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Tips to prevent stomach upset at Christmas
Christmas is a time to be with the family. These parties revolve around the table and family meals.
Dinners go on, plate after plate, and often do so until late at night. As a consequence, at Christmas, bloating, heartburn and various stomach upsets are the order of the day.
In Spain, one in 10 adults suffers from heartburn at least once a week. This figure usually grows at Christmas. The same is true for other stomach problems.
If you tend to watch your diet throughout the year, your stomach is used to processing foods such as fruits and vegetables, fiber, meat and fish in small quantities.
However, Christmas meals are usually copious and have an excess of fat and sugar. In fact, a single Christmas dinner can include the same number of calories that you would eat in a normal entire day!
As a consequence, it is normal for your stomach to suffer when faced with so many foods. In fact, with Christmas feasts, the digestive tract becomes saturated and its normal functioning is disturbed. That is why heartburn, gas or even diarrhea and vomiting appear.
How to prevent stomach upset typical of Christmas meals?
- Appetizers, appetizers, first course, second, polvorón over here, mantecado over there, What if coffee, a piece of nougat, glasses of wine, cava, more nougat… it’s too much food! In addition, the one that causes stomach discomfort. To avoid them, we recommend that you try decrease the amount on each plate, that you give up the habit of gulping like there is no tomorrow and that you focus on chewing and savoring without haste. And, well, if possible, keep quiet, since the air and the Christmas meals generate all the discomfort that you want to save yourself.
- Refluxes are the result of gastric acids rising up the esophagus after an excess of food. Heartburn also causes burning and discomfort. Antacids neutralize excess stomach acid during digestion and regulate altered stomach pH. So, go to the pharmacy to buy one!
- Avoid movements and intense physical efforts after meals. Once you have finished eating, it is already a good idea have a quiet conversation with family or friends. Thus, while you laugh or listen, your body will digest the food properly.
- Become fond of consuming yogurts and kefires, excellent probiotics that regulate intestinal transit, while reducing abdominal distention. In addition, the intake of these products prevents and reduces the incidence of infectious diseases of the gastrointestinal area.
- Smoking is not good in general, but it is even worse around this time. The reason is that tobacco weakens the sphincter that closes the entrance of the stomach.
- Dress for the occasion, but avoid tight clothing or belts to avoid putting pressure on your stomach.
- Advance dinner time or lengthens the table topa with the goal of not going to bed within 2 to 3 hours after eating.
As you can see, some measures against stomach upset are simpler than others.
In any case, it is up to you to put them into practice.
We recommend it for you to enjoy doubly, that is, both eating and digesting.
Happy holidays without heartburn!