Improving your digestion through naturopathy with Mélissa Parain – Epycure

August 25, 2021

3min reading time

For this episode of Club Bonheur, we welcome Mélissa Parain .

A naturopath, she supports us in writing our blog articles, our Instagram content and our recommendations.

In this episode, Mélissa talks to us about digestion, how it works, which foods or activities to favor and avoid. She gives us a ton of advice and explanations to alleviate our little daily ailments and especially our digestion.

Through all its content, on social networks, particularly on its Instagram account, @donotforgettokiss gives us a more modern image of naturopathy, and proves to us that we can feel good in our body, while having a mode of hectic life.

Naturopathy's vision of digestion

Digestion is a very complex subject, which takes a huge number of steps, molecules and organs into account. During her consultations, Mélissa determines the direction to follow for each person, depending on the person's morphology, but also their lifestyle. There is no single perfect diet, each individual has their own diet. The important thing Mélissa raises is to test and listen to herself.

How does digestion work?

Digestion will have a mechanical action, in the mouth and the stomach, to grind food, and chemical, thanks to enzymes and digestive juices such as saliva. It is possible to ingest everything, but it all depends on how you assimilate it.

Mélissa gives us some tips to facilitate digestion:

Take the time to chew well : 1st important step in digestion.
Doing twists : through physical activities, yoga, belly massages, walking after a meal.
Get into a state of relaxation : in a calm environment, do some breathing before and after the meal, for more natural digestion.
Eat consciously and without feeling guilty
Get quality sleep to reduce stress

Foods to favor:

Consume foods rich in prebiotics (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes), which should make up at least half of the plate
Take probiotics (kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut), when you already have a healthy digestive system
Bring protein at least once a day

Inflammatory foods to avoid:

Refined sugar , an ingredient harmful to our health
Red meat , to be consumed once a week maximum
White flour , such as pasta, bread, etc.
Ultra-processed foods

The case of lactose

We are all born with a molecule that allows us to digest lactose. From the age of 3, this molecule decreases, except for 25% of the population. If you don't have any particular problem (acne, eczema), there is no point in stopping completely, but avoid overdoing it. The casein in milk, like gluten, will transform into a glue, which will slow down the assimilation of nutrients.

Drink water, but not just any time

Mélissa advises not to drink water during meals, to avoid diluting digestive enzymes and assimilating nutrients less well. Drink a quarter of an hour before and after eating, and of course throughout the day.

The FODMAP diet

This diet aims to relieve the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.

The FODMAP diet advocates meals without “fermentable” carbohydrates. These carbohydrates are in fact fermented by bacteria in the colon and cause symptoms such as bloating, gas and abdominal pain characteristic of irritable bowel syndrome.

The Fodmap excludes a lot of foods, and remains very complicated to carry out. Mélissa recommends first having a test to detect a possible intestinal disease, and then getting support.

To finish, our guest played the “ Tonic Quiz ” (Quick Questions – Quick Answers). Here are his tips and recommendations:

A book to recommend : “ À fleur de pet ”, published by Tredaniel La Maisnie
A food to always have in your cupboard : A few nuts
A naturopathic activity : Breathing
Difficult information to digest : The fact that we don't always eat what we need
A drink to favor : Kombucha
A place to discover yoga : Mirz, 11 rue Delouvain, 75019 Paris
Next person to interview : @tatianayoga
One last piece of advice : “Listen to yourself, test, live and stop feeling guilty”