Every meal is important for your overall heath. But, what you do after a meal is also essential for your daily well-being. You must understand the risks of some casual post-meal habits that can do you more harm than good.
1. Don’t Drink Tea
Tea leaves are acidic and will therefore affect the digestion process. If you ate protein in your meal, the acid from the tea will harden the protein content, making it difficult to digest. Drinking tea immediately after a meal will also interfere with iron absorption by the body. Avoid tea one hour before and after meals.
2. Do Not Shower After Meals
Waiting for at least 30 minutes after a meal before taking a shower is the best suggestion on this topic. Digestion needs blood flow in your body and lots of energy.
But taking a warm water shower, the blood flows towards your skin to release off the heat, thus making it difficult to digest.
3. Consume Fruits
It looks like you cannot have your daily serving of fruit as dessert anymore. Since fruits require different enzymes to digest, it is best to consume fruit on an empty stomach to allow maximum absorption.
If you consume it right after a meal, it will not be able to digest properly and will be lumped together with that fabulous meal you just had.
4. Exercising
Your body needs time to digest the food you consumed before you can exercise. If you exercise right after a meal, your digestive process will be disrupted and can cause stomach puffiness, vomiting and loose motions. Wait for at least a few hours before you hit the gym or that exercise machine.
5. Go for a Walk
Get rid of the old-fashioned belief that walking immediately after the meal helps in better digestion. Walking can help in burning energy, but doing it as soon as you finish your meals only leads to acid reflux and can prevent the digestive juices from absorbing the nutrients of the food.
6. Go to Sleep
Going to sleep right after you have just eaten can cause your stomach to burn through the night, which causes bloating, discomfort and odd sleeping patterns. A study conducted at the University of Ioannina Medical School found that individuals who waited the longest after eating to go to sleep, were less likely to have a stroke. Therefore, the rule of thumb is to not eat at least a few hours before your bedtime.
7. Smoke
No matter how satisfying a good smoke is, after a meal, your body needs to digest properly after eating. If you go ahead and smoke right after, the nicotine binds to the excess oxygen that is required in digestion, allowing your body to absorb more carcinogens than usual.
Read More:
1. Habits to Eliminate That are Causing Liver Damage
2. 3- Surprising Health Benefits of Cold Shower
3. 6 Daily Habits That Will Keep Your Throat Healthy