The Causes Of Indigestion - Indigestion

Unfortunately, indigestion has a number of underlying causes from the simple and relatively benign, to the more serious which can lead to more serious problems. However, almost all the underlying causes of indigestion can be prevented by simple diet changes.

One of the biggest causes of indigestion, which doesn't even have anything to do with the foods we eat, is how quickly we eat them. Most of us, if not all of us, eat our meals too quickly. I marvel at my wife and daughter who sit down to a meal with me and before I've even finished ten bites of my food, they're all done. Yes, I used to eat like that too. My dinners were consumed in ten minutes or less, and my stomach paid for it with chronic indigestion. Today, my meals all take me between 30 and 45 minutes to consume. I chew slowly and thoroughly. The days where I have any symptoms of indigestion at all are few and far in between.

The reason we get indigestion from eating too fast is because it takes the brain about 20 minutes to received signals from the stomach that it's full. If we're done eating in ten, well, there's no way the brain can get those messages in time. Thus, we've overeaten and we end up with indigestion.

But eating too fast is just one of many problems. Another cause of indigestion is that we often eat foods that should not be eaten together. Without getting into a long drawn out explanation, all foods use a certain digestive enzyme to digest it. When you eat two foods that require two different enzymes, many times these enzymes cancel each other out and our food lays in our stomach, undigested, until it eventually rots. This is one of the main causes of IBS as well. There are a number of resources online where you can find out what foods should not be combined.

Then of course there are other factors such as stress, smoking, alcohol, ulcers and even gallstones, which all can contribute to or cause indigestion. And then finally, there is the actual foods that we do eat, such as foods that are high in fat content. These are the worst offenders when it comes to having indigestion.

By simply changing your diet, what you eat and how quickly you eat, you can greatly reduce your chances of having indigestion. As I said, I rarely suffer from this anymore and I used to have to run out to the store in the middle of the night just to get some ginger ale to make me burp so I could sleep.

You don't need to suffer from indigestion. A little education is all that's required.

To YOUR Health,

Steve Wagner