Well, this is how we should be eating. But how do we normally eat? Many of us like to wash down a good meal with a glass or more of chilled coke even though many of us know of its health benefits!
Mostly people have two reasons for doing this. One, you enjoy coke as an accompaniment to your meal – say, as an inexpensive substitute to wine or beer. Two, you drink coke to get rid of the heaviness in your stomach and settle down your food. Well, nothing much can be done if you really enjoy coke except for perhaps limiting it to a small glass. However for those who use coke to settle down their food there is an alternative. Let me explain.
As we all know, any good meal is rich and heavy in calories, fat etc. Coke is bubbly and helps us burp sooner thus making us feel lighter after a heavy meal. The trouble is that we assume that coke also aids in digestion - because we confuse burping with digestion. Well, I’ve to partly agree because it does have phosphoric acid. (Those who are alarmed can check the label! Moreover drinking coke or any other fizzy drink on an empty stomach increases the chances of acidity and stomach ulcers). For all its glitzy marketing, coke is basically a cheap sugared fizzy drink.
Now, most of us may know that sugar is easily digested by the stomach. Since coke essentially supplies a large dose of sugar, in other words, empty calories or junk, to the stomach, it digests the sugars first, quickly releasing energy into the blood stream and saturating it. As a result, the stomach gets a signal to stop digesting and convert the rest of the food as fat, to be used up for a rainy day - ( not to be used up when it rains or when we’re starving for a pizza! The fat is stored away in case we get caught up in a drought or civil war like situation) Get the idea?
Thanks to the modern lifestyle - traveling to our job in cars and easy access to tempting and cheap fast-food, take-aways and home deliveries, we are ensured of the fact that if anything else, we would never go hungry let alone starve, even if we were to suddenly lose our job and get poorer! In fact, fast food is so cheap that it’s the only food the poor in the developed and increasingly in the developing world can afford! See how advanced we have become? Incidentally recession coupled with high inflation has meant great business for the fast food MNC’s like Mc Donald’s as healthy choices are out of reach for many families.
So the next time you have a coke with a heavy meal, keep in mind that you are essentially building up your fat reserves. The faster this cycle continues, the sooner this leads to diabetes or other lifestyle illnesses. For those who like to continue living the ‘good life’ there is hope in weight loss and slimming clinics, diet coke, artificial sugars, liposuction, weight loss pills etc. Incidentally these businesses are growing at an exponential rate to cater to the demands of our overweight citizens making their investors very wealthy, indeed. The only people who seem to be complaining are the airline passengers, apparently! (Vandana Luthra has opened her life-changing VLCC centres in the Middle East after successfully conquering the Indian market thus bringing new hope to the gastronomically challenged Arab population. God bless her!! ……………….and keep her healthy?! )
For those who are serious about their health, I’d like to recommend a small but effective solution in the form of the humble lemon! Specifically, lemon water, without sugar of course! Firstly lemon water settles food with a burp so you no longer need the excuse to have coke! Secondly, lemon is acidic and after a heavy meal, with lots of fat, it arms the stomach with an extra weapon to take on the heavy stuff, thus ensuring that the heavy meal is digested! Finally, lemon is beneficial for the liver! Three benefits, just for opting lemon water over coke. Drink water while having a meal and lemon water after any heavy meal and feel the relief. People who have curd/yoghurt as a salad mixed with chopped onions, tomatoes and cucumber during or after a meal are ensured of a similar benefit provided they opt for water over coke that is!
Just a word of caution – do not drink lemon water on an empty stomach because it’s really acidic. A tea spoonful of lemon juice in a glass of water should do the trick.
Listen to your stomach, especially when you have heavy food. Regulate your portion sizes of ice creams or sweets after a meal or preferably have it after a gap of two to three hours. The idea is not to overburden the stomach so much that it’s forced to store away food as fat instead of immediately digesting it.
I already hear the junk foods and the weight-loss industry screaming foul!! Hope I can count on your support!!
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