There are so many articles written on what foods are best, what diet to and not to follow.
I will admit I am one of the professional's who provides articles on top tips for food etc.
However, the longer I am in the industry, the more I see the books fly off the shelves on diet, nutrition, healthy foods and unhealthy foods and so on, but the more I see continuous increase in weight gain and modern day health issues.
It is so clear; we haven't found the way to get the message out there yet in a way that is responded to by the everyday person in the street.
We stink at providing knowledge.
I am not saying I have all the answers here, but I do know that information that is received in a way that encourages change for the better is always a good thing.
So today, I want to take a relatively complex topic and do my best to make it understandable for the everyday person and this is my approach in all of my workshops, seminars and one to one sessions.
By doing so, hopefully the everyday person gets a chance to learn what is usually so complicated; it is only kept for the wellness guru.
This topic is your digestive process.
Considering we eat to live in today's world, rushing from one place to the next, grabbing that sandwich during a twenty minute lunch break but still consuming it as we are reading our emails, our digestive system does a pretty good job for us.
However, this type of living which so many of us are guilty for, does eventually place its strain on our stomach, small intestine, liver and other organs.
Let's think about this for a moment.
Why do we eat? For fuel I hear you say.
So you know already that by eating good fuel you should respond better, have more energy and maintain your optimal weight, but eating bad fuel like pizza, crisps and processed foods will send your health and weight all over the place.
Great, hence my reason for taking this a step further today because you know this stuff already! When you eat there are several processes that happen.
One is that your digestion starts with mastication, or otherwise known as chewing.
You actually release a digestive enzyme in your saliva which starts to break down carbohydrates immediately.
This is why some carbohydrates you can eat and feel an instant rush of energy! Once you break down your food to much smaller pieces, you can then of course swallow and without every inch of the way here, your food a short time later will arrive at your biggest catchment area, your stomach.
Your stomach is responsible for breaking food down to a mushy, almost liquid like level known as chyme.
But wait there, it actually takes time for your stomach to do this and a lot of energy too.
An overall guideline of this is as below:

• A small meal like a salad or a light snack: Less than 2 hours
• A regular meal: approximately 2 hours
• A heavy meal like steak or a Sunday roast: 3 hours or more

Interesting? Now, with this process we need to understand that different digestive enzymes are being used to ensure your food is being broken down safely and more importantly, so your meal can be used as energy.
Let's think about this for a moment though.
Surely we have many different digestive enzymes in our stomach right? Absolutely, and thinking with our logical hat on do you think that all of these digestive enzymes are able to help each other bearing in mind something heavy like steak, will take far longer to digest than something light like vegetables.
This is where food combining comes in.
Many of our illnesses and weight issues in today's world come from that we are just not very good at combining foods in the right way.
An example of this is those people who eat lots of fruit "which is a good thing," however, when you eat fruit with other foods, the way our digestion works in the stomach is that the fruit will be left until last to be digested which means it could rotting and fermenting in your stomach for several hours before it is even touched.
You think you might feel a little bit bloated and gassy at that stage? Ok, I said I would keep this in laymans terms today and that's what I want to do.
I also want you to research food combining even further as it is so crucial for good health.
Moving on though, once your food has been digested to a level called chyme, it will then enter your small intestine which is approximately 22 feet or 7 metres long.
Your small intestine is an incredible organ and supports with absorption of nutrients, this is where you get your goodness! Some of these nutrients are taken straight into your blood stream and used immediately by every cell in your body, where others are carried to the liver where they can be stored for later use or broken down to a safer level for the body.
Let's stop for a moment here though and think, do we always consume rich in nutrient food that makes you feel amazing? Of course not, and unfortunately not only do we consume a lot of empty calories, we actually consume foods with chemicals, poisons that are extremely damaging.
The small intestine gets the brunt of this attack.
Although your digestive enzymes are highly intelligent and only want to make use of the goodness in your food, due to our rushed and daily consumption of anti-food, we are left absorbing many chemicals into our blood stream and organs daily.
This is like having your dream home but the only problem is that it is under constant attack from an army who want to destroy it.
Combining this absorption of chemicals and poisons with stress (an internal toxin,) we are literally playing with fire and are always going to lose.
A couple of questions perhaps you can ask yourself are: "When was the last time you ate each meal throughout the day in a relaxed and non rushed state?" "How many times approximately have you eaten a meal in the last ten days where you were in a rush or a bit stressed out?" Here is the thing with stress.
It will activate your adrenal glands to release two hormones, one is adrenalin and the second is cortisol.
Both of which are fantastic for a "flight or fight," type mindset.
Think about our primal ancestors now.
However, do you think our primal ancestors once they were back in their cave were worried about a mortgage, promotion in their job, bills to pay, fixing the car and so on? With the modern day lifestyle we need to be aware that we are constantly releasing these flight or fight hormones which in turn will exhaust our adrenal glands and worse still, because fight or flight is for short term protection, all parts of your body non essential for survival shut down, including digestion! We all know that person who has a perfect diet, exercises all the time but they never lose weight but in turn, they are always stressed.
Share this article with them; it might just change their life.
Stress is a killer and don't let it beat you.
As my promise of keeping this simple, let's now move onto the next part of your digestive track, your large intestine or otherwise known as your colon.
Many doctors and scientists believe that more than 80% of disease starts in your colon.
As a matter of speaking, your colon becomes a toxic dumping ground and if it is not working sufficiently, it will become blocked up, you will have bowel issues such as constipation, IBS or even crone's disease.
As your undigested food continues to remain in the colon, it will start to rot and ferment eventually leaching back through blood capillaries directly into your blood stream.
This is known as autotoxification.
Again, I encourage you to Google this information to learn even further.
You might state that you colon is healthy and your bowel movement is regular, but this does not eliminate you from the risk of having a toxic colon.
My advice to you today is to first of all think strongly about the role of your internal organs, what they do for you and if your current lifestyle is helping your organs to work at their peak.
From there, ask yourself if you are willing to change some of your habits to help your body to help you.
There are some simple steps in order to start feeling, looking and being better which are no more than a simple decision to action in your life.
Drinking more water will ensure your digestion is working more smoothly.
Remember, no process can happen in your body without the assistance of water.
Get more fibre into your diet, make sure you get the vegetables, oats and other fibre ingredients into your body.
Also, fibre can slow down otherwise usually fast releasing carbohydrates, so thus, can help to maintain energy for longer.
Go organic.
Get back to the local farmers market, eat fresh food, not fresh from a supermarket freezer! This will ensure you are getting the nutrients back into your body that we so crave.
Most of us are nutrient deficient in one or more areas.
Reduce and/or eliminate sugars and caffeine.
Neither bring us any joy or happiness, well more than the short term that is.
By cutting out these two things, we can replace with rich nutrient food and start to feel our best.
The fact is, I have a wealth of more advice I want to share with you.
I will continue to write articles on these pressing topics and I hope you will continue to read them and learn even just one or two pointers from each.
In the meantime, the best of luck with your health and keep that digestive system moving and absorbing the good stuff.