The foods
required for body construction, maintenance, and repair
must first be broken down in the digestive tract
to enable the body to absorb their building blocks. These
building
blocks include essential nutrients (minerals, vitamins,
essential fatty acids, and essential amino acids), antioxidants,
and phytonutrients (healing molecules from herbs).
When asked which of their body systems is
the weakest, most people point to their digestive system.
This is understandable,
as the digestive system carries a heavy load, day after
day, for an entire lifetime.
Essential fatty acids, digestive enzymes,
probiotics, fiber, greens, and phytonutrients help the
digestive
system stay
healthy and effective.
EFAs, especially those rich in omega-3 fatty
acids, such as Udo’s Choice Oil Blend, improve gut
integrity and decrease inflammation, thereby preventing
many digestion
problems.
Digestive
enzymes, such as Udo’s Choice
Digestive Enzyme Blend, help make sure that foods
are completely broken down, ensuring the absorption of
all nutrients,
and avoiding many problems arising from poor digestion.
Poor digestion leads to deficiency or malnutrition—the
inadequate supply of building blocks. Additionally, undigested
food molecules—especially proteins—can produce
inflammation, leaky gut, absorption of undigested proteins,
immune response, allergies, autoimmune conditions, and
lowered resistance to infections and cancer.
Most
of us should be taking digestive enzymes during our meals.
- Enzymes are naturally present in raw foods (they digest
between 10 and 90% of the food they are in), but
cooking and processing foods destroys them. They should
be
replaced.
- Aging slows down the digestive power of our body,
but digestive enzymes can return that power to
normal.
- Digestive enzymes can help decrease risk of infection.
They digest the protein coat of viruses and membrane
proteins of bacteria. They also improve digestion,
taking a load
off the digestive system, which frees the immune
to go after infectious viruses, bacteria, fungus,
yeast,
and
other microorganisms instead of being tied up
in digestion processes.
- Digestive enzymes should be taken during meals,
mixed in food. Use one to 10 capsules per meal.
The exact
amount needed to do the best job depends on
the state of the
digestive
system.
Probiotics
is the collective term for friendly bacteria that inhabit
our digestive tract, from top to
bottom. In nature, they cover
raw foods. That’s where
wild animals get their supply. When we process or cook
foods,
they are killed and should be replaced.
Probiotics do
many important jobs in our body.
- They manufacture B vitamins.
- They make molecules
that strengthen
immune
function.
- They fight disease-causing bacteria throughout
our digestive tract.
- They speed healing and prevent
the infection of injuries in our gut.
- They improve our
body’s
ability to make a protective (mucin) coat, which
prevents the inside of our digestive tract from being
damaged
by enzymes, acid, abrasion, and bacteria.
- Probiotics
also
produce enzymes that help digest our foods.
- They
help heal the gut lining when it does get damage.
The most vulnerable part of our
digestive system is our mouth. We can get infections in our tonsils, our sinuses,
our inner ear canal, around our teeth, in our teeth, and
in the lining of our mouth. For this reason, the best way
to use probiotics is to brush our teeth with them and then
swallow them. That way, we benefit from the work of probiotics
throughout our entire digestive tract.
If we swallow capsules of probiotics, we get benefits only
in the lower part of our digestive tract, but miss all
of the important benefits they have in our mouth, esophagus,
and stomach.
The best time to take probiotics
is at the end of the meal, when stomach acid is lowest because it has
been used up
to digest our foods. One capsule per day, taken
after a meal, and started in the mouth is good for healthy
people.
People with digestive tract damage may take as many as
12 per day.
The best kind of probiotics to take is those naturally
present and therefore belong in the human gut. These
are most resistant to acid and bile, and they implant in the
lining of the gut, providing protection for up to two
weeks, whereas dairy probiotics are weaker and, since they cannot
implant in our gut (hence are transient), last only about
one day in our gut.
Probiotics change
during our life cycle, and the amount needed daily for best results
increases as we age. For
this reason, Udo’s Choice Probiotics Blends comes
in infants’, childrens’, adults’, and
advanced adults’ (over 50; also for people with esophageal
damage, stomach lining damage, and bowel irritiation) versions,
as well as an after-dinner dissolvable tablet (Super 5,
also soothing to mouth sores), and a travellers’ formula
(Super 8), which is most effective against yeast and bacterial
infections.

Fiber is not absorbed into the body. It keeps things
moving along, and carries wastes from the body. Fiber
comes
in water-insoluble and soluble forms. Udo’s Choice
Wholesome Fast Food Blend contains both kinds of fiber.
- Insoluble
fiber scrubs the intestinal tract, keeps
absorptive surfaces clear, and keeps stools bulky.
- Soluble
fiber,
especially a form called ‘mucilage’,
soothes the gut lining. It also removes toxins, cholesterol,
and bile acids, as well as heavy metals from the gut,
making sure that these are not reabsorbed into the
body.
- Mucilage
fiber, taken with
lots of fluid, is also a great stool softener, preventing
toxicity that
results
from constipation.
In addition, mucilage is the favorite food for probiotics,
and helps them to better protect us from harmful bacteria.
By slowing down sugar absorption from the digestive
tract into the body, mucilage stabilizes blood sugar.
This
can be very helpful for those who are overweight, obese,
diabetic,
or hypoglycemic. By stabilizing blood sugar, mucilage
helps prevent the cravings that come from low blood
sugar and
lead to overeating and carbohydrate addiction.
Green foods help keep the
gut healthy because they are alkaline in nature.
About 90% of the people in
America don’t eat enough greens. For these people,
Udo’s
Choice Beyond Greens was developed: greens for people
in a hurry. Beyond Greens contains dried greens, fiber, good fats,
and protein, along with minerals, vitamins, and some
digestive enzymes.
This product is good for use in protein shakes and smoothies,
and in other preparations for people who want health
without having to slow down.
Phytonutrients come from
the herbs and spices that added both flavors and health
to traditional recipes.
Modern
diets have largely lost these herbs and spices. Many
of these have antioxidant, inflammatory, immune system
protective, and digestive juice enhancing properties.
Thus they both protect the digestive system and enhance
its ability to do its job.
Udo’s Choice Phytonutrient Blend contains extracts
of the most important herbs and spices for enhanced digestion
and gut protection. One to 4 capsules per day can be taken
with meals.
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