ADVERTISING: Advertorial — 'Minor' digestive complaints

Mild to moderate indigestion and an upset stomach seems, on the surface, to be no big deal. But it is. You may be “managing it OK” with Tums, Rolaids, over-the-counter or prescription acid blockers, or even some digestive enzymes, but that is only controlling the symptoms. Because diet is first and foremost in handling any other health condition, just “managing it OK” is not enough.

Health practitioners say that most disease begins in the gut. Why? Because if you can’t break down and absorb the food you are eating, then you don’t have the raw materials available that you need for repair, growth, and just every-day living.

Daily, cells are dying from every organ, tissue and from blood at an estimated rate of about 24 billion cells per day. If you are not re-making those cells at the same rate they are dying, you are degenerating. The definition of degeneration is when you are breaking down faster than you are rebuilding. If you are not eating quality food and supplying quality building materials, AND you are not digesting or absorbing well, you cannot make quality cells.

An example I like to make is as follows: You are going to build a home. You bring all the materials to the build site. You bring the doors, windows, plumbing materials, nuts, bolts, screws, wiring, sheetrock, and roofing materials. But, you forgot the wood. Could you still build the home? Yes, you could. You could screw sheetrock together, but it won’t have the structural integrity, it won’t do the job it was intended to do, and it wouldn’t take much force of nature to bring it down. Why would your body be any different?

If you are suffering from indigestion, heartburn, reflux, constipation, diarrhea, bloating, excess gas, irritable bowel, hemorrhoids, and/or digestive discomfort, you need to get it addressed, and not have a simmering digestive issue compounding other health problems. Of course, if you’ve waited long enough to address it, you may already have a painful digestive issue such as diverticulitis, Crohn’s Disease, colitis, pre-cancerous polyps, fistulas, fissures or abscesses. These can be difficult and you may already be “managing” them with drugs.

However, there are many more natural things you can do to improve your digestive health, with acupuncture, nutrition and nutritional supplements.

Learn more by attending our next health class, "Beyond Tums: Drug-Free Solutions for Heartburn, Reflux, Indigestion & Upset Stomach," 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 15 at Vital Health in Coeur d'Alene. Class will be available both in-person and via Zoom. To register, call 208-765-1994 or go to vitalhealthcda.com/health-classes.

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Holly Carling is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Naturopathy, Clinical Nutritionist and Master Herbologist with over four decades of experience. Carling is a “Health Detective.” She looks beyond your symptom picture and investigates WHY you are experiencing your symptoms in the first place.

Carling is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health care services and whole food nutritional supplements in her Coeur d’Alene clinic. Visit Carling’s website at www.vitalhealthcda.com to learn more about Carling, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles.

Carling can be reached at 208-765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.