The stomach may seem powerful, capable of digesting almost anything, but it is also a relatively delicate organ. When all the sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy foods enter the stomach, it can easily get "injured." Almost all stomach ailments, especially gastric ulcers and stomach cancer, have much higher incidence rates in men than in women. This is related to men's unhealthy lifestyle habits; a moment of carelessness can easily cause it to "collapse." Therefore, there is a saying that "nine out of ten people have stomach ailments," and if you get a stomach ailment, you need to "nourish it nine out of ten times." To protect your stomach, you might start with the following aspects.
1. Develop good eating habits
Food should be light, soft, and easy to digest; meals should be eaten sitting down, not standing or squatting; eat at regular times and in moderate amounts, with three meals a day at fixed times. When it's time to eat, you should eat proactively whether you are hungry or not; eat less but more frequently, only eat until you are 70% full, avoid excessive hunger or fullness or binge eating, and quit the habit of "forgetting to eat and sleep" or eating erratically, so that the stomach maintains regular activity.
2. Suitable temperature
The temperature of food should be "not too hot, not too cold." Eat less raw, cold, and hard foods. Foods that are too hot, too cold, or too hard will irritate the gastric mucosa and cause stomach problems after entering the stomach.
3. Chew slowly
Eating too quickly increases the burden on the stomach, causing fatigue in the stomach muscles and decreased gastric motility, which can easily lead to stomach injury. Therefore, chew your food thoroughly to make it as "fine" as possible to reduce the burden on the stomach. The more you chew, the more saliva is secreted, which has a protective effect on the gastric mucosa.
4. Choose the right time to drink water
The best times to drink water are on an empty stomach in the morning after waking up and one hour before each meal. Drinking water immediately after a meal will dilute gastric juice, and eating rice soaked in soup will also affect digestion. It's best to drink soup before the meal.
5. Don't exercise after meals
As the saying goes, "A walk after a meal will let you live to ninety-nine." However, "after a meal" does not mean right after finishing eating. You should start walking 20 to 30 minutes after a meal, which is beneficial for digestion.
6. Pay attention to keeping warm
Cold can slow down stomach activity or cause stomach cramps, so pay attention to protecting your stomach and avoid getting cold.
7. Avoid irritation
Alcohol and nicotine in cigarettes can irritate the gastric mucosa, leading to ischemia and hypoxia of the gastric mucosa, disrupting stomach function, and causing stomach problems. Therefore, to maintain or restore stomach health, you must be moderate with alcohol and tobacco. Eat less spicy food like chili and pepper, overly acidic, fried, grilled, and smoked foods; and drink less strongly stimulating beverages like strong tea and coffee.
8. Eat happily
We have all had this experience: when we are in a bad mood, our appetite is also poor, which is the effect of emotions on the stomach. Middle-aged men often have stressful work and relatively high life pressures, and these repeated bad stimuli to the cerebral cortex can easily lead to stomach problems. Therefore, maintain a pleasant mood and emotional stability, and avoid the negative effects of bad emotions like tension, anxiety, and anger on stomach and spleen function. When eating, focus on experiencing the taste and texture of the food, avoid the bad habit of eating while thinking about problems, and it is inadvisable to bring business negotiations, work issues, or children's issues to the dinner table.
9. Be cautious with medication
Remember not to take medication on your own. Many drugs can irritate the gastric mucosa, damaging it and even causing ulcers. Examples include aspirin, indomethacin, and glucocorticoids. Also, do not take traditional Chinese medicines that are too cold and cool for a long time, such as rhubarb and scutellaria.
10. Supplement with Vitamin C
Vitamin C has a protective effect on the stomach. Maintaining a normal amount of Vitamin C in gastric juice can effectively exert the stomach's function, protect the stomach, and enhance its anti-cancer ability.
11. Pay attention to food hygiene
Raw fruits and vegetables should be washed, and do not eat spoiled food, because contaminated and spoiled food contains a large amount of bacteria and bacterial toxins that can directly damage the gastric mucosa.