Friday Feature: Free Flowing

It’s so easy to give up after trying hard at something and not seeing the results you expected. I know. I’ve done this in trying to improve my digestive health. The change in eating certain foods, the increase in enzymes and even more water just didn’t seem to be working for me at one period. I finally realized that more water and fruits and vegetables for me meant more than the average person. My major increase helped, but I was still having a bit of sluggishness until I discovered that I needed to do the following to keep my colon free flowing:

1) Avoid mucous-forming foods (also known as acid-forming foods), like cheese. Mucous can get caught on your intestinal walls and block the free flow of waste through and out of your system.

2) Drink room temperature beverages with meals. Many of us love an ice cold glass of water, but cold and food don’t mix well. Cold drinks can solidify your food and keep it from flowing freely.

3) Drink 32 ounces of room temperature purified water first thing in the morning. This helps my digestive tract get going after its rested overnight. I also have a friend who drinks a hot cup of water first thing in the morning. She says this does natural wonders for her system.

4) Drink a freshly squeezed juice or vegetable drink in the morning. This also helps my digestive tract get going immediately.

5) Drink a hot beverage after a meal. I like to drink tea. Hot drinks help to “melt” foods, helping them break down and allowing them to move easier. Sometimes for an extra boost I select fenugreek tea, which loosens mucous and is a natural diuretic.

If you are on the quest for better help, please don’t give up. Sometimes we strong black women think we have too much going on to work so hard on an issue like digestion. After all, we’ve dealt this long with a sluggish system; we can survive, some of us might think. But you don’t know this. God gave us everything we need for life and godliness. Taking care of our bodies in every way we can gives us life and helps us to be godly because we are honoring our bodies, the temple of the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost, God Himself, deserves the best. We should give our best whenever and wherever we can.

Copyright 2011 by Rhonda J. Smith