12 Tips On How To Have An Indigestion Free Christmas Season

From an epicurean point of view, Christmas is a season of indulgence especially in eating and drinking.  It is during this time of year that all kinds of appealing, mouth-watering, delectable, savory, delicious, inviting, tantalizing, luscious, tasty, enticing, yummy food can be seen and eaten. Of course, with all these temptations to the palate, people can get all kinds of stomach trouble, most common of which are dyspepsia, commonly called heartburn or acid reflux.  This is why it is important to watch what we eat and not overindulge.  Still, there are many ways to eat, drink and be merry this Christmas without getting indigestion from all that rich food.

 Here are my 12 Tips:

1. Go easy on fatty foods since these take the longest to digest.
2. Eat smaller portions and wait a few short minutes before eating a second helping. This will give your stomach time to digest the food.
3. Eat slowly as this will give time to stimulate production of the enzymes required for digestion.
4. Chew your food properly
5. Avoid gas-producing veggies like cauliflowers, bean spouts, cabbages.
6. Limit your alcohol intake. Avoid it totally if your stomach starts acting up.
7. Don't sleep on a full stomach. A full stomach will put pressure on the valve at the top of the stomach that's supposed to keep acid from leaking back to the esophagus.
8. Sleep on your left side. Elevate your head.
9. Stop smoking. Smoking is one of the leading causes of heartburn since it weakens the valve between the stomach and esophagus.
10. Chew non-mint, sugarless gum 30 minutes after a meal. Chewing gum increases swallowing and helps wash acid out of the esophagus.
11. Don't skip breakfast.
12. Take an antacid to give short term relief, however if heartburn persists, see a doctor.

For people who are prone to digestive problems, they would do well not to overeat.  Christmas feasting should be done in moderation and with a lot of common sense. I know that it is hard to resist all the food set before us but hey, we don't want to end the year miserable because of overindulgence, do we?

Have a healthy Christmas everyone!