Starting your day with sugar can be just as harmful to your body as consuming coarse fiber. Nutritionists have highlighted common food choices that can lead to digestive issues and provided tips on how to correct them.
A Threat to Your Gut
Without proper digestion, your brain and blood vessels can’t function optimally, so improving your gastrointestinal health should be a priority, according to nutritionists. This primarily involves cutting out major digestive enemies—sugar and sweets, processed meats, sugary drinks, and fried fatty foods. Sugar and sweets feed harmful bacteria in your mouth, which can then travel to the digestive tract and potentially lead to ulcers and pancreatitis. Meanwhile, processed meats and fried foods contain high levels of carcinogens that can trigger various complications, including cancer.
However, there are also less obvious unhealthy eating habits that don’t involve eating overtly harmful products. Few people realize that coarse fiber can easily upset the stomach and intestines. Nutritionists call plant-based dietary fiber the “brush” for the gastrointestinal tract, noting that fiber helps maintain healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels, supports gut health, and aids weight loss. But only soft fiber is beneficial; coarse plant foods are largely indigestible for humans because cellulose is made of complex carbohydrates our bodies cannot break down.
In their quest to maximize the benefits of healthy foods, many people incorporate bran into their diets, making it a staple: bran smoothies, cereals, crackers, and pancakes appear on breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner menus. But instead of the expected benefits, fiber enthusiasts often end up with digestive problems. While vegetables, fruits, and leafy greens aid digestion, the tough fibers in bran can irritate the intestinal walls and cause inflammation. Overconsumption of bran can lead to serious gastrointestinal disease from repeated, unhealed damage.
When to Eat Sweets?
Having a sweet breakfast—puddings, pies, pastries, or muffins—has also been deemed risky. The problem is that simple carbohydrates are absorbed more quickly on an empty stomach. This rapid influx of glucose into the bloodstream requires a large amount of insulin—the hormone produced by the pancreas that lowers blood sugar by helping cells take in glucose for energy. Insulin spikes can exhaust the pancreas and disrupt metabolism. Disruptions in insulin production can lead to obesity and accelerate the development of type 2 diabetes. Morning sweets raise insulin levels much higher than desserts eaten at lunch.
If a person eats a small amount of sweets at lunch while staying within their calorie limit, it won’t be as problematic as having sweets for breakfast or before bed. But if someone eats multiple courses five times a day and finishes with a cake that exceeds the calories of the other foods, that pattern will harm the body. Experts point to the British habit of enjoying tea with sweets between lunch and dinner—at five o’clock. At that time, insulin sensitivity is at its lowest, which makes sweets less of a threat compared with eating them on an empty stomach or at night. Also, warm water is an important part of a healthy routine.
A helpful practice for digestion is to drink warm water immediately after waking. Specialists recommend sipping two cups of hot (but not boiling) water in the morning, spread over 15–20 minutes. This relaxes the duodenal sphincter and helps release bile into the small intestine. Bile acts as a natural antiseptic that reduces pathogenic bacteria. To support reliable intestinal function, after drinking hot water on an empty stomach, take a teaspoon of coconut oil; because it contains lauric and myristic acids (natural antiseptics), it has anti-inflammatory effects.
Rules of Healthy Eating
A balanced diet is illustrated by the so-called “food pyramid”—a visualization of the menu experts recommend for effective recovery. The pyramid was developed at the Harvard School of Public Health under the guidance of American nutritionist Walter Willett. The first food pyramid was published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1992 and has since been revised based on further research and new nutritional knowledge. Foods at the base of the pyramid should be eaten as often as possible, while those at the top should be limited or avoided.
Recently, because of its high starch content, potatoes have moved from the bottom to the top group of the pyramid; they were originally placed at the lowest rung among daily foods. Currently, the base of the healthy eating pyramid includes vegetables and fruits (it’s recommended to eat two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables daily, about 300 g and 400–450 g, respectively), whole grains (such as whole-grain bread, pasta made from whole-grain flour, unrefined grains, and cereals), and plant-based oils rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (olive, sunflower, canola, and rapeseed oils). Proteins from the next tier can be eaten twice a day.
Above plant and animal proteins (nuts, legumes, seeds, eggs, poultry, fish, and seafood) are dairy products; at the very top are animal fats found in butter and red meat, along with so-called “fast carbohydrates” (refined pasta, baked goods, white rice, sodas, and sweets). Since these healthy eating guidelines were developed by Harvard specialists, their approach is known as the “Harvard Healthy Eating Plate” (the “pyramid” and the “plate” complement each other and follow the same principles).
Helpful Tips
So what should a healthy weekly menu look like for a family? According to Harvard nutritionists, the majority of the diet—half of the plate—should consist of vegetables and fruits. Remember that potatoes are not included in the daily list because of their effect on blood sugar. A quarter of the plate should be whole grains: brown rice, oats, barley, quinoa, whole wheat, and products made from them—pasta or baked goods that have a gentler effect on blood sugar and insulin than white bread, white rice, and other refined grains.
Another quarter of the plate should be filled with protein-rich foods: healthy sources of plant and animal protein include nuts, beans, poultry, and fish—they can be combined with vegetables on the plate (mixed into salads) and complemented with whole-grain products. Red and processed meats (like sausages) should be avoided. Healthy plant oils, such as olive, sunflower, corn, soybean, canola, and peanut oils, can be consumed in moderation. However, avoid partially hydrogenated oils that contain harmful trans fats. Don’t assume low-fat products are automatically healthy.
American nutritionists recommend drinking plain water, tea, or coffee, limiting juice to one glass a day, and keeping milk and dairy products to one or two servings per day while avoiding sugary drinks. Experts see a healthy diet as part of an active lifestyle that includes regular physical activity and exercise; movement is essential not only for weight control but also for boosting energy and improving mood. According to a long-term Harvard study, maintaining a healthy diet can significantly improve longevity and quality of life.
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