In one of my most popular digestion posts, The 4R’s For A Flat Tummy, I talked a lot about the supplements you can add to your regime to help fix that digestion, once and for all.

However, what’s important to note, supplements are truly supplemental to your food. So, you can’t just eat whatever you want, and add supplements and get results.

Here are five foods to add to your cooking repertoire for a happy digestive system:

Arugula

Bitter foods help get your digestive juices flowing. Often times, one of the main causes for poor digestion is actually that you don’t have proper hydrochloric acid (HCl). A natural way to stimulate this is to use bitter foods, like arugula or dandelion greens. Try this super delicious Arugula Salad Recipe.

Lemons

According to Chinese medicine, lemons are another ingredient that can stimulate your digestive juices producing HCl. If you are someone with no appetite in the morning, a trick that works for my clients is to squeeze 1/2 a lemon into 2 cups of water and drink it before you would have breakfast. You’ll notice you actually feel hungry in the morning and can then eat breakfast, balance your blood sugar, and have great energy!

Flax Seeds

When it comes to a flat tummy, fiber is crucial. Depending on how much fiber you typically eat in a day, you need to gradually increase the quantities vs going all out, or you will experience some ill stomach effects for the first few days until your body adjusts. Flax seeds contain mucilage, something that is like a gum that is gel forming. It can help bulk up your stool and prevent rapid emptying of the intestinal tract.

Salmon

This probably wasn’t on the list of foods you’d tie to digestion, but the Omega 3 content of fish is really important for actually repairing the intestinal tract. Other sources of Omega 3 are flaxseed, chia, and hemp, but the Omega 3 content of nuts and seeds are not as readily utilized by the body compared to fish sources.

Kimchi

Have you jumped on the kimchi bandwagon yet? You can even get it in Costco right now! Kimchi, in small quantities will feed your gut with the good bacteria (probiotics), which help keep your tummy flat and reduce gas and bloating.

Let’s not forget that if you’re consuming the foods that cause digestive upsets, these foods will have much less of an impact. Try eliminating the 2 main food groups that cause such problems (gluten and dairy) using the HEAL weekly meal plans.