What Not To Do After Eating a Meal for Healthy Lifestyle

Last Updated on February 22nd, 2022

Today I am going to tell you about the simplest stuffs that can help you lead a healthy lifestyle. There are general mistakes that each one of us commit in our daily lives which impact our health in a number of ways. This article is going to be a different one and an interesting one, because these are like treasures that my grandfather use to teach me while I was a kid. Today I was just sitting and I got a thought of those word and I felt like spreading the same words with you all, because Medictips is all about health in simple and natural ways. I have modified the words a bit and added a few more facts and information that I could accumulate and have prepared a really ravishing list that you have to start working on, right from this moment.

What do Elderly Say?

You yourself might have heard from your grandparents or parents that do not sleep immediately after having a meal or do not have that cup of coffee. If yes, then they are right, because having all this stuff right after the meal is not good for health. Once we are done with meal we should let our body digest that food and extract nutrients from it, but we usually don’t either we’ll burden our body by eating fruits over it or some who want to really help they will start to walk around, and if asked they’ll say they are helping digest food.

They are not even wrong, because for a normal human, walking or doing any sort of exercise is the most basic way to digest food, but this could actually be very bad for your health. So, just to bust all these myths and create awareness about what other things you should not do after a meal, I have prepared this one exclusively for all of you. Following these tips, along with taking probiotic supplements (see Bio X4 reviews here) to aid digestion, should help to keep you feeling fit and healthy. Here’s the list:

1. Do Not Smoke:

Though smoking should be avoided totally, not just after a meal, or before a meal, this shouldn’t be practiced at any point of time. Yet, those who haven’t woke up yet, you should at least avoid smoking for 2 hours after a meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner). I have often seen my colleagues also, those who have a habit of smoking, they will get an irresistible urge to smoke right after a meal, I don’t know why, but this is really like giving a call to death. It has been found that the destructive effects of smoking increases to ten folds if taken over a meal or in simple words you can say, smoking a cigarette after meal is equivalent to smoking ten cigarettes together.

Actually cigarette contains a large number of cancer causing agents called carcinogens, which tends to increase if they get to mix up with other substances.  And not only just cancer, it can also cause ulcer, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and various problems related to colon if smoked right after meal, because it directly interferes with the food on its way and gets mixed up with it to reach the colon and stomach to create more damage than usual. So, all I have to suggest is, if you can’t quit it completely then at least don’t smoke two hours before and two hours after a meal, it would still save you from some serious threats.

2. Say “No” to Fruits:

This might come as a surprise to you because generally fruits are considered good for health and helpful in carrying out the activities that our meals aren’t capable of. But yet, having fruits just after a meal is not a good practice, because neither do they do any benefit to health, instead they become bad for health.

Actually this is because the rate of travel of fruit from our mouth to intestine (for digestion) is faster than the food that we eat in a meal. If you will eat fruit over a meal then the fruit content will not be able to reach intestine for digestion (destination) on time and will get stuck and mixed with the food on the way. And thus will get spoiled in between and will also spoil the food.

Thus, neither our body will be able to get the benefits of much desired fruit nor the meal, nor instead you will land yourself in a situation where you will have stomach ache or some other problem due to spoiling of fruit and food. So, it is best recommended to wait for at least one hour after a meal, if you really want to enjoy the benefits of fruits.

3. Avoid Tea:

It is often seen in daily life that aged people or even the ones who have just entered the corporate life they tend to have developed a habit of having a cup of tea or coffee over a meal, thinking that tea or coffee would help to digest the food properly. If you are one amongst those who thinks the same way then let me just make one thing very much clear to you that this is just a myth, far away from reality. No doubt drinking tea or coffee in moderate quantities could be beneficial for health, but if drunk over a meal then it could do more harm than good.

It has been found that drinking tea or coffee can create deficiency of many nutrients, specially iron and protein in the body. Because tea and coffee contains certain compounds that inhibit the absorption of these nutrients by the body, thus creating a deficiency which may further cause a number of diseases. Not just this, even tea is a bit acidic in nature, thus it could also disturb the process of digestion, leading to obesity and a number of other problems. So, if you really want to do something good for your health then at least do not drink tea for one hour after a meal, it would even help the body get the benefits of tea to its optimum.

4. No Sleeping:

It is often found that once we are done with a meal, it feels quite lazy and one tends to feel sleepy specially after a lunch. But, if you really does what your heart says, and lays down for a nap, then you are doing bad for your health in multiple ways. Because while sleeping, your diaphragm muscles contract and expand with pressure, that creates a problem in digesting food. Plus, a specific acid is generated by our stomach to digest the food, this acid, if you lay down enters the food pipe and other areas, due to which you may feel a burning sensation or it also gives rise to burps and formation of gas.

Thus, in order to let the body digest food easily and avoid gas, do not sleep for at least two hours after a meal. Better you can sit and chat with your colleagues and friends or just sit in a park to take fresh air and avoid the laziness.

5. Do not bath:

This is generally not a routine or something one often does after taking a meal, but even if by chance you get into such circumstances, I would suggest you to either not bath or if possible postpone your bath by minimum half an hour or so. Actually blood concentration is required around the stomach to digest the food.

But, as you take bathe immediately after a meal, the body temperature tends to decrease, and in order to maintain the temperature of the body, the heat starts moving towards the skin and blood starts circulating all over the body and the quantity of circulation of blood around stomach decreases. Thus, the process of digestion is interfered and as a result the food either goes to waste, creates problem or creates obesity. That is why it is recommended to not to bath for at least 30 minutes after taking a meal.

6. Don’t Go for a Walk:

Some people are often in the habit of going for a walk after having a meal thinking that it will help their bodies digest or process the food better. In the absence of full knowledge this is expected, but instead of helping body digest food, it hinders the digestion process and makes it difficult for the body to digest the food and extract the nutrient content. That is why it is recommended to take a walk for 10 minutes after 20-30 minutes of taking a meal.

It helps burn calories and also helps avoid many problems, but going for a walk immediately after a meal can cause problems like acid flux and indigestion. So, from next time onwards keep this thing in mind that be sat for 10 minutes after meal before you leave for a walk and make sure that you don’t walk too much just a brisk walk for 10 minutes is all you need to make the best for your health.

7. Do not loose belts:

This is a general practice that everyone tends to do after a meal, because after eating, the stomach pops and comes out, giving a feel of tightening in the belt, so generally everyone loosens the belt to feel better. When you start feeling tight in your belt, that means it is a sign that you are done with the eating and you should stop, but if you will loosen the belt, your intestine will twist and it causes problem in the process of digestion.

And not just this, actually what happens is when you loosen the belt it gives space for abdominal muscles to relax, which means more food can accumulate and increases the chances of collecting more food than normal, hence chances of getting that belly increases. But, on the other hand, if you will eat until you feel comfortable in belt, your abdominal muscles will remain firm and chances of eating more and getting that belly reduces.

Conclusion

These seven are the easiest practices that doesn’t require much of your input (I guess). But, in return I assure you that these practices will ensure at least you have a healthy stomach, and a healthy stomach means healthy you, because some way or the other almost each and every disease is linked to stomach. So, just learn these seven principles and say good bye to problems.

Practice Healthy… For a Healthy Lifestyle …!!

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shubham

Shubham is editor, and researcher for MedicTips. Studying the work of top natural health activists, and writing special reports for MedicTips. He has written number of articles and pages on how to obtain optimum wellness through natural health.

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