Your digestive health is not only dependent on what you eat, but how you eat it.
Nutritionist Amanda Hamilton cites the four everyday eating habits that can upset your digestive system:
- Eating too quickly: It takes 20 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain that it's full, so eating more slowly means you're likely to end up eating less. When you gulp down food, yu often end up swallowing air too, which can lead to trapped wind and uncomfortable indigestion.
- Eating too many fatty and spicy foods: These can upset the balance of the gut and irritate the intestines. When this happens, the body produces more water to dilute the irritants, resulting in diarrhoea. Some people are more sensitive than others to rich or spicy foods, so know your limits.
- Eating big, hearty meals: These take longer to digest, so your system has to work much harder.
- Drinking excess alcohol: After a night of heavy drinking, the intestines absorb the toxic alcohol and lose their ability to absorb water. This leads to a release of fluid from the intestinal lining, which can result in an attack of diarrhoea that lasts until the alcohol has left the digestive system.
In a survey of 1,000 people by Imodium, 72% were aware that eating quickly affects their digestive health, yet 65% admitted to rushing meals. Some 44% said they spent 15 minutes or less eating their main meal of the day.
