I always joked to my gal pals. You know you have stomach problems when stretch pants are too tight!
Often my stomach would be so uncomfortable after a meal that even my comfy yoga pants would cause me discomfort. Houston we have a problem! If I am a hurting unit in yoga pants then I don’t have too many options left.
Am I alone on this or can you relate? Do you deal with bloating and stomach pain after eating a meal? It’s terrible.
For example, if you can’t even make it through a full workday without having tummy pain and distention, well that just isn’t right. I have been there and I thought it was normal. I am here to tell you. It is NOT normal.
After eating at a restaurant with friends, I could feel so uncomfortable. Meanwhile, some of them were ready to hit the town and go dancing. Are you kidding me? The only dancing I am doing is dancing my way into my sweat pants for some stomach relief…except of course if I am already wearing said yoga pants and they too are feeling uncomfortable. Oh boy..
I digress.
So what is going on and what can we do? Here is some handy info to save you from living in loose fitting sweats till the end of time!
- If you are experiencing bloating, heaviness, pain, gas, or digestive issues after eating a meal, you may be dealing with an underactive stomach or “weak digestive fire”. We have digestive juices in our stomach, which help to break down food before they are sent along to the intestinal tract for further digestion, absorption and assimilation.
- Overtime our digestive juices can become reduced due to various reasons (age, diet, improper eating habits, stress, medication, liver requiring support etc…) It can be a variety of reasons and plenty of people experience it.
- Improper digestion leads to the food sitting in your stomach putrefying, fermenting and forming gases and toxins. The result is NOT good. This poor digestion can contribute and correlate with further digestive issues (constipation, improper colon functioning, leaky gut, food intolerances the list goes on) as well as poor absorption of key nutrients. If you are not absorbing what you eat, your health will suffer.
What you can do:
- Limit fluid intake during meal time
- Eat slowly (for real, put that fork down between bites, this isn’t a competition ;P)
- Chew your food, help break down your food by chewing it well, don’t be swallowing whole pieces!
- Consider food combining, (what is food combining? Read more here)
- Eat smaller meals more often and limit concentrated protein foods (red meat and dairy products) as well as fast food and alcohol
- Add digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid supplements (HCL) into your meal – This tip is vital, you will notice a HUGE difference right away with your digestion
- Consider supporting your liver! Add some fresh lemon juice to your water each morning before you eat breakfast (This will help ignite your digestion and detoxify that liver of yours!).
Here is a recipe that can help to simmer things down in that belly of yours. Enjoy!
Not only does ginger help support digestion, it also helps absorption and assimilation of nutrients!
Chocolaty Ginger Shake:
(Recipe used from Clean Gut, A. Junger)
- 1 cup unsweetened chocolate almond milk (or regular almond milk with cocao added)
- 1 inch fresh ginger piece, peeled and finely minced, saving any juice, or 1 TBSP ginger powder
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 1 TBSP raw cacao powder or cocoa powder
- 1 TBSP almond or cashew butter
- 1-2 TSP spirulina powder or liquid chlorophyll
- Stevia to taste
Blend and enjoy!
Remember to like and share this blog if you found it helpful! Do you have digestion questions? Feel free to comment below!
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Cheers to happy digestion and comfy dancing days ahead!
