Digestive Health

Digestive health is at the heart of the interests of anyone seeking general well-being and good health. Thousands of people are struggling with digestive health problems, gastric reflux, intolerances and bloating. No one can deny the fact that what we eat largely affects who we are. There is even an old saying that goes “We are what we eat”. This saying is unfortunately mostly wrong. We are not really what we eat, rather we are what we assimilate and digest. Indeed, it is not because you eat a piece of meat that you absorb 100% of everything it contains. Thousands of chemical, physiological and neurological reactions are responsible for how your body reacts when you give it food. Here we will discuss ways to help your body in the primary digestion stage.

Probiotics

Probiotics are currently the top of the line supplements for digestive health. They are used for their many benefits, but unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation circulating about them. First of all, probiotics are the bacteria that populate your gut. To simplify, there are two categories (but thousands of different strains): soft bacteria, those that help us make the digestive process go well and harmful bacteria. A healthy ratio between these two categories exist in our gut. However, several events can disrupt your intestinal flora, the best known being taking antibiotics. The drug will act against the disease, but will also leave sequelae in terms of digestive health. We could simplify everything by saying that a vacuum of probiotics is created and that during this vacuum, harmful bacteria will take advantage of it to proliferate and occupy the free space, which can create inflammation, diarrhea and other issues. After taking medication or following an illness that could have upset your intestinal flora, taking probiotics is recommended to fill the empty space while your intestinal flora rebalances itself. What is important to understand is that in most probiotics on the market, the strains used are not present in humans. As a result, the probiotics will do their job of filling in the empty space, but they will not settle permanently in your gut flora and will be “flushed” when your flora balance is restored. Therefore, the use of a probiotic should be temporary and not long-term, unless you have a medical diagnosis that suggests taking probiotics on an ongoing basis.

Probiotics are also known to prevent traveller's diarrhea. It is possible to strengthen your intestinal flora by taking probiotics a week before your departure and continuing to take them for the duration of your trip. If you are a person who tends to catch the famous Tourista quickly, you should consider it on your next trip. Probiotics can also help fight diarrhea due to infection (C. Difficile) and relieve symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. However, we strongly recommend that you seek the advice of a medical professional before using it for these reasons.

Since there is no scientific consensus on an appropriate dose of probiotics, it is impossible to make a specific recommendation. However, you should favor a product containing strains of bacteria present in humans such as B. Bifidium and L. Acidophilus.

Digestive enzymes

 

Many people have digestive problems. After a meal, some will feel bloated, heavy and tired. They may also have stomach aches and suffer from constipation. This can be one of the signs of a digestive enzyme deficiency. Daily stress and our mostly sedentary lifestyle can also complicate our digestion. Digestive enzymes will help your stomach do the front line work by aiding in protein digestion and reducing the production of gas and flatulence. They can also help reduce the symptoms of mild food intolerances, such as lactose intolerance.

Another notable utility of digestive enzymes is to maximize protein assimilation and digestion. For a person gaining muscle mass, the assimilation of macronutrients that we give to our body is the key to success. Let's take an example with random numbers. If you eat a 200 gram piece of meat, but your digestive enzymes aren't at their full potential, you'll assimilate about 40% of it (the numbers are completely random, since every person is different) and reject the other. part in your stool. With the use of digestive enzymes, you could increase the assimilation of your meat up to 60%. This is what happens when you use digestive enzymes in a mass gain program, an essential asset.

When selecting your digestive enzyme product, we recommend that your product contain at least the following ingredients: protease for protein digestion and breakdown, alpha-amylase for carbohydrate breakdown, lactase for assimilation of lactose as well as betaine HCL in order to increase the presence of hydrochloric acid in your stomach for better digestion.

My favorites available at Shop Santé are the Enzymatik Control from the ATP range and the Pro Digest from the XPN range. They offer all the enzymes available along with a healthy dose of betaine HCL per capsule. I use them daily and I noticed a very good difference during a muscle mass gain phase.

Glutamine

 

Studies on the properties of glutamine for digestive health are still very limited to be sure. However, several benefits are attributed to it. Glutamine would improve the maintenance of the functions of the intestinal wall, would allow better proliferation of the intestinal flora, would improve cell differentiation and would lead to a reduction in infections. Glutamine is still an amino acid of choice in your post-workout shake since it allows you to fill the reserves of amino acids emptied by the effort and thus to have an optimal performance. Remember that glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in muscle and blood.