I think that digestion and eating are common concerns during the holidays, and I am hoping that the information in this short article will be helpful at increasing your energy, immunity, serenity and peace of mind, over the holiday season.
DIGESTION AND ASSIMILATION
Basic Symptoms from a Naturopathic (Natural) Perspective:
The most common digestive symptoms that people over thirty have are gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, fuzzy thinking, fatigue after eating, headaches from not eating or after eating, burning in the stomach, sinus congestion and irritability either from not eating or after eating.
These symptoms are all due to one or more digestive disorders. The purpose of this short article is not to diagnose your digestive problems, nor to give an exhaustive list of possible digestive problem. Rather, this article will give your some basic guidelines for everyone to increase your assimilation and digestive abilities, regardless of the specific problem you may have.
The information in this article is also meant to spark your interest at going further. In other words, with a few tests, we can determine the exact reason behind your particular digestive problem, and can design a tailor-made program JUST FOR YOU!
Basic Symptoms from a Chinese Medical Perspective:
A basic tenet of Chinese medicine is that if your digestion is working well, everything else will work well too. In other words, if your digestion is not working well, you are assured to have other health problems, too. Poor overall health follows poor digestive health as a matter of course.
Doctors of Chinese Medicine will look at your tongue. So you have a coating? Is your coating white or yellow? Do you have teeth marks on the sides? Do you have a bright pink tip? Do you have a crack in the center? These are just a few of the factors we examine to determine the cause of your specific problem.
Basic Supplements:
The following are just some very basic ideas of supplements you may want to try for digestion. These are generalizations, since we all need slightly different products to optimize our own body’s unique performance.
Probiotics are vital for everyone to take. These are the body’s own-naturally occurring bacteria, which become compromised with age or illness.
Digestive Enzymes: These should include both upper and lower GI tract enzymes. In general, the more expensive the enzymes, the better they are. Some people need only upper, and some only lower and some need both.
Ginseng and Cardamom or Ginseng and Astragalus: These are two separate Chinese herbal formulas designed to work on the spleen and liver meridians in Chinese medicine. Depending on your particular weakness, one or both of these in alternation, will improve digestion, energy, mental fogginess and immunity.
Nux Vomica homeopathic remedy is useful for any withdrawal symptoms when you are giving up coffee or other stimulants. It’s particularly effective at eliminating the symptom of headaches, diarrhea or constipation, and can be useful for heartburn. While I prefer prescribing specific homeopathic remedies based on your personal, individual symptoms, I want to make sure you know about Nux Vomica in case you are a “do-it-yourselfer” and want to clear up systemic toxins and help clean up the digestive tract and liver toxicity from holiday parties.
Gentianna Herbal Combination is invaluable for gas, bloating and other symptoms of heat in the system, such as scratchy throat or red eyes. It’s also good for urinary tract infections and diarrhea.
Magnesium citrate can be used to treat a mild case of constipation very safely without the use of harmful over the counter drugs, which will only weaken your colon’s natural peristalsis. If you are on laxative, I encourage you to stop them as soon as possible and get onto a natural regimen.
Condurango homeopathic tincture is useful in cases of diarrhea.
Ponay tea is great, not only to burn fat and lose weight, but as a general tonic tea to help with digestion and for energy.