Taking care of your gut: Here are the most common digestive disorders

POLOKWANE – Besides being important to your mental and emotional health, your digestion actually plays a key role in your natural immunity to diseases. This is because your gut isn’t sterile. It’s actually an entire ecosystem of bacteria and yeast.

Here are the most common digestive disorders

Colitis

This is inflammation of the colon, the most important portion of the large bowel. Symptoms manifest itself in loose or diarrhetic faeces that may contain mucus or blood.

The cause is usually the result of infection but may be caused by allergies or intolerance to certain foods. Antibiotics or laxatives may play a role in its development as well. A gentle diet to the colon can contribute significantly to its cure.

Wheat bran can cause colitis in constipated individuals who use it excessively as laxative. Include soy milk, almond milk, apple, quince, pomegranate, loquat, banana, carrot, papaya, rice, oats, tapioca, chestnut, carob, plain yogurt (increase resistance to infections of the digestive tract), vegetables, zucchini, iron and vitamin A.

Ulcerative colitis
This serious form of colitis can become chronic and resist healing. People in Western societies are almost exclusively affected.

A diet rich in meat and saturated fats, poor in fruits, vegetables and grains, which makes up much of what is described as ‘fast food’, is a factor that increases the risk of ulcerative colitis.

Symptoms manifest itself through diarrhea, abdominal pain, occasional bloody feces, fatigue and weight loss. It can degenerate into colon cancer.

A diet that protects the colon can improve the course of the disease. Include in diet same as for colitis but also cabbage, primrose oil and fish oil.

Flatulence

This is excess intestinal gas, which causes intestinal spasms and abdominal distension.

Intestinal gas comes from two sources: air that is swallowed while eating, and that which is naturally produced by the bacteria of the intestinal flora.

• Disbacteriosis or disturbance of the flora, which may be corrected by simple dietary means.
• Abundant consumption of fiber-rich plant-based foods: Flatulence can be more or less annoying, but is not threatening. These gases tend to be odourless.
As opposed to those resulting from intestinal putrefaction derived from the consumption of meat and other animal proteins.
Slowly increasing the consumption of fibre-rich foods and abiding by simple culinary models spontaneously corrects flatulence.
• Swallowing air due to stress or anxiety, particularly when eating.
Increase sprouts aromatic herbs plain yoghurt and persimmon can help a lot. Charcoal is also very effective in reducing intestinal flatulence.

Lizel Britz 072 243 7707.