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A good friend of mine loves spicy food. A few years ago, though, he noticed that whenever he ate anything too spicy, he spent the rest of the evening with miserable indigestion. He asked me if there was any way he could enjoy the foods he loved without the unpleasant after-effects. Fortunately, I was able to give him several recommendations that helped prevent his indigestion.

As you get older, indigestion becomes a more common problem. Six million Americans suffer with frequent indigestion. Whether you suffer from gas, frequent heartburn, or bloating, these are all signs that something is not working quite right in your digestive system. The gas, bloating, and pain are early signs of what can turn into a bigger problem.

It’s your gut’s job to process the food you eat. It pulls the nutrients out of the food you eat to be absorbed and used by your body, and then it moves what can’t be used right on through. You can imagine what might happen when things aren’t working the way they should… it can lead to all sorts of problems.

Fortunately, there are natural, safe, healthy solutions to solve your digestion woes. But first, let’s take a look at the most common causes of indigestion.

Common Causes of Indigestion
Indigestion can be caused by a number of different factors. Some are serious, some are less so. All will cause you pain and discomfort.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome: This is one of the most common digestive disorders that people suffer from. It leads to pain, cramping, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea. The symptoms vary from person to person, and the cause isn’t well understood, although food sensitivities and stress both tend to aggravate symptoms.

Today I want to talk about an issue that ties in with your gut health (the topic of my last article) — gluten sensitivity, which is sometimes also referred to as gluten intolerance. Gluten as you may remember is the grain protein found in wheat, rye, and barley that causes gas, bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea and other seemingly unrelated symptoms such as headache, joint aches, depression, anxiety, and fatigue in sensitive individuals. All these symptoms arise as a result of an immune system reaction to gluten.

Many consumers have become increasingly aware of this issue and have been trying out gluten-free diets in such record numbers that the medical community has been questioning what in the world is going on that so many people think they are gluten intolerant.¹

The obvious answer is that maybe they really are. And the problem is that currently the only form of gluten sensitivity that is medically recognized is Celiac disease, an advanced form in which the immune cells cause damage to the intestinal villi. But the fact is, gluten sensitivity symptoms can range from a broad spectrum of fairly mild (but bad enough to affect a person’s quality of life), to very severe, like that seen in Celiac disease.

The spike in individuals seeking gluten-free diets shows that we are seeing another legitimate medical condition (gluten-intolerance) in which mainstream medicine’s diagnosis and treatment is inadequately dealing with people’s actual symptoms and experiences. To put it another way, patients are currently ahead of their doctors in dealing with the reality of gluten intolerance.

One way to get good bacteria into your gut is by eating lacto-fermented foods. This crunchy sauerkraut is easy to make and a great accompaniment to any meat dish. Fermented foods such as sauerkraut are traditionally eaten almost like a condiment, small amounts with most meals.

Serves: 4

Time to Table: 4 days