Do you know when you practice some physical activity right after your meal and feel a general malaise in your body? Well, the name of this is food congestion! It happens when our stomach has not finished digesting it and yet we decide to do some exercise or try too hard. But the question is: what to do to avoid this sensation? Continue reading the article to understand!
What happens when we experience food congestion?
When we eat a more complex meal – such as lunch and dinner – and then take a cold shower or practice intense exercise (such as swimming, running and playing football), the chances of developing food congestion increase. But why does our body react that way?
What happens, in fact, is that in order to carry out the entire digestive process correctly, our body demands a certain amount of blood – we need to produce gastric juice, start the breakdown of proteins and end the whole process reconciling with other functions of the body. As a result, poor food digestion (to the point of generating congestion) depends on factors such as room temperature, the complexity of the meals we eat and the intensity of the exercises that were done.
The greater the amount of food eaten, the greater the amount of blood needed to digest it. Likewise, the greater the physical effort, the more our body needs to reconcile the other functions of the body, irrigating the blood to the muscles and to areas other than the stomach. The reasoning is the same when we need to regulate the body temperature when we come into contact with ice water after eating a hot meal. Thus, the food stays in the stomach for a longer time, hinders the digestive process and generates symptoms such as abdominal digestion, retching, nausea, nausea, cold sweat and general malaise.
How to prevent food congestion?
The main tip to avoid food congestion is to take a rest of at least 1 hour after the meal. Let your body focus on the digestive process and, in case of indigestion, rest longer. If you already have a predisposition for poor digestion ( feel your stomach bloated , heartburn or excessive gas) the ideal is to take natural isotonics, such as coconut water , fruit salts and allow your intestines to work even longer.
Another fundamental point is to have a healthy and balanced diet during the day to day. So, avoid fats and treats and invest in fiber-rich foods like brown rice (which help intestinal flora), lean meats (especially before exercising) like fish and chickens and foods that are more easily digested, such as salads .
