Want better digestion? Eat beans and miso
Miso is a Japanese food, a thick paste produced by soybean fermentation with salt and kōji (the fungus Aspergillus oryzae) and if you can, including fermented foods like miso in your diet is beneficial for your gut health—not integral but if possible, we are what we eat, and how you look, age, perform (at work, the gym, on your yoga mat and other places) come down to the foods you put in your body. So you should make very considered decisions about what you put into your body. There are plenty of online sources discussing the origins of miso, varieties and so on, which is interesting to understand. Wikipedia has more information.
We’re really fortunate to have access to a very unnatural food system in a way, nutritionally it gives us a major advantage to enjoy the benefit of all of those cancer fighting and disease preventing qualities that are so powerful in plant nutrition. Miso is one such food, containing koji which is abundant in enzymes such as amylase, protease, lipase, and pectinase—which break down the nutrition in food, aid in digestion and absorption. I have recently been served ads for a pharmaceutical product that prevents indigestion and it is still mad to me that people [largely] are eating in ways that are so out of alignment with the body’s systems that they create their own physical discomfort and then are sold a product to ‘fix’ the issue. Bacterias in miso have been found to reduce symptoms linked to digestive problems, such as irritable bowel disease. And the butter beans in this recipe provide your body with fibre. Nature is healing.
Last week I watched ‘The girls are not okay’, Stephanie Lange produces insightful videos that cover beauty culture for the most part, and this one was speaking to the normalisation of health issues not limited to irritable bowel, severe acne, intense period cramps, bloating and constipation. The problem is that it feels like people are trying to externalise their issues rather than take responsibility and instead create a sub culture where suffering is celebrated and as more people subscribe to the idea that their problems are legitimised in numbers, that it is almost cool and ultimately content for social. Many skin disorders like eczema, cystic acne are being traced to leaky gut, which results from a bad diet and poor elimination. Pooping is detoxification and for those interested, I have written about this before, which includes ways you can support regular bowel movements. These are some other ideas from across the Internet. See what you can apply. Not everything is for everyone.
If you are feeling bloated, try digestive bitters and peppermint oil pills.
And to improve your digestion, chew your food intentionally and very well.
Eat greens with every meal.
Try mono meals every so often to make digestion less of a chore for your body. A mono meal is to eat only one type of fruit; a bowl of grapes or mango because this food will be efficiently digested. This approach can substitute a juice or fast if that is not achievable for you. This way you can still give your body a reset.
Switch out a cooked meal for a smoothie of fruits and vegetables, water, coconut water but no oat milk or any food transformed—think pea protein or maca powder. Smoothies are in a way pre-digested and also filling so again can be an alternative to fasting and one up on mono meals. Maybe.
Investigate food combining—a practice that involves eating foods in certain combinations to optimise digestion and elimination. This chart has a lot of information that is useful combined with this approachable food combining table. For anyone interested in the origins, this diagram from the popularised food-combining diet—the Hay Diet, named after William Howard Hay, is worth studying.
As I write this we are on the verge of the old and new and so thinking about 2025, what to leave behind and take with us into the new year. I have always been drawn to lists and this year self-improvement and professional growth is where I will focus my efforts. 2024 was very much around intentionality of time spent (energy and actions) and re-stabilising myself (by leaving a context and country I felt no longer served me). This year as I recognise now that I had let other aspects of my life fall away, and as I move into a new decade, that more discipline and commitment is required for a personal plan. That means more Bikram classes, cold plunges, acupuncture and food combining. There’s always the desire to, from a professional perspective, to continue to work in ways that align with my purpose because that is what gives me pleasure in my work—how we can use less of Earth’s precious resources and encourage that shift. I definitely need to leave behind feelings of self-doubt. What will you leave behind and lean into in 2025?
*This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek advice from your health provider before altering your routine.
