Institute of Nutritional Endocrinology (INE): Body Freedom Foundations – Pillar 5: Diet – Eating for Digestive Health
Body Freedom Foundations
Pillar 5: Diet
Eating for Digestive Health
1 | Check as complete if you've reviewed and worked through this resource. |
This is a getting started guide to healthy digestion. The Gut Repair and Alkalizing Nutrition for Digestion (GRAND) program will go into a lot more detail.
Action Plan
#1: Drink the AM Gut Rejuvenator drink and eat a green breakfast with chia seeds.
Daily AM Gut Rejuvenator Recipe: Drink this combination of water, lemon, and essential oils to wake up your gut each morning before you eat. It’s a great drink to suggest to your clients for them to start their day out jumpstarting their digestion.
#2: Follow Dr. Ritamarie’s pre-meal ritual before each meal.
You need to DO these steps EVERY time you put food into your body: Stop — Look — Tune into your heart — Breathe fully and deeply — Feel sincere appreciation. Stay calm and present at all meals – harness the power of appreciation and conscious eating. As you work with your clients, walking them through this same process will see an improvement in their digestion and attitude.
#3: Take time to chew food thoroughly.
The more thoroughly you savor, chew, and allow your saliva to interact with your food, the more likely you are to easily and fully digest what you’re eating. The more easily you digest your food, the more nutrients you can absorb. It’s a simple concept to teach your clients, but, along with the stress pieces, is often overlooked.
#4: Remove the foods that harm your gut and add those that heal it.
Foods that Harm, Foods that Heal Your Gut: Optimize your digestion by removing the foods that hurt and increasing the foods that heal. Here’s a cheat sheet you can print and refer back to when you shop and prepare meals. This will be helpful with your clients, as well.
#5: Before each meal, take bitters to stimulate HCl and bile release, and/or take herbs like slippery elm or DGL powder to soothe your gut.
Before each meal, take bitters to stimulate HCl and bile release and/or take herbs like slippery elm or DGL powder to soothe your gut using the Nutrition and Herbs for the Stomach and Digestion guide. Be sure to also take zinc as a building block to HCl. Consider having your clients adding these ideas to their meal protocols, too.
Nutrition and Herbs for the Stomach and Digestion: Here you’ll find a summary of protocols useful for rebuilding the stomach lining, producing sufficient HCl, and soothing upper GI discomfort.
#6: Take digestive enzymes with each meal.
Refer to the of the Nutrition and Herbs for the Stomach and Digestion document for a list of my favorite digestive enzymes.
#7: Consume probiotic foods, juices, smoothies, and supplements each day.
Consult the GRAND Recipe Collection for a list of fermented recipes that are healthy for the gut. Consume probiotic foods, juices, smoothies, and supplements each day, and refer them to your clients, too.
