The Best Ways To Support Healthy Digestion Speed, According To Experts

Bloating, an unsettled stomach, and feeling disproportionately full after eating small meals are some of the major signs that your gut could use some extra TLC. Here are expert-backed ways to speed up digestion and get back to feeling like yourself:

But you don't have to stick to these two modalities if they aren't your thing. Here are some other types of exercise you can try:

Research suggests4 that taking a 15 minute, leisurely walk right after eating can help move food through your stomach more quickly. The keyword here is leisurely, though. Going too hard can have the opposite effect.

Yoga can also indirectly speed up digestion by promoting relaxation. When you're relaxed, your nervous system is in a parasympathetic state. This calming state, aptly nicknamed "rest and digest," is critical for proper digestion.

Some foods, like refined carbohydrates (we're looking at you, sugar) and anything fried, impede digestion, while others keep things moving as they should. Take a look at your plate and make sure these things are on it:

If you don't do dairy, or you just like options, you can, and should, also try kimchi, natto, kefir, pickled vegetables, miso, tempeh, and sauerkraut (FYI: Just 2 tablespoons of raw sauerkraut contain about 1 million colony-forming units [CFUs] of good bacteria).

mindbodygreen's probiotic+, for example, contains four targeted probiotic strains that have been clinically shown to support gut health and maintain a variety of key daily functions of the digestive system.* In addition to reducing gas and bloat, these strains also help improve total digestion time (i.e., gut transit time), increasing regularity and promoting healthy bowel movements.*

And don't forget to actually chew your food (read: Don't just chomp a couple of times and then swallow). "Not chewing thoroughly causes more work for your stomach, which further impedes the digestive process down the line—it's a negative ripple effect," says functional medicine doctor Frank Lipman, M.D. "Aim to chew until your food is liquefied, which is usually about 20 to 30 chews."

Failing to take in optimal amounts of hydration7 can affect digestion, so it's impossible to keep things moving without drinking plenty of fluids. But that doesn't mean an extra cup of coffee or a sugary lemonade. Stick to these beneficial liquids:

Water is the most essential nutrient you put into your body. It helps you digest your food and absorb nutrients, and then push the waste through your digestive system. Drinking enough water is a surefire way to support digestion, so make sure you're getting what you need daily (9 cups for women and 12.5 cups for men is a good place to start).

Herbal teas can help nourish your gut, but certain varieties have benefits beyond that. Dandelion tea8, for example, has been shown to stimulate muscle contractions and help push food through the digestive system, while fennel9 and senna10 teas have a stronger laxative-type effect.

Stay away from drinking too much caffeine, though. "A cup of coffee is not going to dehydrate you that much," integrative medicine doctor Bindiya Gandhi, M.D., says, "but many cups of coffee without water intake will." A good rule of thumb is to drink an extra cup of water for every cup of coffee you drink.

Sluggish digestion is really uncomfortable, but there are plenty of practical things you can do to speed things up. Filling your plate with fermented and fiber-rich foods, drinking plenty of noncaffeinated fluids, and regularly moving your body (especially after a big meal) are great places to start.