7 Habits You Should Avoid After Having Your Meals For A Healthy Living
Although in today's world most of the people have become conscious of their health in some way or the other. They maintain the diet chart, force themselves into the gym, try to keep them fit through yoga and workouts. But usually due to some wrong habits all our hard work gets washed away. Due to lack of proper information, these habits can cause great harm to your body. As much as it is necessary to have a good diet, so as the digestion of nutrients is essential. All the mistakes made inadvertently affect your health, which brings many diseases together.
So let's try to understand some habits that are harmful to our health.
1. Avoid intake of water between meals
The basic theory behind drinking water between meal is to wash down the food. But people do not realize how wrong this habit is and how difficult it be for digestion. For people who are already undergoing various digestion problems, the ramifications are manifold. Our stomach has a mastery of knowing when you will eat and it starts releasing digestive juices instantly. If you begin drinking water at the same time, you are surely diluting the digestive juices and hindering them from breaking down food.
This can also result in acid reflux and heartburn. Drinking-Water between meals can result in a rise in your insulin level and if more insulin is released in your bloodstream the greater the possibility of storing fat in your body. If you really want to have water between meals you can sip a little which is not a cause of concern but drinking a glass or two may infringe with digestion.
2. Do not take rest or lie down right after eating
If you are in the manner of taking rest or lying down immediately after eating, you may ultimately develop gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD) in which the lower oesophagus ceases to function appropriately. Lying down after meals makes stomach acid to rise up, which can lead to many digestive issues. Stay upright if you want to curb the symptoms of GERD. You should wait for at least two hours after eating before you go to bed.
3. Avoid Tea Or Coffee after meals
Generally, people love to have tea or coffee after eating food and if it is also included in your habit then it's time to improve. Although these beverages are meant to alleviate mental and muscular trouble, they should be consumed simply in moderation. Consuming tea or coffee immediately after meals is not a good idea as it inhibits with the process of digestion. Also, people having heart troubles should reduce their coffee consumption as it increases blood pressure and can cause irregularities in the heartbeat.
4. Smoking After Meals Is Not A Good Idea
According to various experts, smoking one cigarette after meal is as hazardous as smoking ten cigarettes. All smokers agree to the reality that they feel urge to smoke right after the meal. When you eat food the body has to digest the same which means that it has to transform in the form as absorbed by the body.
One thing which is for sure is that if you will have a cigarette after your meal, the nutrients from your food will be very improbably consumed by the body. As mentioned earlier the process of digestion starts as soon as you start eating, and the process of digestion undertakes in the small intestine.
Experts believe that smoking after meals advances chances of bowel and lung cancer manifold.
5. Avoid Eating Fruits After Meals
All health experts claim that eating fruits and vegetables is an important factor in leading a healthy diet. They are rich in vitamins, minerals, fibre and have antioxidants. As we can consume vegetables at any time, it is said that fruits should be eaten only at specific times, evaluating the excess proportion of sugar they include. Particularly you should avoid eating them right after the meals. The sugar, in the fruits, gets fermented and if they are digested with heavy proteins it slows down the process of digestion. It also will not able to absorb the nutrients available in fruits. Keep a gap of 30 to 40 minutes between a meal and fruits time.
6. Avoid Brushing Teeth Immediately After Eating
The tooth enamel is the hardest substance in your body which protects your teeth. The acids produced by food can wear away that enamel from time to time. During the meals, the acid level gets increased and your teeth are at their weakest phase.
Brushing immediately after meals means that you are actually attacking your teeth! Even if you are using a soft-bristled toothbrush it can also be highly abrasive when the enamel is already weakened by acid levels.
Wait for at least an hour to help your mouth recover from the acid incursion. But don't forget to brush twice a day and for two minutes each time.
7. Avoid Taking Bath Right After Eating
Apart from ignoring the characteristic of nourishing our body, due to the busy lives of everyone we even ignore the day-to-day activities such as taking a bath at the right time. Proper balanced diet along with balancing the daily activities and going with the clock seems to be an important aspect to live a healthy life.
According to Ayurveda, the fire element in the body is credible for the digestion of food, so when you eat, this element gets initiated and results in boosting the blood circulation for proper digestion. But, when you take a bath, the body temperature drops and results in slow digestion of food.
With proper information related to certain modifications in your habits, anyone can help in making their life more effective and worthwhile.