The state of your digestive system might not be the first thing you think about when considering your overall health but perhaps you should give it more attention, because if you improve your digestion, you improve your life.

Your lifestyle and what you eat has a strong influence on the way that your body digests the food that you consume and if you neglect your digestive health, there is a good chance that your body will let you know soon enough and you could be storing up some problems.

Here are some tips and suggestions to help you improve your digestion and feel better on the inside as well as the outside.

Press the reset button

We would all love to do that in certain scenarios, but you can at least reset your entire digestive system by doing a detox.

You can pick up some great smoothie recipes and consider using something like aloe vera juice, which has great detoxifying properties, all of which will help you to clean out your digestive system and start again with virtually a clean bill of health in that department.

A detox will help to soothe any internal inflammation of the digestive lining that you might be experiencing and when you detox, the fact that you are eating lightly will shift the emphasis to your body healing itself from within.

A short detox allows your body the opportunity to release any toxicity that may have been absorbed by your body when you eat processed foods and have been exposed to environmental toxins.

You can normally tell when your body has become weighed-down and needs a detox, as you may become prone to things like IBS, low energy, food allergies and a number of other symptoms, so consider a detox to press the reset button.

Look after your liver

A good way of healing your digestive system is to give your liver some love.

If you work on rejuvenating your liver and allowing it to work more efficiently and effectively, it will repay you by helping you to feel better inside. Nourishing soups, broths, salads and freshly squeezed juices are all good ways to love your liver more, and you might want to consider a herb supplement like Dandelion to give it an extra boost of health.

Use probiotics

Take a look at your regular diet and consider ways of introducing probiotics into it, as they are a healthy bacteria which are naturally present in your digestive tract, so adding to the numbers will definitely help.

Probiotics work to keep your body healthy by fighting against the effects of a poor diet and things like stress and even any antibiotics that you might be taking. They also help to improve nutrient absorption and provide assistance in breaking down lactose, as well as strengthening your immune system.

Incorporate probiotics into your regular diet by eating things such as low-fat yogurt or kefir on a daily basis.

Water is good

Many of us simply don’t drink enough water in order to stay properly hydrated.

Drinking plenty of water is one of the easiest ways of boosting your digestive health and when you have sufficient amounts of water swirling around inside you, it helps your digestive system to dissolve fats and soluble fibers, so everything passes through your body with greater ease.

Go lean on your meat

Meat provides an essential amount of protein that our body needs but when the meat is too fatty, it can lead to an uncomfortable digestive experience.

Try to choose lean cuts of meat, good examples of this are pork loin and skin poultry, as this will help you to get the protein your body needs but help your digestive system at the same time.

Regular exercise

We are always being told that regular exercise is good for us but there is a good reason for this, it is.

One of the advantages of regular exercise involves your digestive system, which appreciates your efforts because exercise helps to keep foods moving through your digestive system and reduces the prospect of suffering from bouts of constipation.

You are also more likely to maintain a healthier weight if you exercise regularly and this also a plus point and a boost for your digestive system, so aim to fit some regular exercise into your regular weekly routine.

When it comes to maintaining a healthy digestive system, it is quite clear that your lifestyle matters, so try to take care with what you eat and drink and how you look after your body, as it will repay you in kindness if you are good to it.

Jenny Bennett is a registered dietician. She likes writing about healthy living. Her posts can be found on many health and well-being blog sites.