P.swollen reed, a classic after Christmas lunches and dinners. Now (and always) the gut needs attention, following small but valuable strategies for avoid inflammation. Penalty bloating, constipationa or conversely diarrhea, abdominal pain, burning and stinging. Even those who have not exaggerated with panettone, pandoro, fats and alcohol during the holidays, often find themselves in the first days of January to have these disorders. Especially if you suffer from gastritis, irritable colon and bloating. To regain a good intestinal balance, you don’t need to “go on a diet” or give up satisfying and tasty meals. They are small but precious precautions in the choice of food, from the cooking and of timetables. We talked about it with the Professor Pier Luigi Rossi, Specialist in Food Science and in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine and professor (ac) at theUniversity of Siena – Arezzo.
Swollen and stiff belly: symptoms of an inflamed bowel?
Belly swollen, stinging and burning at the level of the lower abdomen, perhaps on the right or left side, constipation. They are symptoms ofinflamed intestine? What are the gut signals to watch out for and what do they tell us? “They are functional disorders. The meteorism derives from the variation of the microbiota in the last part of the intestine. It cannot be corrected other than by settling the entire intestine through some healthy eating habits. For example, if you have eaten too much sweet, it means that a lot of gluten has been introduced than usual. So there is an overload of molecules in the small intestine with compromise of the intestinal villi. And the bacteria naturally present in the “good” intestinal flora change their composition », explains Professor Rossi.
30 kg of food during the holidays
«From December 24 to January 2, we generally have ate about 30 kg of solid and liquid food. It may sound like a high volume, but they are about 3 kg per day. This food mass, also pleasant, was carried by our hand every day from the plate to the mouth and into our intestines.
This organ has the responsibility of transforming “NON SELF” food (bread or dessert) into vital “SELF” molecules, making up our body. Lintestine is the most fatigued organ after the party. We can have intestinal disorders, meteorism, pains and other pathologies. And having a disturbed intestine generates malaise and fatigue. So let’s start again from the intestine to recover form and momentum », Rossi explains.
The method of rest of the intestine: raw, liquid and hot food
«To guarantee intestinal hygiene and well-being it is necessary raw (when possible), liquid and hot food. Check the ratio of liquid food (broths, soups, soups, minestrone, vegetable puree, vegetable cream, centrifuged, tea, barley, water) and solid food. If solid food dominates the intestine is in distress.
Via pasta, pizza, desserts and seitan for 7 days
To recover the full functionality of the intestinal villi small intestine, essential organs for intestinal hygiene, is good eliminate any food made with flour for at least a week: pasta, pizza, bread, biscuits, rusks, sweets, baked goods.
AND substitute these foods with whole grains (spelled, millet, barley, rye, brown rice, corn, quinoa, buckwheat….) which provide complex carbohydrates without gluten or with limited doses. Eliminate the seitan, because it is a gluten concentrate.
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There water-soluble fiber, contained in whole grains, legumes and vegetables, it forms with water in the small intestine a gel that protects the villi; moreover, the water-soluble fiber has a positive prebiotic action in the colon.
Lentils and chickpeas better than beans for a swollen belly
Among the legumes prefer lentils and chickpeas over beans because they are better digested. Also excellent in the form of passed to improve the degree of acceptance and digestibility.
Start meals with raw vegetables
To introduce raw vegetables at the beginning of each meal, mixed and fresh in season, finely chopped to promote the functionality of the stomach. Use thevinegar instead of salt, enrich with dried fruit (some walnuts or almonds or pumpkin seeds or pistachios …), rich in omega 3. The Kefir is a necessary probiotic food and useful for nourishing and having a healthy intestinal microbiota.
Close meals with cooked vegetables
Finish each meal with a plate of cooked seasonal vegetables simple, or in the form of soup or vegetable soup or vegetable cream. To make a vegetable cream healthy and easy just wash the vegetables, cut them into chunks and then put them in a pressure cooker with a little water until just covering the level of the vegetables. Cook 10/15 minutes from the hiss, then blend it. A tour ofoil extra virgin raw and go.
The ovo-fish-vegetable diet
“As I have advised several times, I confirm theefficacy of an egg-peach-vegetable diet to restore the inflamed intestine to well-being and deflate the abdomen. That is to eat only plant foods, with the only exception of fish (two servings per week) and eggs (four per week). And can those with high cholesterol eat 4 eggs a week? «Yes, as long as you combine eggs with a lot of vegetables, because vegetables contain water-soluble fiber that sequesters the bile salts that emulsify fats. L’inositol in eggs is an anti-cholesterol natural. Then they also contain omega 3 polyunsaturated acids, in particular EPA and DHA, with anti-cholesterol function. The egg is a systemic biological structure, with all the nutrients interacting with each other », explains Professor Rossi. The fish provides protein and especially omega 3 unsaturated fatty acids, in particular two polyunsaturates called EPA, DHA, essential for intestinal and especially brain function. Eggs provide high biological value proteins, EPA, DHA, vitamin D, A, E, iron and other minerals. The water-soluble dietary fiber guarantees the control of the cholesterol dose present in eggs.
Yes to cheeses, but goat’s
The cheeses goats contain short-chain fatty acids therefore powerful antioxidants. While the bovine ones, based on cow’s milk, contain the grains that the cows ate and therefore palmitic acid. It is good for a few days after the holidays, suspend red meat, cured meats and bovine cheeses.
Which water to choose for a swollen belly
It is good drink water before, during and after each meal, choosing that with dry fixed residue greater than 500 mg / liter and bicarbonate ions greater than 600 mg / liter. It is all written on the label placed on the bottle, just make a comparison between different types of water to realize the differences for digestion.
Hot herbal tea deflates belly
Drink hot drinks throughout the day, such as green tea or barley or herbal tea made from fennel, lemon balm or chamomile or other hot drink.
Extracts or centrifuged
During the day it is a healthy choice to prepare and sip mixed extracts or centrifuged vegetables (80%) and fruit (20%)
Extracts or centrifuged must be taken away from meals either in the morning, in the afternoon or after dinner.
The bowel check-up: the tests to be done
If the pain and swelling persist and you want to perform a bowel check-up, Professor Rossi recommends asking your GP for some specific tests:
- amylase, lipase, cholemia, elastase, calprotectin .. anti HELICObacter pylori antibodies, anti gliadin antibodies, anti transgluaminase, anti endomysium
- BREATH TEST glucose or lactose or sorbitol for the detection of hydrogen in the exhaled air. The presence of hydrogen in the exhaled air indicates that an aggressive microbiota is active inside the intestine, which can cause pathologies: IBS – SIBO THE BREATH TEST with glucose or lactose or sorbitol is useful for those with an inefficient intestine , to verify the degree of permeability of the mucosa and the degree of malabsorption of nutrients by the villi of the small intestine, to evaluate above all its own microbiota composed of billions of bacteria
- calprotectin it is a protein to be found in the faeces, its high value points towards an inflammatory or degenerative pathology, to which attention should be paid.
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