I avoid tips in a former digest (10)
I believe the answer is:
assimilate
'digest' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'i avoid tips in a former' is the wordplay.
'avoid' becomes 'miss' (miss can mean to avoid).
'tips' says the letters should be written in reverse (I've seen 'tipped' mean this).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'former' becomes 'late' (late can mean former or previous).
'i'+'miss'='imiss'
'imiss' backwards is 'ssimi'.
'a'+'late'='alate'
'ssimi' going inside 'alate' is 'ASSIMILATE'.
(Other definitions for assimilate that I've seen before include "Take in and understand" , "thoroughly understood" , "Become part of the prevailing culture" , "pick up" , "Absorb and digest (food)" .)