Ahhh, blessed youth!  You are invincible, and so is your digestion.  No matter how spicy the food is, a young digestive system can cope with it all, or at least it could, until some years ago.  Today’s diet has proven lethal for digestive enzymes even in young people.  It’s incredible how things change…

After a certain age, or not so certain, eating something and having it turn into nutritious food takes a lot of work.  You see, digestive enzymes and bacteria in your gut convert food into necessary energy, and as a person gets older or more reckless, among other things, those enzymes decrease their production and the bacteria slows down its reproduction.  When this happens, digestive problems arise, and gas and bloating are the norm.  Eventually, the person starts showing signs of a lack of vitamins and even malnutrition.

But don’t despair!  There is a way to improve digestion at any stage in life.  In order to understand how, let’s take a look at what enzymes do:  When you eat, an enzyme, salivary amylase, starts entering the food as soon as saliva is produced and mixes with the food you are chewing.  These enzymes start to break down the food you’re savoring, but only if you are chewing. If you are drinking your meal (like in a protein drink or smoothie) you must take a second to chew it a little bit, or healthy digestion will not have even begun.

When the food arrives to the small intestine, the hormone secretin is produced, and it tells the pancreas to add the digestive enzymes trypsin, chymotrypsin, and pancreatin, as the food continues to move through your body.  Other parts of your system will add more enzymes, lactase and lipase.  When a person ages or eats a lot of junk, these enzymes decrease and your digestion pays for it.

To get digestive enzymes back, one option is to eat lots of raw vegetables and fruits, which contain natural enzymes for digestion; however this doesn’t work for everybody, as some people may not eat enough of these, or they lose their benefits during cooking.  Another important action is to take enzyme supplements, specifically natural plant enzymes like the ones used by this Ottawa wellness specialist, which have proven truly effective in restoring the digestive system’s functioning.

But let’s not forget about the bacteria.  In order to gain the Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria back, the body needs probiotic supplements, which are available in many health food stores today.  However, in many cases, these are not truly effective due to their manufacturing process or time on the shelves, so, researchers are now investigating a new very promising probiotic called Saccharomyces boulardii.

To conclude, if you have digestive imbalances that are making your life miserable, taking natural digestive enzymes before eating and having probiotics as a dietary complement will certainly improve your digestion and, in addition, make you feel much younger… or your actual age!

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