Unfortunately, in today’s fast paced, fast food society, many children suffer with common digestive ailments such as constipation or diarrhea. Kids and parents must be proactive in order to control and maintain a healthy digestive tract. A few changes in dietary habits can do wonders to improve a child’s digestive ailments.
Instructions
1. Drink plenty of water. The body uses a lot of water to digest food. Ensuring that kids have ample amounts of water improves their body’s ability to digest food efficiently. Lack of sufficient water can lead to constipation.
2. Eat slower and chew food better. The digestion process starts in the mouth. Proper chewing and saliva/food interaction begins the process of breaking down the food into digestible absorbable pieces. The slower the food enters the system, the easier it is for a kids’ body to digest it. Wolfing down an order of burger and fries in record time only serves to overload the child’s system and slow down the digestion process.
3. Increase the amount of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Your child will most likely protest so be prepared. Fruits and vegetables have the much-needed fiber to assist your child’s body to move the food along. More fiber, coupled with an increased water intake improves the digestion process.
4. Encourage kids to eat natural foods. Excessively processed foods are nutrient deficient and binding. They are loaded with salts, fats and sugars. Too much processed foods serves to slow your kid’s digestive process. Stay away from them as much as possible.
5. Reduce the size of the meals, but increase the frequency. Eating frequent smaller meals allows a kids’ body to digest food on a regulated continuous basis. Smaller meals put less of a strain on the digestive tract than on very large meal.
Tags: digest food, digestion process, body digest, digestive ailments, digestive tract