Digestive Health Blunders - The Worst Foods for Your Gut

There is one thing all foods have in common … that is that they will all give you energy. This base definition of a food, unfortunately, doesn't allow for any additional indication of whether the food is good or bad for you! When we eat certain foods, we are aware of the risks to our heart, liver, pancreas, and even the circumference of our thighs. But we rarely think about what our foods could be doing to our humble digestive tract! Today we check out some of the worst foods for your gut health, which whole food supplements are called upon to cure.

1. Chicken nuggets
   Chicken nuggets are a staple for kids around the world … especially in restaurants, where they often won’t eat anything else! Yet they are incredibly hard on the gut. They contain huge amounts of fat -- the breadcrumb coating soaks up a large quantity of oil during cooking.
2. Spicy food
   Spicy food often has quite high levels of antioxidants and other nutrients that our bodies crave. Unfortunately, it can also irritate the lining of the digestive tract as well. A good general rule is to eat less spice if your stomach starts noticing it.
3. Chocolate
   It isn't only your waistline that suffers when you eat chocolate -- your stomach also expands from the inside! Chocolate causes your esophageal sphincter to relax, and stomach acid to make its way back up.
4. Raw onion
   It's delicious on sandwiches, but raw onion can also irritate the lining of your gut. Using whole food supplements and probiotics can help build up numbers of friendly bacteria in your gut and alleviate irritation, according to anecdotal evidence.
5. Ice cream
   Around 80 percent of the people in the world do not naturally produce the enyme lactase, to help them digest lactose, or sugar found in milk. This makes ice-cream, along with cow's milk on cereal, in coffee, in cheese, etc, quite an irritant to the digestive system.
6. Raw broccoli and cabbage
   Strong as they taste raw, some people like to eat them this way because they are supposed to have more antioxidants. The annoyance they are to your gut due to gas buildup can be avoided by just blanching them slightly.