Indigestion Remedies
Best Indigestion Remedies
Finding the best indigestion remedies is difficult, primarily because we are all different. There are however, some thing which are fairly universal in helping indigestion. However, below are a few tips to help resolve your indigestion – before you even get it!!!
Drinks
Fluids are essential for good digestion, however, they should be drunk during a meal – not before. By lining your stomach with a cold drink you can actually inhibit its ability to process to food which follows. The other important thing is to drink water with your meals, not sugary or fizzy drinks.
Prepare yourself to eat
It may sound daft, but you body needs to produce certain chemicals in order to be able to break down the food you eat. If you are sitting at your desk and working on a computer one minute and eating the next, you body has not had a chance to prepare for the arrival of the food. In an office environment it can be hard to take time out – but it is worth it. Try to move away from your desk to eat. Also try to have some sort of preparation of the food. Even if you are eating a repacked sandwich up and adding a sauce or extra tomatoes or something simple you are allowing your body to smell and see the food – this will encourage salivation; which is the first step to processing the food properly.
Chewing
This should not be underestimated – chewing is really important. Chewing has two functions. Firstly, it softens the food so that when it arrives in the stomach it is easier to process. The second function is to give the stomach extra time to prepare the hydrochloric acid and other digestive juices which are essential for the breakdown of the food before it enters the intestines.
Exercise
We are all told not to take vigorous exercise on a full stomach – however, movement after food is good. If you are sitting slouched over your desk, eat and sandwich and then immediately revert to work your stomach is squashed. Ideally, we should all go for a short walk after eating. If this is not possible then try to allocate tasks for immediately after lunch which require movement. For example, after eating your sandwich, stand up and do your photocopying, perhaps take your outward mail to the post room, however minimal, some movement after eating is better than none.
So, in answer to the original question of what are the best indigestion remedies? The answer is that if you minimise the indigestion by changing how you eat, you will probably find that most over the counter indigestion remedies will be able to cope with the lesser amount of pain you will feel.
Understanding What Causes Heartburn
Managing Your Pain But Understanding What Causes Heartburn
Finding a remedy for you heartburn is best achieved by defining the what causes your heartburn.
Heartburn can be caused by many different things, and each sufferer has to look at their lifestyle and their diet to work out what is their primary cause.
Where to start
The best place to start is your weight. If you are overweight there is additional pressure on the stomach from the surrounding weight. This means that when the stomach is full, a movement such as bending over or lying down can put enough pressure on the stomach to force some of the contents back up into the oesophagus. Weight is often the main cause of heartburn. If you fit into this category it is important to try to drop a few pounds and you will quickly start to see improvements.
If you weight is fine, then you need to start looking at your diet. We all have very busy, stressful lives. The result of this is that many people have only one main meal a day. This means that you stomach is one size most of the time and then it is bombarded with food, often at the end of the day, which it has to find space for and be able to process. This unexpected overload can put pressure on the valve between the stomach and oesophagus which then causes the heartburn. If you fall into this category then you should try to regulate you eating so that you do not put your stomach under so much pressure and it is best to not have a full stomach last thing at night. Lying down with a full stomach means that gravity puts the LES valve under pressure.
Another category of people who suffer from heartburn are pregnant women. They do have the advantage of knowing that it won’t last forever, but that doesn’t make the pain any less. Pregnant women suffer because the uterus increases and encroaches on the space usually occupied by the stomach. If this is what causes your heartburn then try to eat small amounts regularly (remembering to stay off surgery or salty snacks).
If you have suffered from heartburn for a long time then it is possible that you have a slightly scarred or damaged tissue at the valve opening. By not putting the LES valve under pressure you will increase the chances of healing and reduce the occurrences of heartburn.
Ultimately, what causes heart burn is undigested food returning to the oesophagus, managing your food intake and stomach is without doubt the best way to reduce your heartburn.
What Causes Heartburn?
To Effectively Manage Heartburn You Need To Understand Why You Suffer With It
Almost everyone is going to suffer from heartburn at some point in their lives; the important things to learn are what causes it and how to manage it. Once you have a basic understanding of heartburn you will be able to manage it better.
What is heartburn?
To many people heartburn is a pain which happens after eating. In fact it is contents of the stomach being forced back up into the oesophagus. Between the stomach and the oesophagus is a valve, this is supposed to be one way, but under pressure it gives in. This is where the problem arises; the stomach side of the valve is designed to handle stomach contents, whereas the other side is not equipped for this content. Hence heartburn follows.
Why does the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) sometimes allow food back up?
The most common reason for the LES to give way is due to pressure. This can be caused by being overweight. When we are carrying extra weight it puts pressure on the stomach. Pregnant women also suffer from heartburn, as their uterus expands it puts pressure on their stomach. Obviously, if you are overweight the ideal solution is to lose a few pounds. However, while you are achieving this, you can still reduce your heartburn. The way that pregnant women resolve this is to eat small meals at regular intervals.
Do not believe that heartburn is the curse of the overweight, there are plenty of skinny people out there who suffer just as often. If you eat a large meal and your stomach struggles to digest the unexpected amount of food this can just as easily lead to heartburn. Equally, lying down or bending over when you have a full stomach can exert enough pressure on the LES to release food back into the oesophagus.
It is important to minimise the occurrence of heartburn, not only because of the pain you suffer, but also for your health. If you constantly get heart burn you are constantly forcing the one way valve to work both ways. This can lead to the valve becoming less effective, and in some cases it can lead to scarring on the tissue of the valve which will prevent it from working properly.
The Ultimate Natural Weight Loss Diet
Once you understand your stomach you will find that eating becomes a pleasure again. However, if you decide that you need to lose some weight it is important that you choose a diet which is suitable for your personal dietary needs.
There are many diets out there which restrict or even ban certain food groups. These may work for people with steel stomachs, but for those of us who have sensitive stomachs they can be a disaster. The combination of of acidic and alkaline foods as well as stodge and fibrous foods needs to be kept in balance. For this reason you need a diet which is based on eating healthy foods and also a diet which is flexible to your personal needs.
For this reason I highly recommend a book published by Louise Kelly. This book explains the pros and cons of different diets and the importance of building a balanced diet out of natural foods.
I also like the way that Louise explains the basics of the digestive system and how you need to take this into account when you choose and plan your diet.
Natural Weight Loss
The Importance Of Natural Weight Loss
Some diets can put our digestive system under more pressure. The problem with a lot of diets is that their level of success is based on how quickly someone looses weight. Their success should be defined by the overall health of a person.
How Do You Define ‘Overall Health’?
When our bodies are working well they do not distract us – this is when a body is healthy. If you are constantly aware of your digestion, or cramp then your health is interfering with your quality of life – this means that you are not as healthy as you could be.
What Is The Primary Area To Concentrate On To Improve Your Health?
This is simple – it has to be digestion. Your digestion is how you absorb the nutrients which you body needs in order to exist. If you are not getting these nutrients then it doesn’t matter what else you do, you will never reach your health potential. Your digestion is the most important process in your body. Good digestion leads to good levels of nutrients to feed your brain, heart, liver, kidney, muscles and bones.
Living With A Sensitive Stomach
There is no avoiding the fact that some of us are more susceptible to upset stomachs than others of us. This however, does not mean that we have to be ruled by them. The key to coping with your personal stomach issues is to always eat food in its natural state. The less you ‘mess around’ with the food and the less you mix it up the easier it will be to work out exactly what it is that causes your problems and to eliminate it.
Managing Your Weight When You Have A Sensitive Stomach
If you have only just managed to stabilise your upset stomach then the idea of loosing weight may seem terrifying – it shouldn’t – weight loss is good for the stomach. Being over (or under) weight puts our bodies under pressure and once you are at your ideal weight your body will function more efficiently.
Diets To Avoid If You Have A Sensitive Stomach
There is no beating about the bush on this one – there are some diets out there which are lethal to those of us who have sensitive stomachs. These diets purely focus on weight loss and not on health – AVOID THESE LIKE THE PLAGUE!
Natural Remedies For Heartburn
Most people have suffered from heart burn at some point in their life, but many will never understand how debilitating it can be.
Regular sufferers of heartburn will often have tried every treatment available through their doctors and the pharmacy, but there are other options: natural remedies for heatburn.
Natural remedies for heartburn are not just about what pills you take, they are about how you live your life. I am not suggesting that your only solution is to start brewing home remedies for heartburn on your cooker, I am suggesting an understanding of what processes your body is going through when you get heartburn.
Heartburn is linked to an overproduction of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. So why does your body do this? The reasons will vary for every individual, but there are some things which we know are a cause.
The first step in understanding natural remedies for heartburn is to try to give your body to opportunity to get the balance right. The hydrochloric acid is there to break down the food and prepare it for entry into the intestines. While you are chewing your food your brain is sending messages around the body to get prepared for the process of digestion. Therefore it is important to follow this process at a speed that suits your body.
The best of home remedies for heartburn is to take time. Apart from time to chew your food you also need to work at the same time as your body, so try eating little and often. This should prevent the over production of hydrochloric acid as you will not be overloading the stomach.
Natural remedies for heartburn will be most successful if you are working with your body and not trying to override it.