Relief from Digestive Disorders with Life Style Changes and Kitchen Remedies!

Round the year festivities, holidays, birthdays, and gatherings bring happiness and togetherness amongst the family and friends. All these events also include tradition of eating large meals, fried food, rich desserts, candies, and rounds of drinks. This makes our taste buds happy but upsets our stomach and messes up our digestive system. Bloated stomach, acidity, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, stomach infection, etc… are some of the digestive issues that one faces as a result of the heavy food intake and stress. These issues if persists for long time, can lead to gastric distress.

According to the website bioreference.com, “Gastric distress is a group of digestive disorders that are associated with lingering symptoms of constipation, bloating, reflux, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramping.” This can be caused by over eating, infections, food intolerances, food allergies or autoimmune diseases. If we do not do anything to cure or manage these problems, it can lead to even serious problems like severe gastritis, stomach bleeding, or other severe digestive diseases. So these problems should not be taken lightly.

Although there is nothing we can do to stop or prevent food allergies, food intolerance, and autoimmune diseases; but we can try and manage them with the combination of medicines, life style changes, and kitchen remedies. If the gastric problem is because of over eating or temporary it can also be cured or managed with the help of the combination of medicines, lifestyle changes, and kitchen remedies.

Always consult your doctor to know what kind of prescription or over the counter medicines would help heal your problem. Also it is important to discuss with your medical professional about kind of life style changes and kitchen remedies you are planning to incorporate in your daily life.

Lifestyle Changes to Manage/ Cure / Prevent Digestive Distress:

• Avoid eating big portions of food at a time – Loading your stomach with too much of food at a time can increase the pressure on your digestive system causing food and acid reflux in your body. Too much food can also cause many other gastric distress symptoms. Lifestyle changes can help us with this.
  • So best we can do is being smart about what we eat and how much we eat. It is not about controlling your diet or starving. But it is more about eating your food strategically.
  • All you need to do is eat small portions, chew slowly, and avoid second helping of the rich and heavy food.
  • It is extremely important to practice mindfulness and eat cautiously. It is difficult to watch what we are eating and how much we are eating. But little bit of practice of making healthy choices for few days helps us get into a routine of making healthy choices and eventually eating healthy becomes a habit.

• Try and cook your food with healthier ingredients – If you and your family are planning to cook every day meal or heavy meal, plan ahead and try and add the healthy ingredients to make your favorite dish.
  • Try and include whole grains, fibrous fruits and vegetables as side dishes. This will help you digest your meal properly.
  • If your main dish, dessert, or favorite dish is fried, sweet, greasy, or heavy; take a small serving of it along with sides of healthy fruits, veggies, and grains. This will help you avoid or lessen the digestive issues caused by the heavy meals. This way you won’t starve, you are not deprived of your favorite meal, and you have eaten in proportion.

• Make Smart food choices, if you are eating outside or planning a takeout – If you are planning to do a takeout or eat outside, make smart choices.
  • Go through the menu and order the healthiest option possible. If you are tempted to eat something heavy or something that is unhealthy for you, then eat small portion of it. Eat fresh fruits, salads, or whole grain options as side dishes.
  • If you have already planned ahead of time that you are going to have a junk food or you are dining out or you are doing a takeout; then eat a whole dish of salad or fresh fruits or a small portion of something healthy before going out. This way you will not be starving when you reach there and you will be able to control your urges of eating too much.
  • Avoid ordering carbonated drinks, juices, or too much of alcohol on side of the meal. Drink plain water or water with lime on side.

• Know the difference between thirst and hunger – It is simple but very common, that sometimes people do not know whether they are thirsty or hungry. Once they feel the temptation of eating and drinking, it is a very common habit to go and reach for a snack.
  • According to Mayo Clinic website, men should drink about 15.5 cups of fluids a day and women should drink about 11.5 cups of fluids a day. But this quantity can vary depending upon your body type, kind of activities you do, your health, and your environment. So drink minimum of 8 glasses of plain water a day. Know the difference between thirst and hunger. Think before you pick up that easy snack. This will help too.
  • Try to quench your thirst with plain water instead of fruit juices, carbonated drinks, or any other flavored drinks.

• Food Allergies and Food Intolerance – It is extremely important to know and be aware of kind of food you are allergic to or intolerant to. Allergies and intolerance are two different things.

• • Food allergies are basically unpleasant, dangerous, and sometimes life threatening immune system reaction after a particular food is ingested / eaten.
  • Food intolerance is digestive problems that may occur after eating particular food.
  • So if you have any of these kinds of issues, consult your doctor and know what kind of food you are allergic to or intolerant to. Avoid the food that is an issue to your health. Carry the prescribed medicine with you as per doctor’s orders. Do not take these issues lightly.

• Stress – Now a days when abnormal is new normal, stress is very much part of our everyday life. Stress causes many digestive problems the common ones and severe ones.
  • Try and stay calm, include meditation in your life, and manage your stress to avoid digestive distress.
• Exercise – Daily exercises are must! Practice Yoga, Zumba, long 45 minute walks, Pilates, etc..; do any of these exercises to help you digest the food you eat properly. Exercising improves metabolism and helps resolve many digestive issues.

All these lifestyle changes will help you prevent, manage, and sometimes even cure digestive problems. Please consult your doctor or a medical professional about kind of medicines you need for these problems.

Kitchen Remedies to aid Digestive Distress

• Mixture of Fennel seeds, Carom seeds, and Sesame seeds – Take a cup of fennel seeds and mix them with ½ cup of carom seeds and 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds. If you have just one of these seeds, just take the one you have. Mix these seeds up in a bowl, add one spoonful of oil (cooking oil), and 1 tea spoon of black salt (or any kind of salt you eat). Let these seeds marinate for about 20 – 30 minutes. Take a pan and roast these seeds. It will just take 2 – 3 minutes to roast these seeds. Once done let them cool down and store them in airtight container.  
  • For the step by step recipe of how to make roasted mixture of fennel seeds, carom seeds, and sesame seeds ( also known as mukhwas), click here-  Blend of roasted seeds to aid digestion recipe
  • This mixture is extremely healthy for you. Eat a spoonful of roasted blend of fennel seeds, sesame seeds, and carom seeds mixture after lunch and dinner. Chew them properly for a long time. This will aid the digestion of the food ingested.   
     
    • Fennel seeds aids the digestion. It helps in relaxing the muscles of gastrointestinal system. Fennel seeds also reduce gas, bloating, and stomach cramps.
    • Carom seeds are also used as household remedy for digestive problems. According to Healthline.com, “Carom seeds may help in combating peptic ulcers.” They also help in relieving digestive issues like gas, acidity, and bloating.
    • Sesame seeds are known to help with digestion, by facilitating appropriate bowel movements. Sesame seeds are known to prevent constipation and improve colon health.

• Yogurt and Nutmeg – This one is a grand mother’s remedy in our household. Nutmeg has been known to help with loose motions also known as diarrhea. Adding nutmeg to your daily diet helps you better your digestive system. It is also known to reduce inflammation. Yogurt (Plain and if possible homemade yogurt) is probiotic, that has many useful bacteria that helps your digestive system. The probiotic property of yogurt helps with constipation, diarrhea, gas, and acidity. 

All you need to do is take one cup of yogurt (Plain and if possible homemade yogurt) add ½ teaspoon of nutmeg mix it up and eat it once a day.

• Herbal Teas – Homemade herbal teas like ginger tea, turmeric tea, fennel tea, carom tea, and lemon tea are also super delicious remedies that can help you with digestive disorders.
  • All you need to do is take a cup of water boil it and add 1 tea spoon of grated ginger or 1 spoonful of fennel seeds or 1 spoonful of carom seeds or squeeze half a lemon to the boiling water. Stir it well. Let it boil for 2 – 3 minutes. Once done filter the tea and transfer it to the cup.
  • You can also make herbal tea with combination of ingredients. Boil a cup of water add 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds, 1 teaspoon of carom seeds, 1 teaspoon of ginger powder, 1 teaspoon of grated ginger or ginger powder, and few drops of lemon. Bring tea to boil. Filter the tea and transfer the tea to the cup and drink it. If you want you can add little bit of honey to make this tea tasty.
  • Turmeric tea is another good remedy to help heal the digestive disorder. Combination of boiling water, turmeric, ginger powder, honey, and lemon work wonders for digestive disorders. Turmeric and ginger have amazing anti inflammatory qualities that helps heal the inflammation in the digestive organs. This tea works wonders. To know how to make turmeric tea click here – Turmeric Tea recipe.

These teas are super calming and helps with digestive disorders like gas, acidity, etc…

• Combination of Fennel, Raisins, and Crystal Sugar – This combination is very effective in relieving the acid reflux. All you need to do is take a glass of water, add spoonful of fennel seeds, a spoonful of raisins, and 3 -4 crystal sugar (sugar is optional). Cover this glass of water with a lid and leave it over the counter overnight. Next day in the morning drink this water and chew the fennel seeds and raisins in it. This relieves acid reflux.

DISCLOSURE:

The entire above mentioned kitchen remedies are practiced in our family for generations. Please be careful about the kind (brand) of ingredients you are using. See to it that you are not allergic to them. Do not self-medicate. Check with your medical professional before taking any medicines or making any decisions about your health or before introducing new things in your diet.  

Turmeric Ginger tea recipe

Blend of roasted seeds (Fennel, Carom, and Sesame) – Mukhwas Recipe