You've probably noticed that a raclette or a stew stays in your stomach longer than a veggie salad with two squares of chocolate. But do you really know how long it takes your body to digest your meals?

Each food follows a unique path through our digestive system, and some take longer than others to be absorbed. We've listed them in ascending order:

1. Champions in all categories: fruits and vegetables take 20 to 50 minutes to digest. We use them and abuse them, lunch and dinner, both raw and cooked.

2. Ideal for providing the body with sufficient energy, promoting muscle and boosting metabolism, lean proteins from white fish and white meats such as poultry take between 1.5 and 2 hours to digest. The same goes for eggs, preferably soft-boiled to benefit from the cholagogue benefits of the runny yolk.

3. Unsurprisingly, complex carbohydrates like pasta, rice, quinoa seeds, potatoes, or sweet potatoes take 2 to 3 hours to digest. However, they are necessary to provide the body with sufficient energy, in reasonable quantities.

4. Finally, red meats, cheeses and rich meals consisting of dishes roasted or stewed in fat can take up to 4 to 6 hours to be assimilated.

It is often overlooked, but sardines in oil, recommended for their richness in essential omegas, remain in the digestive system for up to 9 hours.

How to speed up food digestion ?

There are a few simple steps you can take to promote rapid and smooth digestion:

- Take the time to chew thoroughly. Saliva breaks down food to help it pass through the stomach.

- Eat a balanced and varied diet. This can ease the digestive process and promote a healthy microbiota over time.

- Hydrate yourself throughout the day and move regularly.

- Avoid cold or iced drinks that cool the stomach, making the digestion process slower and less efficient because the body has to expend more energy to warm the liquid to body temperature, which strains your digestive system.

- Stop or limit the consumption of alcohol, which is very irritating to the digestive system.

- Take two capsules of Gut Flow ™ before any meal that may be problematic. The idea is not to deprive yourself, but to indulge 100%, without discomfort.

- Enjoy a good digestive herbal tea whose warmth and synergy of plants such as verbena, ginger or turmeric will be beneficial for digestion.

Take care of your stomach, it's your second brain!