Are you familiar with that feeling soon after eating of indigestion, bloating, belching, gas, acid reflux, fatigue? You may get frequent loose stools or diarrhea. Some of us notice this more commonly than others and I wanted to share some thoughts to help you possibly avoid some of this discomfort. This is coming both from a historical Chinese medical perspective and modern day nutritional understanding as well. Whether you’ve been diagnosed with a specific digestive disorder or not, these few general eating tips are worth exploring.
Avoid Ice Cold Water
Most practitioners of Chinese medicine, like myself, will tell you to avoid ice water or any ice cold drinks, particularly if you have digestive struggles. Like the winter cold freezing water in your house’s plumbing, cold water causes constriction of blood vessels in your digestive tract. Part of digesting is breaking food down into tiny parts to be moved into your blood and transported throughout your body for use. If the blood vessels lining your digestive tract are constricted because of ice cold, this process will be compromised and the symptoms listed above will result.
You’ve also probably observed how the fat from the bacon you’ve cooked solidifies when it gets cold. This happens as well to the fat in the food that you’ve eaten when eaten along with cold water. The fats will solidify and become more difficult to digest. Cold water also diverts your body away from digestion in order to maintain its requirement of a specific overall body temperature to function properly.
So don’t hesitate to ask the server for no ice or for room temperature water. Drink hot tea before you eat to prepare your digestive process, as many Asian cultures do regularly. This is a kind of priming of your digestive system before use. When I was living in China, jasmine or chrysanthemum tea was a standard beginning of the meal.
Don’t Drink Too Much Water with Food
Another point to understand about drinking water with your meal is around diluting the acid needed to digest. When food enters your mouth, your stomach lining automatically responds by secreting hydrochloric acid in preparation for digestion. This acid breaks down the food into tiny pieces for use by your body. By adding gulps of water to this process, you will dilute the acid and compromise it’s action of proper digestion.
It is fine to drink a glass or two of water an hour before or after your meal, but during the time you’re eating, only sip the room temperature water rather than drinking large amounts. This will protect the natural acidic balance within your stomach to allow for easy digestion.
Careful with Combining Starch and Protein
Our American diet often combines starches and protein. For example, a burger and fries, spaghetti and meat balls, steak and potatoes. Eating large amounts of starches and proteins causes indigestion and acid reflux for many of us. Examples of starch include potatoes, pasta, rice, and bread while protein may include beef, chicken, fish, and eggs. Proteins and starches have different rates of digestion. Starches digest much faster into simple sugars as compared to proteins. So when you eat them at the same time, the starches will combine with proteins and hang around longer in the stomach than they are supposed to. Fermentation will happen and you will feel bloated with belching and gas.
So this is something to be aware of if you experience these symptoms. You may choose to eat less of the starch in order to reduce the amount of fermentation that will happen. Or eat the starch first, allowing some time before eating the protein. Combining them is what causes a problem for many of us.
Take it Easy on Your System
Just these couple eating tips may make a big difference if you tend to get symptoms of indigestion. Eating too much in general can be hard for your body to manage. Take a look of what’s on your plate and imagine that amount being processed inside your stomach. You won’t overload it by taking your time with an appropriate portion. Many of us can’t digest certain foods effectively, setting off an inflammatory response, and identifying these can be life changing. I hope you can treat yourself well in this way because digesting food effectively is what will help provide for every other healthy function in your body.