<Abusive Relationship and Your Health: 5 Tips to Insure Proper Digestion for Domestic Abuse Survivors>

5 Tips to Insure Proper Digestion for Domestic Abuse Survivors

By Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D.

We hear that you are “what you eat.” True. And you are also “how you eat,” and “when you eat.”

How you eat and when you eat determines how we assimilate what we eat. This, of course, is how nourishing the food we eat will be for us.

Mealtime in an abusive home

Living in an abusive relationship can influence the how you eat. You can come to the dinner table and sit down to criticism, nitpicking, outright belittlement that can go from “let me count the ways I hate you” to a major family feud.

Over time, mealtime can be met with apprehension and caution—feeling states that interfere with proper digestion. So you come to the table and while at the table you could be preventing proper digestion and thus undermining the potential nourishing value of your food—even healthy wholesome food.

We know from Ayurvedic medicine and ancient teachings for centuries, as well as from contemporary scientific research, that the digestion of food is possible as a result of the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system—relaxation.

The gastrointestinal functioning from the moment you salivate until you’re finished eating, and then through elimination, requires proper gastrointestinal functioning.

And as we know, this body system is regulated by the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary response, wherein resides the emotional brain.

The good news: You influence this whole chain of events with your thoughts and emotions. And you can choose thoughts, feelings states and routines that support proper digestion.

The bottom line for anyone living in an abusive relationship

Be mindful of the following 5 eating tips and employ them into your daily routine.

Eat in a quiet and comfortable setting.
Keep dinner conversation to thoughts and experiences that are neutral or uplifting.
Have a small cup of warm to hot water with your food and avoid cold beverages with main meals.
Sit at the table for a couple of minutes quietly after you eat before leaving the table.
Eat your main meal between 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM

While these tips are given to you as though they are eating tips for domestic violence survivors, they are actually eating tips for anyone wanting to obtain maximum nourishment from their food.

As you adopt these into your life and notice how you feel, you may choose to keep these healthy eating habits as your lifetime routine. You and your body will be happy that you did.

For more insights on abusive relationships and your health, see Healing from Domestic Abuse. Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D. helps individuals recognize, end and heal from domestic abuse.

This series of eInsights is presented to you by Partners in Prevention, a nonprofit organization. If you find this eInsight article useful, we invite you to contribute to the maintenance and growth of the Survivor Success Tips & eInsights. To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit www.EndDomesticAbuse.org.

Dr. Jeanne King is a licensed psychologist and domestic abuse consultant. Feel free to contact us if you need help with physical and/or emotional pain, stress-related illnesses, or relationship abuse issues at home or in court. Contact Us to reach Dr. King.