For real internal health, good digestion and regular bowel movements/habits are very essential. Good digestion starts with thorough chewing of food in the mouth. Directions

• Sit down at meals. When you eat, you should be sitting down at a table. You should not eat while standing, walking, lying down or driving.
   
• Sit up. Don't slouch or hunch over the table to eat your food. Sit close to the table and bring your eating utensil to your mouth, instead of your mouth to your utensil. To ensure proper posture while sitting follow these tips:
  • Sit in a chair that provides your back with support
  • Keep you knees level with your hips and sit as far back in the chair as possible. To keep your knees level, your feet should be flat on the floor.
     
  Note: If your lower back bothers you when sitting, put a round cushion or towel between the chair and the small of your back to provide support.
   
• Take your time and eat. Don't rush through your meal. Eating too fast also causes digestion problems. You need to allow your stomach the time to register the food ingested.
   
• Don't lie down. Although you should allow your body to rest after you've eaten, make sure you are sitting or standing. Do not lie down as this slows digestion.
   
• Consume cooked foods instead of cold/raw foods. As traditional Eastern medicine explains, food must be "burned" in the "fire" of digestion. Cold and raw foods must be "heated-up" more than cooked foods and as such they dampen and weaken the fire of digestion. Persons with weak digestion would do well to eat no or little raw or cold food or drinks. This means favoring cooked vegetables and fruits instead of raw ones, and using hot soups, casseroles, or grain and bean dishes, instead of sandwiches or snack type meals. Drinking hot drinks are helpful. Ice water taken with meals weakens digestion.
   
• Chew your food well and eat at a moderate pace. Ideally we should chew each mouthful some 30 times, breaking the food into small particles and allowing the salivary enzymes to begin their work digesting the food. Putting the fork down between each mouthful and swallowing one bite before taking another is suggested.
   
• Eat in a peaceful and relaxed environment. If you do a little comparative test, you will note that you feel better and your digestion is smoother when you eat in a quiet and peaceful environment. Avoid watching television, reading, working or arguing with others when you eat. You will see a difference.
   
• Eat simply. Mixing many different types of foods taxes the digestive system. Experiment with simple meals of just 2 or 3 different foods.
   
• Eat fruit between meals and favor cooked fruit. Raw fruits dampen the digestive fire, especially during the winter when we are already cold. As such, those with weak digestion might find eating raw fruits with meals causes intestinal gas and bloating. Cooked fruit is a fine dessert, but keep the raw fruit for snacks and even then it might be a problem if your digestive fire is smoldering rather than blazing.
   
• Drink hot water and hot herb teas. Hot water is an excellent way to detoxify the body and build digestive strength. Simmering a few slices of ginger root in boiling water makes a ginger root tea that stimulates digestion. Ginger in food has the same effect, as does candied ginger root taken after meals.
   
• Eat freshly-cooked foods. Freshly cooked foods are most nourishing and free of molds or any stale qualities. Better to eat a freshly cooked simple meal than a complicated one made of leftovers.
   
• Avoid overeating. This goes without saying! Excessive intake of food greatly burdens the entire digestive system. Ancient Ayurveda medicine recommends consuming the amount of food that will fit into two cupped hands at any meal. Practice moving away from the table while you are still a bit hungry.
   
• Sit still and relax a few minutes after eating. Digestion is an amazing process; it turns tofu enchiladas into blood and cells. Resting a few minutes after eating gets this very complicated process off to a good start.
   
• Seek professional help if necessary. If these simple self-help steps do not resolve your digestive problems you should consider consulting both a physician and a nutritionist. Your nutritionist can help you figure out if nutritional digestive aid would be useful in your case. Your physician can investigate the possibility that a medical problem is affecting your digestion.