Summer is almost here! Or if you’re reading this toward the end of the month, it’s officially here! It’s time to start thinking about picnics, cookouts, camping, and all those exciting outdoor activities. One of the best parts of all of this is the food. Grilling, hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, watermelon, all the “fixings” of these kinds of get-togethers. For some of you, this means paying the price the next day after some food choices that don’t agree with your body and digestive system function. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Here’s a few tips to improve your choices, your digestion, and your summer.

Gluten problems

Gluten is a problem for a lot of us—maybe even all of us. The type of wheat used in most American food is more problematic than the kind you’ll find elsewhere in the world. Long story short, it’s the gluten content. So even if you have never been told you have a problem with gluten, you likely could. One option is that you can just avoid gluten, but this can be difficult. There are supplements you can take to aid in the digestion of gluten that you can’t—or choose not to—avoid. We offer one called Glutezyme which contains the only enzyme that assists your body in breaking down gluten as well as casein, the protein in milk. It’s called DPP IV or Dipeptidyl peptidase-4. Some gluten supplements only contain amylase or other enzymes that don’t do the same job. If your summer fare includes any gluten, just take a couple of tablets of Glutezyme during meals and you’ll feel a big difference.

Combining foods can affect digestive system function

The burgers smell good, the cheese is melted just right, and the chips and watermelon round out the meal nicely. That is, until it hits your stomach and your stomach says, “What were you thinking?” While it all might taste good, protein—like the meat in your burger or hot dog—takes a lot longer to digest than something like watermelon. So what happens in your stomach is that the fruit sits there and gets over-digested. Then, when it gets passed on to the small intestine, you have a nasty mixture of some food that is over-digested and some that isn’t digested enough. This can interfere with efficient digestive system function. Eating fruit may be healthy on its own, but not combined with a lot of protein. It’s better to eat that as a snack later. So, pick what you like the best or pay the price. There are digestive enzymes that can assist in this called pancreatic enzymes, and they can go a long way in calming things down. One product we carry that has these pancreatic enzymes is called Digestive Complete.

Desert the desserts

At the end of the buffet are everyone’s favorites—the desserts! Home-baked bars, cookies, and other goodies. Just what you want, but what your system doesn’t need. Putting all that sugar on top of a full meal is a surefire way to tell your body to store everything as fat. It will also cause insulin spikes and crashes that most of us cannot handle. The best way to avoid this is to either skip the desserts or at least have just one small piece of your favorite. Your stomach and digestion will thank you.

Medications that make it all worse

One of the big fads amongst recent medications is the GLP-1 agonists like Ozempic and Wegovy. You probably know more than one person who has tried this and lost a lot of weight. What they don’t tell you—or what they don’t even know—is that half the weight that is lost is muscle tissue. If you take Ozempic, you need to exercise really hard to avoid this. And please realize that once you quit the medication, the fat will come back, but the muscle won’t. Also, these medications tend to cause indigestion, nausea, and GERD (acid reflux). So, think of other options instead. One natural alternative we carry is berberine, which is a natural herb that has similar effects as the GLP-1s but also has other positive side effects like improved digestive system function and calming down leaky gut. The best part is that the berberine doesn’t come with the muscle loss that GLP-1s do.

Omeprazole is another overprescribed drug that gives you the relief it promises, but at a price. It lowers stomach acid, which is supposed to be there to digest all those picnic goodies. What people don’t realize is that GERD is not caused by too much acid in your stomach; it is caused by too much acid in your esophagus. The valve that connects the two is not working properly and lets stomach acid back up instead of stopping it. Instead, you want to get the valve to work better. This can be done through chiropractic adjustments (if the reason is neurological) or by stimulating the valve to wake up, by taking lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. By the way, if you were to check the box the omeprazole comes in, you’ll see that it says, “Do not use for more than 14 days.” It is known to have side effects like bone thinning, stomach cancer, and dementia.

So happy eating, happy picnicking, and happy summer! Enjoy celebrations but eat healthy and eat smart. Practice these pieces of advice and your digestive system function and your stomach will thank you.

Dr. Burtis, D.C., M.S., CFMP, DACBN, has been providing natural healthcare to the Fairmont area at Burtis Chiropractic Center for over 35 years. He uses a combination of chiropractic, nutrition, and functional medicine to help individuals restore and maintain health and healing through individualized care plans. The mission of Burtis Chiropractic Center is to provide transformational healthcare that takes an individual’s life to the next level. We strive to be a solution for families to experience transformational healthcare and help create vibrant and resilient lifestyles that can be passed to future generations.