Foods Health Digestion....Unity for Good Health

The Importance of Digestion

Good Health starts with a health digestive system. The body cannot function optimally - building new cells, providing energy and resisting sickness if it does not have the fuel it needs to function. You can eat the healthiest food available but it is of little use if you can't digest it.

Digestion is the process by which complex chemicals in food are broken down into simpler chemicals that can be asbsorbed and used by the body. Digestion begins in the mouth, through the oesphagus, stomach, small and large intestines and ends with waste being expelled by the anus. The liver, gallbladder and pancreas each play a role in facilaitating digestion.

Digestive enzymes are the substances that break down the proteins, sugars and fats we eat so our bodies can use them.

Digestive enzymes come from three main sources.

• Raw vegetables and fruit. These must be eaten raw as their enzymes are destroyed by heat.
  
  
• The liver and pancreas manufacture digestive enzymes, but according to Sandra Cabot, author of the best-selling ‘The Liver Cleansing Diet’, a fully functioning liver has become a rare commodity. Not only does the liver provide the vast majority of the chemicals required for good digestion , it also deals with toxins (such as alcohol) rendering them less harmful.
  
  
• The third source of digestive enzymes are the beneficial gut organisms. 100 trillion of these creatures should inhabit the full length of the 30ft digestive tract from mouth to anus, proliferating in the large intestine.

Beneficial gut organisms are those friendly bacteria like acidophilus and other probiotics. A Probiotic is a microbe that protects its host and prevents disease. These friendly bacteria supply vitmains like B12, K, thiamine and folic acid as well as fighting harmful bacteria. Probiotics often require the presence of prebiotics to function optimally. Prebiotics are anon-digestible food ingredients that stimulate the growth or activity of bacteria in the digestive system which are beneficial to the health of the body.

You can increase the number of beneficial gut organisms by eating certain foods. For example yoghurt, fermented vegetables - sauerkraut or kimchi, and kombucha tea. You can also supplement with various probiotic products available on the market today. One of these includes Digest-Ease, a Human Health Product by NTS. Digest-Ease is a powerful probiotic which provides a bounty of predigested, functional food. It contains an impressive amino acid profile and provides a huge number of beneficial organisms (both probitic and prebiotic) in each serve.