Stomach upset“Take care of your stomach the first fifty (50) years of your life, and the next fifty (50) your stomach will take care of you.”

 

Statement made by Dr. Stephen Smith, Founder of the American Public Health Association, at the age of ninety-nine (99) standing before a body of eight or nine hundred professional men.

Below is a table of 27 possible causes of your indigestion.
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# CAUSE TIPS
1. Eating too fast Digestion begins in the mouth. The stomach cannot perform the work of the teeth.
2. Overeating The ordinary healthy person should stop eating while he has an appetite.
3. Meals too close together The stomach must have rest between meals. 4-5 hour is recommended. Anything placed into the mouth begins the process all over again. Studies have shown the initial meal consumed to be in the stomach between 6-9 hours later when 4 hours is the norm.
4. Eating Between Meals Same as for meals too close together. The stomach cannot complete any of it’s work. Even a raisin between meals  would delay digestion.
5. Eating late at night The work of digestion proceeds at half the pace when sleeping. Sleep is not deep since the brain and other organs are working. Meals should be consumed 4-5 hours before retiring. Proteins are hardest to digest and should be eaten earlier in the day when more energy is available.
6. Eating when tired When the body is tired there is also less energy reserves for the digestive system to properly function. Use fruit juices and rest before eating a regular meal.
7. Loss of sleep; Sleep is of more importance than food. Get your rest before eating.
8. Nervousness Disturbs digestion. Try relaxing for 10 minutes before eating.
9. Mental Depression This is the same as for STRESS. The muscular activity is hindered and digestive juices cease to flow and so cannot digest food.
10. Unripe fruit Source of serious indigestion. Those who have done so know.
11. Spoiled food Can not only cause indigestion but food poisoning.
12. Condiments Mustard, pepper, etc., are very irritating to the stomach and contribute to indigestion.
13. Bread not well done Bread should be well cooked all the way through. Dough will ferment in the stomach.
14. Fresh bread Bread should not be eaten within 24 hours of baking. Also soda or baking powder is harmful. Zwieback (twice baked) or toasted bread is best.
15. Vinegar It is claimed that acetic acid prevents the action of the saliva and can stop the starch digestion of an ordinary meal. It also hinders the digestion of protein.
16. Fried foods Difficult to digest and should not be eaten.
17. Complex mixtures The more we learn about healthful living the less cooking there is to do. We need not learn how to combine ingredients as we need to know how to keep them apart.
18. Combination of fruit & vegetables The combination may cause fermentation. Persons with weak digestion would suffer more from the effects of this combination.
19. Combination of milk & sugar Milk and sugar or milk and honey  combinations favour fermentation. In many cases sweet fruit could be used in place of sugar.
20. Too much sugar Sugar ferments rapidly, destroys B vitamins and lowers immune system effectiveness.
21. Tea, coffee, cocoa, Chocolate and colas Hinder digestion. Usually cocoa hinders more than tea or coffee but they are more injurious in many ways.
22. Too much liquid food Excess liquid hinders digestion by diluting the stomach juices and preventing it from doing it’s work. This holds for cereals, soups, stews, etc.
23. Drinking with meals The more liquid taken the worse the effect on digestion. Liquids must first be warmed or cooled by the body before assimilation and must be absorbed before digestion begins. Liquids should be taken 1/2 – 1 hour before or two hours after meals.
24. Soft drinks Often contain sweeteners which are very irritating and promotes fermentation. NUTRASWEET has been indicated in Epilepsy seizures.
25. Chewing Gum Likely to produce a sour stomach by interfering with the digestion of starches through lessening (weakening) the activity of saliva
26. Loss of minerals Food improperly chewed and digested cheats the body of nutrients it should have received.
27. Aluminum Indicated in Alzheimer sufferers. All suspect sources should be evaluated. I.e. Canned food, baking powder, dish washing liquids (wash thoroughly), etc.

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“As a rule nature has provided each person with digestive forces which will function normally provided proper food is properly eaten and nothing is done to interfere with the digestive processes. Our troubles usually come from practices  which retard digestion and therefore the correction is automatic when these practices are abandoned.”

 

Author: Curt de Gourville, Lifestyle Counselor

Reference: Abundant Health, Julius Gilbert White.

Copyright © Neoteric Natural Health Consultants 2015

 

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