Navigating the Feast:

Recommendations for Digestive Health During the Holidays

Dr. Cara Lan, N.D.

The holiday season is a time for celebration, family gatherings, and indulging in delicious feasts. However, the abundance of rich and often heavy foods can wreak havoc on your digestive system. To ensure you make the most of this joyful season without the discomfort of digestive issues, here’s a list of recommendations for maintaining digestive health during the season of over-indulgence.
 

Tips for Healthy Digestion~

Mindful Eating: Paying attention to what and how you eat can make a significant difference in your digestion. Here's how to begin to learn to eat mindfully:

1. Chew Your Food Thoroughly: Focus on chewing your food more conscientiously than you normally would. This may mean eating more slowly and/or chewing a greater number of times before swallowing. Chewing more consciously helps to break down food into smaller particles, making it easier for your stomach to process.

2. Eat Slowly: Enjoy your meals at a leisurely pace. Eating too quickly can easily lead to overeating and indigestion. Try placing your fork on your plate in between bites while chewing more slowly and thoroughly.

3. Savor Each Bite: Savor the flavors and textures of your food. This not only makes the meal more enjoyable but is another way to be more present and conscious while eating.

4. Eat Only When Truly Hungry: This advice is simple, but if you’ve been eating by the clock’s time, it can be difficult to know when your body is truly hungry. If you are unsure, drink a full glass of water and wait another 20-30 minutes and reevaluate. If you’re truly hungry, that sensation won’t go away with water alone and your body is letting you know it’s time to eat. If you find you want to eat out of boredom, fatigue, distraction, anxiety, feeling blue, etc. do your best to meet those needs directly without food.

Pay Attention to Your Stomach's Cues: Somewhere along the path from childhood to adulthood, for a myriad of reasons, we stop paying attention to the cues and sensations of fullness in our stomach and abdomen while eating. Instead, we tend to focus on how good the food tastes, or not really pay attention to the process of eating at all. In addition, almost no one is taught to really be mindful of these sensations and cues nor do we learn how to heed them when eating. Instead, we think more about how good the food tastes, ignoring our stomach when it's whispering to us that it is almost full. We blow right past the tipping point of fullness and continue to eat until so overly full that it's uncomfortable, causing all manner of digestive issues. To begin to listen to your stomach's cues, try the following tips (disclaimer: these tips are for people who overeat, not those who under-eat):

1. Half way through your meal, put your fork down and tune in to the sensations in your stomach and abdomen. What are you feeling? More hunger? Satiated? Beginning to feel full? Already full? These sensations could also feel like emptiness versus tension, landing somewhere on that spectrum. You may also have sensations that are unique to your body, you just have to figure out what they are for you.

2. If you notice that your stomach is still hungry continue to eat. Pausing every few bites to focus on the sensations in your stomach and abdomen.

3. If your stomach feels satiated but you still have a desire to eat (a desire to taste delicious food), then push your plate away and set a timer for 20 minutes. If you are still hungry when the timer goes off, continue to eat mindfully until you feel a greater level of satisfaction— judging by the sensations in your stomach. However, you may notice that after 20 minutes or so you no longer feel hungry, your digestive hormones have kicked in and you feel fully satiated without the discomfort of having overeaten.

4. Practice listening to your stomach at every meal. Easier said than done, but keep at it. This is a skill that takes time to learn.

5. Practice being patient and easy on yourself as you learn these cues. Know that you will miss the mark here and there and will walk away from a meal having overeaten. That is okay and normal. Just try again at your next meal and do not shame or beat yourself up about it. Just get back on the horse and try again. None among us is perfect.

6. Learning how to not overeat can make a BIG difference for digestive health. Pretty quickly you will notice that learning to eat to a level of comfortable fullness is easy and really pays off in digestive wellbeing.

Remember to Hydrate: Drinking enough water helps soften stools, making them easier to pass and preventing constipation. It's easy to forget about drinking water amidst the holiday festivities, so be sure to make it a habit to sip water throughout the day. You can also make it a habit to drink a full glass of water between alcoholic beverages, coffee or sweetened drinks, to slow down your consumption of those beverages.

Limit Alcohol and Caffeine: Speaking of coffee and alcohol, both of these can irritate the digestive tract. Excessive consumption of these beverages can lead to acid reflux, stomach discomfort, and inflammation. Limit your intake and balance them with water or herbal teas.

Choose Fiber Rich Foods: Fiber is your digestive system's best friend. It helps regulate bowel movements and prevents constipation. It is also food for the good bacteria that live in your gut. (And keeping those guys well-fed and happy, will keep your GI tract well-fed and happy). :) Incorporate fiber-rich foods like a wide variety of fresh fruits and green vegetables; beans and legumes; root vegetables and whole grains like brown rice and quinoa into your holiday meals. Fiber also helps you feel full, diminishing overeating.

Stay Away From Food Intolerances: If you have known food allergies or intolerances, be extra cautious during holiday gatherings. Communicate your dietary restrictions to your host or bring a dish that you know is safe for you to eat.

Consider Helpful Supplements & Homeopathic Remedies:

1. Digestive enzymes can also be helpful, especially for those with digestive issues. A wide-spectrum digestive enzyme can help you digest carbohydrates, fats and protein so that there is less food stagnation in your GI tract.

2. Ox Bile can be helpful for those who have trouble digesting fat.

3. Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that promote a healthy gut microbiome. Consider including yogurt with live cultures, kefir, or fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi in your diet.

4. Homeopathic Nux Vomica can be helpful if/when overindulgence happens.

Walk After Meals: Taking a leisurely walk after a big meal can aid digestion. It helps move food through your digestive tract and can help reduce the feeling of fullness.

The holiday season is a wonderful time to celebrate and enjoy the company of loved ones while simultaneously protecting your digestive health. By following these recommendations, you can savor the festive foods while maintaining digestive comfort and wellbeing.

I hope you have a wonderful, digestively-healthy, holiday season!