Experts: 4 Ways to Savor the Season and Avoid Digestive Drama

Common holiday behaviors that tax our digestive system include eating outside our routines, eating while stressed, overeating, and eating dishes richer than usual. Fortunately, these behaviors are fairly simple to adjust.

Yes, you can still enjoy new foods, holiday parties, and a bit of indulgence. Two experts offer easy suggestions to balance the desire to celebrate with simple strategies to avoid problems. The goal is to keep gut symptoms from interfering with life during a time of year rife with digestive challenges.

Keep a Routine

The good news is you can toss the elaborate and exotic recipes you were tempted to try and give yourself permission to stick with something basic. Doing so checks two boxes: it’s less stressful, and you’re guaranteed one dish you know you love to prepare and eat.

Simplicity is one of the key ingredients to navigating this season of indulgence. You don’t need a complicated blueprint that guides every health decision between Thanksgiving and the New Year, according to Nir Salomon, director of integrative gastroenterology at Sheba Medical Center.

“I’m a big believer in small things. I really think that’s important. A lot of times we think we need a big plan to navigate through the holidays, but actually, if you focus on a few things, you’re going to have a bigger effect,” he told The Epoch Times.

Our gastrointestinal (GI) system operates best with a monotonous rhythm. Salomon said to eat the same general types of meals you normally eat, and at the times you usually do.

That might mean you don’t eat at an event that’s in between your mealtimes or only offers snacks. Nibbling—whether a few bites in between meals or a constant dribble of eating throughout the day—might seem harmless during the holidays, but it takes a toll.

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Nibbling is a disruptive habit that can cause symptoms like gas and bloating, said Salomon. That’s because the GI tract begins to secrete digestive juices at the first bite.

“The digestive system likes to be full and then empty itself, then be full and empty itself,” he said.

“Each meal requires a whole digestive process with enzymatic activity. For instance, if you take a bite of an apple, the digestive system doesn’t know if there’s going to be a whole meal after this or just a bite.”

Researchers found that while shift workers normally suffer health consequences from this mismatch in rhythms, even smaller disruptions are problematic.

“Milder shifts in sleep and mealtimes, termed social and eating jetlag, are highly prevalent in the general population. Social and eating jetlag result in later mealtimes, which may promote positive energy balance and weight gain,” the authors wrote.

Eating too close to bedtime can also cause heartburn or acid reflux, Salomon said.

If you don’t normally eat many different foods, the holidays aren’t the time to try everything you see, he said. Eating just two or three familiar foods is more gentle on digestion, and sticking to foods you already know you can tolerate is a good way to eat for a day or two after overdoing it.

Manage Stress

Because stress can stall digestion—resources are diverted from the GI tract when our nervous system is stuck in “fight or flight”—it’s best to have a consistent stress management plan through the year-end.

“That means if you can have some movement or activity during the day, that releases tension from the nervous system. It doesn’t need to be a long walk. It can be for 10 minutes,” Salomon said.

“It’s really important to plan ahead and see that you’re not putting too much on yourself at this time. Try to see where you can have breaks during periods of more intense stress.”

Salomon recommends a short breathing or meditation session every day. It doesn’t need to be long or complex or require experience. Using meditation apps and breathing exercise videos online can suffice.

“Physiological changes in this relaxation response include simultaneous lowering of pulse rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate, which are opposite manifestations of stress. Increase in stress has shown to increase gastric-acid secretion, this is a direct risk factor for developing gastric and duodenal ulcer,” the authors wrote.

Avoid Overeating

Eating too much—even if you’re able to tolerate a variety of foods—also causes problems. You can enjoy holiday flavors and meals with loved ones without stuffing yourself, according to Lena Bakovic, a registered dietitian nutritionist specializing in gut health.

“Overeating can not only produce the more obvious gastrointestinal side effects such as bloating and gas, but it can also feel tremendously uncomfortable,” she told The Epoch Times in an email.

“We can all probably relate to, or remember, a feeling of being uncomfortably stuffed, almost to the point of maybe even feeling nauseous after overeating.”

While you can certainly eat a bit without catastrophe, if you eat too much, expect some GI symptoms like bloating, gas, and fluid retention, Bakovic said.

“Intuitive and mindful eating can be helpful here as well,” she said. “One of the tenets of intuitive eating is to not label foods as good or bad, and instead recognize that all foods can be enjoyed in moderation.”

“The detrimental effects of poor diet are in part mediated by gut microbiota, whose composition, functionality and metabolic end products respond to dietary changes,” author Reetta Satokari of the University of Helsinki wrote.

It might be helpful, Bakovic said, to view the holiday food you eat through a lens of how it provides fuel, which can help you naturally prioritize healthy food.

“Simply recognizing that some foods hold more nutritional value than others may be a helpful way to think about how we eat year-round,” she said.