruits.
Carbs like pasta and
rice, meats, and
processed foods, are
all acidic to the body.
An acidic diet places a heavy burden on
the body and creates an environment
loved by cancer, bacteria, and viruses.
No matter how healthy your diet, if
you do not digest your food well, you
will not get the nutrition your body
needs.
Digest Your Protein
Poor digestion causes innumerable health
aliments. Common problems associated
with poor digestion include arthritis, acid
indigestion, and high cholesterol.
One of the most common causes of
osteoarthritis is a lack of protein in the
joints (lubrication in the joints is made up
of proteins). Your joints have 30 times more
protein than muscle and tissue. If you don’t
properly digest the protein you consume, your
body will steal the proteins from your joints,
its richest source, to meet the needs of the
rest of your body.
After years and years of eating too fast
and not chewing your food, of drinking fluids
during or after your meals, you are more
likely to develop arthritis. You’re starving
yourself slowly, depriving your body of the
proteins and the nutrients it needs.
There are many factors to good health. But
remember, proper digestion is an essential
factor, the foundation of your health.
The Way We Used To Eat
Sixty trillion cells make up your body
and each cell requires nutrition. Food
cravings were meant to be our body’s way
of telling us what it needs. For instance,
thirst is a sign that our body needs
water—not milk, juice, soda, coffee, or tea.
Craving something sweet is a cry for fruit,
not candy bars, jellybeans, or ice cream.
We’ve corrupted the link between taste
and our natural ability to know what our
body needs by living on processed foods, a
diet loaded with sugar, salt, trans fats, and
MSG. We used to eat our food fresh and
raw, picked from the ground or plucked
from the tree. Even meat was eaten raw
until we discovered fire. We ate fewer
grains and we ate them seasonally. Proper
digestion wasn’t complicated.
Dr. Timothy P. Kelly is a Doctor of Chiropractic with more than twenty years of experience. His treatment center is located in the Buckhead community of Atlanta, Georgia.