Heather Little-White, Contributor

How well you digest your food is just as important as what you eat and how you eat. The digestive system is designed to extract life-nourishing elements in food and efficiently use them for the body. If foods are not properly digested, the body will not be properly nourished.

Watch what you eat: As you enjoy food in the variety of delicious and nutritious dishes, you pay little attention to the next process of digestion. Some people enjoy food to the extent that they 'live to eat', with little thought of the strain on the digestive system. By eating too much and at the wrong times, you are unconsciously damaging your health because your digestive system is compromised.

Very often, people eat because they are bored, depressed or distracted. However, it means that you have to be more disciplined despite the distractions. When you feel the urge to eat, it is advisable to shift your mind to a more productive activity.

Avoid snacking between meals: After disciplining your desire to eat, the next and most important step is to facilitate the proper digestion of food. The human body is not designed for eating constantly. Some nutrition specialists advise that for a healthy person whose organs are properly functioning, the best choice for the digestive system is a single balanced meal with lavish amounts of fruits and vegetables and liquid meals for the rest of the time.

While that might be a stretch of most of you, three meals a day may be your standard. Diabetics may need five smaller meals spread throughout the day. It is important to remember that the stomach and other digestive organs need rest between meals. Digestion requires energy and snacking between meals deprives the brain and muscles of the energy needed for the digestive organs to work. When energy is low, digestion is sluggish or incomplete.

Chew well: There is an old saying that the stomach has no teeth, so we should chew 100 times. OK, maybe not so many times, but the function of your teeth is to cut and grind food so that it is easier for the stomach to digest. With raw vegetables, for example, the vital nutrients are not released until the food is chewed and further broken down by saliva in the mouth. There are different digestive juices in the stomach which continue digestion of foods when swallowed.

Don't be a glutton: You should stop eating when you are three-fourths full. The stomach has a certain limitation and it is an important place for chemical reaction in the process of digestion. Digestion releases a good portion of gas and the stomach needs place for the release of gas. If your stomach is too full with food, you could experience discomfort and pain.

Rest after each meal. When life was simpler, people would rest after each meal. While you are under more pressure to eat and run these days, you can find a little time to be still. If you have a heavy meal, you may feel a little sleepy as the body withdraws energy from other body systems and apply them to digestion.

Don't eat after sunset or late night: Your forefathers took their cue from the sun, so all cooking and eating was completed by sunset. While you may live by the clock today and not be as precise, you should try to eat light meals if you have to eat after six. When you retire, your sleep should not have to compete with digestion. Sleep is necessary to heal and rejuvenate the entire body. You should allow at least four hours before your last meal and bedtime. You should move around to help late-night food digest well.

Eat only foods you can eliminate within 24 hours: When food remains longer than 24 hours in the stomach, the waste in the colon putrefies and creates harmful toxins which are absorbed back in the system. The liver, whose job is to remove toxins from the bloodstream, becomes overloaded and contaminates the entire body.

The condition is called autotoxemia. Symptoms include:

Loss of appetite

Lack of energy

Lacklustre eyes and skin

Coated tongue

Foul breath

Malaise

Headaches

Irritability.

If you really want to know if your digestive system is efficient, check your stool. Ideally, stool should be composed of equal amounts of solid waste and air. This should make it float in water. Sinking stools is sign that your digestion is not in good health as your foods are not thoroughly digested. Don't take your digestion for granted.

Heather Little-White, PhD, is a nutrition and lifestyle consultant in Kingston. Send comments to saturdaylife@gleanerjm.com or fax 922-6223.