Mindful Eating: How to Savor Your Food and Improve Digestion

If you suffer from gastrointestinal issues, life may seem tough more often than not. While GI problems are often seen as a little tummy ache, they can grow to the point where they get in the way of your daily activities and stop you from doing things that make life worth living. 

To save yourself from this well of despair, you can try keeping an eye on your food. Since many GI problems stem from indigestion, controlling what you eat can go a long way toward finding you the comfort you deserve. To help you on this path of well-being, here’s a lowdown on mindful eating. 

Mind your portions

Before you start on this journey to improve your health, you might want to learn how healthy meals work for controlling GI concerns. This is a combination of multiple factors: Firstly, your portion sizes have to be small enough that they don’t put an excessive load on your stomach and intestines. In cases like gastritis, you might even need to break up your regular 2-3 meals into 5–6 meals. This keeps you safe from problems like acid reflux. 

Design a balanced diet

The second step in healthy eating is designing a healthy diet for yourself. For example, if you ever searched for a list of high-fiber foods to lose weight, you may know that these foods help with losing fat by making you feel fuller and keeping your bowel movements regular. For indigestion, you need the same approach but with the right nutrients. This includes a healthy dose of protein along with fiber, while also covering the need for minerals and vitamins.

Maintain a food diary

After categorizing foods that are rich in nutrients, you should start maintaining a food diary. This diary can help you track what you ate before your GI concerns started flaring up or what you consumed that made you feel comfortable the entire day. You can maintain this diary digitally, but many people also find it easier to carry an analog diary with them. You can find these options in the form of a food journal set. 

Cut down on spicy foods and sugar

Anyone who doesn’t like spice doesn’t have a good taste in food. But for many GI problems, you need to let go of spicy food. This lowers the chances that your stomach gets irritated right after having food and also makes bowel movements more comfortable to get through. With that, you might also want to let go of sugar to be gentle on your GI tract. You can use a recipe manager app to track recipes that aren’t high in spice and sugar. 

Explore new flavors

Who would have thought that spice and sugar are not the only ingredients that make food flavorful? From herbs to cooking techniques, you can try a variety of ways to instill heaps of flavor into your dishes. If you are finding it hard to cook balanced dishes, you can explore options like a healthy meal delivery service. This lets you get delicious and flavorful food right to your doorstep and makes it easy for you to improve your digestion. 

Don’t underestimate plant-based foods

While the benefits of the pescatarian diet, keto diet, and many other similar practices are well-known, plant-based foods that pack a punch of nutrition are often ignored by many. For example, not many people know that if you want a healthy dose of protein, you can get it from nuts, seeds, and grains the same way you get it from chicken or fish. Plant-based foods benefit your GI tract in various ways and prevent flare-ups of issues like gastritis that can worsen with excessive animal fat.

Consult a nutritionist

If you want to follow exciting ways to add protein to your diet, you can do it all by yourself. But if you find it challenging to achieve this goal, you don’t have to lose hope. Instead, you can find active solutions in the form of nutritionists. These professionals can help you adopt a healthier diet that addresses your GI concerns. With their support, you can know which foods you should eat while also finding it easier to adopt healthy eating habits. 

With these tips, you can savor your food while also improving your digestion in the long run. This empowers you to live a happy life even in the face of chronic GI issues.