Hello! I’m glad you all enjoyed my little nutritional lessons from school over the weekend! I am going to try to cover a short topic in each post. Today I will talk a little about digestion since I got a lot of requests for that yesterday.

Common Digestive Disorders

Reflux:   Acid from the stomach that re-enters the stomach. It can be related to obesity.

Dietary Components: chocolate, caffeine, coffee, tea, peppermint, spearmint, alcohol, spices, large portions, tomato products, fatty foods, and citrus. Avoid eating to close to bedtime and eating too fast. High stress also plays a role.

Constipation

• Usually caused by lack of fiber/fluids
• Lack of exercise
• Iron and calcium supplements
• Increase fiber, fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, flaxseeds
• Add magnesium
• Increase fluid in the diet with non sugar/caffeinated fluids
• Add exercise
• Probiotics

IBS

• Can cause constipation, diarrhea, bloating, gas, and abdominal pain
• Can be triggered by stress, food intolerances, high fat, hormone imbalances, fructose, environmental sensitivities
• Exercise is a great way to help with IBS

Diarrhea

• Caused by bacteria, virus, food intolerances
• Avoid high fiber
• Add banana and white rice
• Remove intolerant food
• Add probiotics

Gas

• Caused by high fiber diet, eating gassy foods (broccoli, cauliflower), constipation
• Try to reduce foods that are not tolerated (i.e dairy)
• Improve constipation
• Reduce gassy foods (cruciferous vegetables, legumes, etc)

Hopefully this was a little helpful since so many of us suffer from digestive issues. It is important to just listen to your body and experiment with different foods to find what works for you. Everyone is different.

On a less serious note….

Happy Hour!

Last night after work, I decided to skip my workout and have a drink! I met Dori and a wonderful blog reader named Ashley at Merchants. Merchants is a nice bar on the Upper East Side that has the best Lychee Martinis ever!
 

I had 2 lychee martinis plus a vodka soda with a splash of cranberry.

We had a really good time! This was our first time meeting Ashley and we had so much to talk about. We ended up going to a 2nd bar called Baker Street for another drink. By the time we were ready to go, it was 9:30 and we were starving for dinner! Probably not too smart drinking all of that without eating for so long! Dori and I stopped at a cute little hummus plase that just opened near her apartment. We both got hummus pitas. They also had the most amazing pita chips there that we munched on while waiting for our food.

This was seriously the perfect drunk meal! Much healthier than getting the usual late night pizza! The hummus was creamy and delicious!

Fun night! I woke up this morning not feeling too hot so I got my favorite breakfast to cure a hangover.

A mushroom and spinach egg white omelet on whole wheat bread. It did the trick! Tonight I will be back at Core Fusion ready to get my workout on!

I am off to go do some work! Stay tuned for a new giveaway tomorrow!

Related posts:

1. Happy Hour Leads to Insomnia
2. Guest Post: Dieting? Try These Easy Nutrition Tips!
3. Guest Post: Happy Hour at Mudville 9