Day 73 of 365 - Digestive Aids

'Tis the season to overindulge with food and drink.  Sometimes there are just so many yummy looking choices at parties and family gatherings.  Even if you are eating in a pretty healthy way at home, there are often many tempting treats when you go out, which become too hard to resist.

Today I'm sharing a bit about natural digestive aids which can help prevent discomfort or relieve it after the fact.

The best offence is a defense.  If you read my earlier post about fermented foods, I'm here to recommend them again.  If your gut already contains more of the 'good' bacteria than 'bad', you already have a head start at better digestion of whatever you are eating.

Donna Schwenk, the author of the Cultured Food Life newsletter I get, recommends having small amounts of cultured foods with your rich, heavy party or holiday meals.  This can be as simple as using a condiment amount of kimchi or other fermented pickles or natural sauerkraut.

She also recommends that if you know you are going to be eating extra carbs or sugar, take a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water before your meal.  It will help control blood sugar levels.  A small amount of kefir could also help.

Another option is to take a digestive enzyme capsule before a heavy meal, especially before high fat foods.  It will help to break down the fats and ease the load on the liver.

If, however, you are caught off guard and end up feeling indigestion, you can still remedy your situation without popping antacids, which actually help less than you might think.

That awful feeling from overindulging in either food or drink is usually due to the extra load placed on the liver to process the extra fat, carbs, sugar or alcohol.  Some of the heaviness is from retaining extra water in your organs as they attempt to digest the load.

Kombucha is a great detox assistant for the liver.  It will help the liver do its job and allows your body to release the extra fluids too.  It may be well worthwhile to keep a bottle or two in your fridge even if you are not drinking it the rest of the time.

Another traditional digestive remedy is Swedish Bitters.  You can buy this in a little bottle at a health food store.  A small dose of only a couple of teaspoons diluted in water is a great tonic.  And, if your overindulgence has clogged you up, taking it before bed can help give you relief the next morning.

I actually decided to make my own large bottle of bitters.  The health food store sells a pouch of the dried herbs for it.  These are added to vodka.  All that's required is stirring or shaking daily and straining out the herbal bits after eight days.  I will have a big bottle of bitters, probably enough for the rest of my life!

So, enjoy your holiday food and drink, but, give your body the support it needs to manage it.  You'll be glad you did.




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