The 9 Worst Foods for Digestion
Many nutritionists have developed a list of foods that are difficult to digest, which can result in diarrhea, bloating, and other uncomfortable side effects. This list includes apparently useful vegetables, as well as well – known gut abusers.
And so what foods are the hardest for our stomachs to digest?
1. Chocolate and ice cream
Chocolate contains a great deal of animal fats and caffeine, while ice cream has mainly milk and fat. These two ingredients, when blended together, make it difficult for the body to break down them. You need to watch everything you drink, because caffeine can also be present in energy drinks, tea and coffee.
2. Onion and garlic
This is a challenging duo to digest, since both garlic and onion possess antibacterial and antiviral qualities. They aggravate the stomach’s mucous membrane layer, resulting in gas and thundering.
3. Fried food
Fried foods require a lot of time and resources for the body to process completely. As an example, fried meat chunks, similar to a classic kebab, will get completely digested after around three days. However the most taxing issue for the body to process is fatty food fried in vegetable oil. That is really a double whammy for your gut.
4. Fruits
Citric acid present in most all fruits and juices irritates the stomach and increases the body’s all round acidity, leading to acid reflux and heartburn.
5. Beans and legumes
Beans provide you with a lot of natural protein and are also extremely healthy. But there’s another side to the coin. They are high in oligosaccharides, which take many hours to absorb, causing a buildup of gases.
6. Vegetables
Green veggies are generally known to be healthy, but in case you’re snacking on raw tomatoes and carrots, be prepared to pay the price. Veggies are loaded with fiber which, as you may know, can’t be completely digested by humans. This is exactly why after consuming a healthy salad, you may feel gassy and bloated. However, to be fair, the good things presented by vegetables far outweigh the negatives, so keep it green.
7. Spicy food
Spicy foods are dangerous as they irritate the insides of your stomach, and the body puts in more effort to neutralize this effect. Doctors generally suggest avoiding spicy food such as hot pepper, garlic, and onions to people with gastrointestinal issues.
8. Processed meat
This particular category includes almost all industrial meat items prepared without your participation: canned food, sausages, frozen chicken nuggets, etc. They contain dangerous fat, which result in stomach problems and lead to obesity and heart troubles. Not that the meat prepared at home is healthy, but at the least you know it is not loaded with nitrates.
9. Chewing gum and sugar-free products
Sugar-free treatments removed natural sugar, replacing it with xylitol, sorbitol, along with maltitol – the “healthy” sugar substitutes. Perhaps they are a little better, I do n’t know, however, they are only partially digested in the body and result in increased flatulence. Sugar-free chewing gum comes with another great bonus: the stomach gets sweet saliva and air through chewing, and that bloats your stomach even more.