7 ways to decrease digestive discomfort

We have to eat in order to live but when digestive issues arise such as bloating, constipation, gas, and pain, what normally should be a pleasurable occurrence can take a turn for the worse in a stressed-out stomach looking for relief.

A study from the Technical University of Denmark found that what is referred to as transit time or basically the faster our food can move from the time we eat it to the time of what’s left of it when it leaves our body, the better for our gut health.  The longer food stays in our digestive tract, the more harmful bacteria degradation products are produced.  A shorter transit time means a healthier digestive system helping us feel better. 

Our digestive health is a basic fundamental of keeping us healthy and feeling good each day.  Having a persnickety turbulent tummy can ruin the best of days for us.  By knowing certain tricks to eliminate or at least greatly reduce symptoms, you can avoid tummy troubles and begin to improve digestion today.

1.     Eliminate too much sugar and fat

Too many calories from sugary, fatty or fried foods are hard to digest.  They can irritate your stomach by slowing down the process of digestion creating a very full, uncomfortable feeling.  Excess sugar makes your blood sugar skyrocket setting up an unhealthy duo of too much sugar in the bloodstream and too much insulin being pumped by the pancreas to compensate for the situation.  The excess insulin means extra storage of calories contributing to weight gain. 

The solution? Choose more fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds and choose meats lower in fat such as fish, poultry, lean beef and pork.  Replace butter and margarine with olive oil.

2.     Fill up with water

In order to digest food water is necessary.  Good digestive health will not happen without adequate water intake.  Water helps speed transit time of food through the digestive tract and prevents constipation by creating a softer, bulkier stool.  Aim for 9-13 cups of fluid each day or until your urine looks clear.

3.    Move more

We all see what exercise can do for how we look on the outside but keeping active also does wonders for us on the inside.  Physical activity is vital for good digestive health. It stimulates blood flow to all organs including the gastrointestinal tract while stimulating and toning muscles within the stomach and intestines keeping contents moving quickly.  Aim for at least 30 minutes each day but avoid strenuous workouts right after eating.

4.     Include probiotics

Our gut needs to be feed healthy food but it also requires live microorganisms for the good bacteria to nibble on.  The best source of this is supporting our immune system and achieving a digestive tract in tip top shape.   Best food sources containing probiotics are yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, miso soup, soft cheeses like gouda, sour pickles, tempeh, or acidophilus milk.

5.     Slow down when eating

Our digestive system doesn’t like to be rushed so that means slow down when eating.  Taking time to eat gives the stomach ample opportunity to properly digest and absorb the nutrients within food and allows your body and brain to give you the signal when you’ve had enough.  Turn off the TV and resist looking at your computer or smartphone while eating – distracted people will eat significantly more food than when they put the focus just on eating. 

6.     Eat more fiber

For a substance that really doesn’t get absorbed in our body, we depend on it a lot to keep our digestive tract purring like a kitten.  Fiber comes in two types – soluble and insoluble.  Soluble fiber dissolves in water helping slow down digestion and absorption making you feel fuller longer.  It also slows down the amount of glucose entering into the bloodstream keeping blood sugar levels at a more even level.  Insoluble fiber passes through unabsorbed but it attracts water to it in the colon creating a softer, bulkier, easier-to-pass bowel movement, reducing constipation and pain. 

7.     Achieve and maintain a healthy body weight

A healthy body weight is associated with less symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).   This condition allows contents from the stomach to backflow into the esophagus due to a weak valve that doesn’t close completely between the stomach and esophagus.  The strong stomach acid backs up into the esophagus causing unpleasant symptoms of pain, burning and irritation of the lining of the unprotected esophagus.  Losing excess weight reduces the pressure and can help avoid heartburn and other discomfort. 

Learn how to achieve a healthy body weight by visiting here. 

Choose Meaning Over Happiness

Don’t you ever find yourself having an existential crisis? Why are we here? What is our purpose? Should I feel good or happy in this moment? Our brain is setup to make us feel scared at sometimes the best moments of our lives. But is it really worth our while to focus all of our energy on happiness? Can we really be happy all the time?

There may be another approach to viewing this concept is choosing meaning over happiness. Searching and finding your purpose and understanding why you’re here and why you’ve gone through what you’ve gone through can be a powerful mental healing exercise with a long-term benefit.

Sometimes we feel such an intense desire to chase happiness and the feeling of bliss but this path could be making us chase the wrong thing.

What makes life truly worth living is meaning. This should be the foundation of everything we do, no matter how small or big. This blissful feeling we’re talking about can slip away so fast.

Mental health tips to avoid losing sight of your meaning:

1. Value who you are right now and treat yourself with respect

2. Take care of your body physically to continue through with your feeling of purpose

3. Surround yourself with positive people

4. Give yourself a treat or gift everyday, small or big!

5. Quiet your mind to de-stress

6. Break up your routine

7. Set realistic goals

Sugary Drinks: How Much is Enough?

It has become common knowledge that too much sugar is correlated to Type II Diabetes, heart disease and tooth decay. The bigger problem behind sugar is why it starts. And why it starts is because we become addicted to it. When it comes to the example we set for our kids, sugar intake is probably the most critical food habit we can pass down to them.

Two-thirds of children have at least 1 sports drink, soda or fruit juice on a given day as noted in a recent study from the Centers for the Disease Control & Prevention. It has been reported by the journal Pediatrics that a quarter of U.S. children between the ages of 12-19 have either Type II Diabetes or pre-diabetes.

This disease can directly lead to heart attack, stroke and eventual blindness.

The American Diabetes Association recommends tips for those with childhood diabetes to manage the disease:

1. Choosing healthy foods

2. Exercising daily

3. Taking medications and checking blood glucose as doctors advise

4. Only allow them one sugary drink per week as a treat

5. Other options that can replace this craving is fruit-infused water - even try lemon or ginger!

Hotels Begin to Focus on In-Room Fitness

This seems like a given but hotels have been for years focused on elaborate public gyms inside their hotels. But now brands like Hilton are the first to innovate around in-room fitness, capitalizing on the very large niche audience that prefer solo fitness.

With the rise of apps for solo meditation and body-weight exercises, this makes so much sense. The idea is making exercise accessible for one of the toughest times, being on-the-go or traveling. For those that travel a lot for their job, this is critical. We often make excuses for not exercising or living healthy when we’re traveling or on-the-go. In May, Hilton became one of the first hotels to offer in-room fitness with 11 pieces of workout equipment.

The workout gear includes:

1. Indoor Wattbike bicycle

2. Gym Rax

3. Training station that lets users tackle body-weight moves with TRX straps.

4. Fitness kiosk, a touch-screen display that offers more than 200 videos, including tutorials on all the equipment, cycling, high-intensity interval training and yoga classes.

Hilton’s choices came from customer feedback that they’d be willing to pay more for convenience of fitness in their room. They also took into consideration a significant study from Cornell University. This report showed that “46 percent of guests expected to work out in the fitness center during their stay, but only 22 percent actually did so.”

The rooms were built much bigger to include enough space to move around the room and store the equipment.

The partnership came about after a survey by the hotel last year found that 70 percent of global travelers struggle to maintain their wellness routines on the road, said Sarah Lipton, the brand’s global director of marketing and management, and that 51 percent of Westin guests are likely to have gym memberships.

The hotel brand Westin also had jumped on the bandwagon. The brant itself conducting a significant survey last year that noted more than 70 percent of global travelers struggle to maintain their wellness routines on the road, said Sarah Lipton, the brand’s global director of marketing and management, and that 51 percent of Westin guests are likely to have gym memberships.

This proves gyms and fitness across the hotel ecosystem shouldn’t be an afterthought. With the rise of wearable tech like fitness watches and on-the-go heart monitors, this shows fitness is only going to become closer to us and convenience is half the battle of getting up off the couch each day. Enjoy your next vacation!

Low on Sleep? Tips for Staying Alert

On average, adults need 7-9 hours of sleep per night. While sleeping any less than that is not a sustainable way of life, for those occasional days when you just couldn’t get the essential hours, we have some quick tips for staying alert, especially on those days with lots ahead of you!

1. Use your alarm clock to wake up (and actually wake up when it goes off.) Get yourself out of the snooze-habit and get up when you hear the sound. This is the one of the first things you can do in the day to ensure you stick to your schedule. Whatever you do in the wake of these rough mornings, as long as you follow a routine, you’ll set yourself up for success during the day.

2. Quick movement will help get your blood and metabolism going. Try a quick jog in place along with some weight lifting for 10-20 minutes and your body will feel more awake. You can even stretch or meditate which will help get your brain going as well.

3. Take a cold shower to trigger your nervous system. It’s actually not a myth, this sends a nervous reaction throughout the body that wakes up the organs. When you hyperventilate from the cold water, your body is flooded with oxygen, which then starts to increase your heart rate. This makes you more present and focused.

4. Eating a hearty breakfast composed of complex carbs and protein will give your body more energy because of the digestive properties. Think oatmeal, eggs, full grain toast, fruit and veggies!

5. Drink extra water, especially as you get started in the morning. Hydration only makes your organs perform better throughout the day. Dehydration can exaggerate the feeling of exhausted. Don’t go for the caffeine, that will only further dehydrate you.

6. Take a minute to stretch mid-day. When you hold your body in a stretching position, it can trick your body into thinking it’s “resting,” which is what stretching can mimic. Even taking a small action like stretching your legs out underneath your desk for 10 seconds at a time can be beneficial.