The stomach always reacts to how you treat it. This is why there’s a proverb like you are what you eat. There are certain things that will cause harm to you if you take them on an empty stomach. Thus, there are certain things you shouldn’t take two (2) hours before eating.
Here are the things you should never take on an empty stomach:
• Taking anti-inflammatories
Anti-inflammatories such as paracetamol, aspirin and other non-steroidal drugs should not be taken on an empty stomach. This may cause severe health problems such as gastric bleeding. However, if a type of medicine as prescribed by your pharmacist or doctor to be taken on an empty stomach, it is a different thing. With this, milk can be used to take the medicine or you drink enough water when taking the medicine.
• Drinking Coffee
It has somehow become a norm for people to first take in a cup of coffee in the morning and as well skip breakfast. This is very dangerous as it produces a lot of acids which may result in digestive tract problems. If you cannot avoid taking coffee on an empty stomach, just add milk to the coffee in order to reduce the effects.
• Drinking Alcohol
Drinking alcohol on an empty stomach is a very dangerous act. The effect it would have had with food becomes twice without food. This may cause serious danger to your kidneys, liver and heart.
• Chewing gum
When chewing gum, signals are sent to the stomach that it is about to receive food which the teeth is currently chewing. When this happens, the stomach produces certain acids which help in digestion and without food, these acids feed on the stomach lining and this could result in gastritis. Even when the stomach is full, it is advisable not to chew gum for more than ten (10) minutes.
• Going to bed
It is a bad idea to go to bed hungry. This will reduce your ability to sleep properly and also wake up very early. This will only make you eat more in the morning.
• Drinking citrus fruits
Citrus fruits contain acid and if there is no food in the stomach, the acids feed on the stomach lining. This will cause irritation of the stomach which leads to gastritis. If you still want to take citrus fruits on an empty stomach, the best is to dilute the juice with water. Also, foods such as bananas, vegetables and tomatoes are not good to be eaten on an empty stomach.
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