Healing Your Digestive Tract Naturally: Natural Herbs For Digestive Problems

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If you think your digestive tract issues are solely due to the foods you eat, think again! I am keen to share some information with you that just might help you in learning how to heal your digestive tract naturally. As women, we often hold our emotions in our stomachs. You even hear women say, oh, I can feel butterflies in my tummy, or, when you feel nervous or emotional, your tummy will tighten or twitch sharply. Sound familiar?

We have all felt this at some stage in our lives. But what you maybe didn’t know is, when your emotions affect your digestive system adversely, your entire system is affected. IBS, colitis, constipation etc are often an end result we feel and experience. And the symptoms can be life affecting depending on the severity. So, today I wanted to share with you my experiences on how to heal your digestive tract using natural herbs.

What Is Your Digestive Tract?

The digestive tract runs through the middle of our bodies. It is a hollow tube about twelve yards long, which if extended, would reach higher then a high diving board of a pool. It is lined with mucous membranes, different parts which secrete the digestive juices required to break down the food we eat into an easy to assimilate form. The liver, gallbladder and pancreas also secrete vital digestive enzymes.

Food Is Broken Down With Digestive Enzymes

The food we eat gets partially broken down by the action of the saliva and chewing, and goes down the oesophagus to the stomach. After being broken down further by the gastric juices, the food than passes down into the small intestine.

Digestive Enzymes And Bile

It’s here that it is mixed with a range of digestive enzymes, and with bile, produced by the gallbladder. It is then absorbed into the blood stream and transported to the liver, while the digestible part moves on into the large intestine. The remaining waste passes to the rectum for excretion.

Eliminating Toxic Wastes

When health is at it’s best, food and fluid remain in the digestive tract, just long enough for optimum digestion, and a bowel movement occurs at least once every 24 hours. This elimination is vital to our digestive tract as the body must rid itself of metabolic waste as well, otherwise a buildup of toxic waste results. Here is a great article from Womens Health Mag on what good digestion times actually are

High Fiber Diet For A Healthier Colon

A diet high in fiber or roughage results in a healthier colon and plays an important role in how to heal your digestive tract naturally. The digestive system is also dependent on nervous control to function properly. When you eat a meal, the autonomic nervous system modifies the circulatory system so that more blood is sent to the digestive system. You can read up on why a diet high in fiber makes a difference.

How Does Stress Affect Your Colon?

During stress, a reverse process carries blood away from the digestive tract to feed the muscles and brain and the digestive function is reduced. During the most stressful periods,  a message from the brain runs directly via the vagus nerve to cause the secretion of extra acid in the stomach thus contributing to ulcers. So bringing herbs into the picture when treating digestive issues, an herbalist will use remedies which relax the nervous system.

Natural Herbs For Digestive Problems

Digestive Relaxants To Try

The most widely known and used Herbs as digestive relaxants in tea form are chamomile and hops. They seem to work at two levels. They relax an overactive and over contracted stomach and bowel, while sedating the central nervous system, helping with anxiety and stress. Learning how to heal your digestive tract naturally using the right quantities of herbs does take time.

Start off using the recommended amount and keep a mental note on how your digestive tract feels… Better, worse or no difference? If you feel very little difference, there are 2 directions to go in. You can brew a stronger tea. Or, possibly that tea isn’t effective for your digestive system…

Digestive Inflammation Soothing Herbs

For digestive inflammation and pain soothers, herbs that help with digestion are those such as comfrey, marshmallow, slippery elm, and licorice. Research on comfrey has shown to reduce a local hormone like activity which causes inflammation of the stomach lining.

Brewing Organic Herbal Teas To Aid Digestion

Brewing delicious and gut soothing herbal teas to aid digestion can be a rewarding journey to health as you experiment with the herbs and herbal mixes that suit your body.

You’ll know which are the best herbal teas to aid digestion when you feel less bloated,  a reduction of pain in your stomach area, or you can go to the toilet with  greater ease.

Bitter Herbs For Stimulating Bile & The Liver

Bitter Herbs are a combination of age old herbs that help with digestion used over hundreds of years to treat the liver. They are centian, and gentian. Also beneficial for the gallbladder as well promoting the secretion of bile, and helping with the detoxification of the liver cells.

Herbs For Tonifying

Golden seal is a herb for intestinal inflammation and also helps to treat digestive problems through it’s powerful tonifying effect on the mucous membranes. Artichoke is also a gentle liver tonic that encourages good digestion and relieves constipation.

Indigestion, ulcers, diarrhea, constipation, colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome, are all digestive tract issues. Often these uncomfortable health conditions can be eased or healed back to health with the aid of natural herbs for digestive problems, using specific combinations of herbs for intestinal inflammation, eating natural non processed foods as much as possible, and keeping a check on your emotions.

Mindfulness Helps

True balance and harmony for your life begins with your thoughts, your actions, and what we feed our bodies each day. We must treat our bodies with respect and nourish our souls and strive to be as healthy as we possibly can, the result are overwhelming and well worth the extra effort.

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