We’ve talked about digestive health often. Your gut really is the cornerstone of your wellbeing. It’s involved is so many processes, and when it’s not running optimally, you can’t perform at the level you want.

If your gut health is poor, you can end up with an impaired immune and nervous system, and badly functioning hormones. That’s why we’ve talked previously about how your gut is connected to your emotions and your mind.

To restore digestive health so that you can be the best version of yourself, there’s a four-step process you can follow. The four Rs: remove, repair, restore, and replace.

Please talk to your doctor for more specifics. This blog should not be considered medical advice.

Remove

The first step to restoring digestive health is to remove offending foods and toxins from your diet. There are many items that can stress your system and harm its performance. Common items that should be removed include caffeine, alcohol, processed foods, bad fats, and other foods. If you feel you have gluten sensitivity, or you’re lactose intolerant, foods that contain those ingredients should also be removed. When you remove the foods and toxins that irritate your gut, you stop the inflammatory response and start the road to health.

Repair

The next step to restore digestive health is to repair the gut and heal your damaged intestinal lining. You can start the repair process by consuming an unprocessed diet and giving your body time to rest and rejuvenate after cutting out the bad foods. You also want to provide your gut with substances that are known to heal it such as L-glutamine, omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, vitamins A, C, and E, quercitin, aloe vera, and turmeric. Digestive Herbs formerly Tiny Tea can also be the first step in repairing your gut.

Restore

The restore phase involves restoring your guts optimal bacterial flora population. Your body needs probiotics like Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium lactis. These probiotics are good bacteria that, when ingested, help reinforce and maintain a healthy digestive tract. In general, a healthy digestive system should contain around 85% good bacteria, which can help combat the growth of bad bacteria. Unfortunately, in most individuals, the amount of healthy bacteria and bad bacteria on skewed. You can change your probiotics with a supplement, or eating foods high in healthy bacteria like yogurt.

Replace

The final step to restore digestive health involves getting your bile salts, digestive enzymes, and hydrochloric acid levels to optimal levels. To make sure you have the right levels of each, you can consider supplementing your digestive enzyme to make sure you have enough. To make sure your stomach acid levels are in order, eat alkaline foods such as kale, spinach, broccoli, wheatgrass, and other green foods. However, remember that it’s best to cook vegetables to make them more easily digestible.