Acidity is more common than you think—especially for women

 It usually starts as a small discomfort. An invisible heaviness behind the ribs, a faint sour taste creeping up the throat or that dull, ballooned feeling that makes you unbutton your jeans at the end of the day. For most of us, acidity and bloating are so routine that they’ve become background noise, never getting the attention that they should.

When lockdown first crept up on us, I blamed my recurring acidity on the food experimentation I partook in. But even on days I ate clean, the burn would return like clockwork around 11 pm, when my laptop light was the only one still on. Turns out, it wasn’t just the food. It was everything else.

“Acidity and bloating are almost always the result of disrupted rhythms,” explains Nicole Linhares Kedia, sports nutritionist and integrated health coach. “Overeating, excessive caffeine, poor sleep. All of these confuse the body’s internal clock.”

It’s a distinctly Indian storm, too. While acidity and bloating are universal, Kedia says she sees it far more here than overseas. “We’ve normalised irregularity. Late dinners, skipping breakfast, long commutes and constant stress. Combine that with our love for fried, spicy carbs and unwalkable cities and you've got the perfect storm.”

Even culturally, food is celebration, comfort and a lot of times, coping. But our plates have evolved faster than our lifestyles. The post-dinner walk has been replaced by screens and a ‘home-cooked’ meal by delivery apps. We're a generation living in constant low-grade digestive distress.

The real culprit

A lot is going on beneath the surface that we need to educate ourselves on. Neha Ranglani, integrative nutritionist, points to a deeper, often-misunderstood root: low stomach acid.

Many of us pop antacids at the first sign of discomfort, unknowingly worsening the problem by neutralising what little acid we have left. A 2023 study published in the Indian Journal of Gastroenterology by Ghoshal et al. found a high prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) among Indian adults and a growing dependence on antacids in urban populations.

Why women feel it more

“Hormonal fluctuations during PMS, pregnancy or menopause directly affect gut motility,” says Kedia. “The mental load of juggling work, home and emotional labour add up to a demographic that’s both chronically stressed and rarely on schedule.”

There’s also the quiet cultural layer. Indian women are often the last to sit down to eat, sometimes skipping meals or reheating leftovers after everyone else is done. “You can’t separate digestion from lifestyle,” Ranglani adds. “Stress, sleep, hydration, movement, they all play a role in how food moves through you.”

A case of the city stomach

If you live in an Indian city, you can probably picture it: an overworked stomach processing a late dinner of butter chicken at 10 pm, followed by two hours of scrolling under blue light, and a non-negotiable 7 am alarm. Your gut doesn’t get rest, it just negotiates survival.

The digestive system is the first to register emotional burnout. Stress signals divert blood flow away from digestion, slowing enzyme production and gut motility. Over time, even the healthiest diet struggles to compensate for the chaos.

How you can listen to your gut

1. Eat slowly. Chew thoroughly.
2. Move after meals.
3. Prioritise light, regular dinners.
4. Hydrate well and don’t mistake coffee for energy.
5. Manage stress before it manifests in your gut, because it always does.

Healing isn’t about cutting out your favourite foods but about cutting down the noise around them. Our bodies aren’t rebelling, they’re just asking us to listen.

 

 

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  

https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    

https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement

https://GSiyers home remedies.blogspot.com   is the latest addition to my blogs

 

Cholesterol Levels Climbing? This Simple Morning Habit Could Be the Culprit

 Doctors warn that skipping breakfast, a common habit during rushed mornings, may quietly raise cholesterol levels. Studies link delayed or missed breakfasts to higher LDL and triglycerides and lower HDL cholesterol. Skipping the first meal disrupts circadian rhythm, insulin sensitivity, and appetite hormones, increasing the risk of heart disease over time. 

While you may be doing everything right to make your mornings healthy – not taking too much caffeine or sugar, exercising, and drinking enough water- do you see cholesterol levels still rising? According to doctors, it can be attributed to one habit many young people have due to time constraints in the morning rush hour – skipping breakfast.

Doctors say over time, consistently delaying or skipping your first meal of the day subtly disrupts the biological systems that regulate cholesterol, appetite, and metabolism, long before blood test results start raising red flags.

Various studies have repeatedly found that those who do not eat breakfast or eat late at night experience a modestly greater annual increase in LDL or bad cholesterol levels (0.89 mg/dL), along with an increase in triglycerides and a decrease in HDL or good cholesterol levels. The link between these eating patterns and negative lipid changes is always strongest in women, those who are overweight or obese, and those who are physically inactive.  

Why does not eating breakfast impact your cholesterol?

According to experts, when you skip the first meal of the day, your body’s circadian rhythm or internal clock gets impacted negatively with insulin sensitivity, which helps your body regulate blood sugar levels and potentially raises the risk of heart disease. 

This matters for cholesterol because circadian rhythm helps regulate lipid metabolism, including the genes and enzymes responsible for processing cholesterol. When that rhythm is disrupted, the body may become less efficient at managing LDL cholesterol levels.

Doctors say your body is more sensitive to insulin in the morning, more insulin resistant in the evening, and less tolerant to glucose in the evening. And so, while it may anticipate big meals during daytime, as humans are supposed to be diurnal mammals, it means you are more active during daylight hours. Many other studies have also linked late-night eating to a higher risk of obesity and heart disease. This effect may also be due to delays in the release of the sleep hormone melatonin, disrupting metabolism.

Skipping breakfast causes a hormonal imbalance

Skipping breakfast mostly causes prolonged morning fasting, which alters appetite-regulating hormones like leptin and ghrelin. These shifts increase hunger signals while reducing satiety cues, making high-carb or high-fat foods harder to resist later in the day.

When you don’t eat breakfast, it mostly causes prolonged morning fasting, which alters appetite-regulating hormones, shifting an increase in hunger signals while reducing satiety cues, making high-carb or high-fat foods harder to resist later in the day.

What you can do to be mindful of your meal timings and heart health?

Though an occasional late dinner or skipped breakfast is not a big deal, experts say you'd better not make it a habit. Experts offer these tips:

• Eat breakfast consistently within a few hours of waking.
• Avoid food two to three hours before bedtime.
• Try to eat at the same time daily
• Aim for a little more exercise or movement following days when your eating schedule gets thrown off.
• Be intentional about following a healthy diet

The American Heart Association recommends a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and fish, while limiting intake of processed foods, sodium, sugar, and alcohol. The Mediterranean diet is also a great place to start.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  

https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    

https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement

https://GSiyers home remedies.blogspot.com   is the latest addition to my blogs

 

 

12 Bad Health Habits That Kill Your Metabolism

Here’s a test: define metabolism. Go ahead, what is it? If you said it’s how fast you burn calories, you’re partially right. Your metabolic rate does determine the number of calories your body burns. But your metabolism governs more than just your metabolic rate. It also keeps everything in balance – like your blood sugar, cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure.

Following are the 12 bad habits that kill your metabolism:

• Eating too few calories

Eating too few calories can cause a major decrease in metabolism. Although a calorie deficit is needed for weight loss, it can be counterproductive for your calorie intake to drop too low. When you dramatically lower your calorie intake, your body senses that food is scarce and lowers the rate at which it burns calories. 

• Leading a sedentary lifestyle

Being sedentary may lead to a significant decrease in the number of calories you burn every day.
Notably, many people have lifestyles that mainly involve sitting at work, which can have negative effects on metabolic rate and overall health. 

Although working out or playing sports can have a major impact on the number of calories you burn, even basic physical activity, such as standing up, cleaning, and taking the stairs, can help you burn calories. This type of activity is referred to as non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT).

• Drinking sugary beverages

Sugar-sweetened drinks are detrimental to your health. High consumption is linked to various ailments, including insulin resistance, diabetes, and obesity. Many of the negative effects of sugar-sweetened beverages can be attributed to fructose. Table sugar contains 50% fructose, while high-fructose corn syrup packs 55% fructose. Frequently consuming sugar-sweetened beverages may slow down your metabolism.

• Low protein intake

Eating enough protein is extremely important for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.
In addition to helping you feel full, high protein intake can significantly increase the rate at which your body burns calories. The increase in metabolism that occurs after digestion is called the thermic effect of food (TEF).

The thermic effect of protein is much higher than that of carbs or fat. Indeed, studies indicate that eating protein temporarily increases metabolism by about 20–30% compared to 5–10% for carbs and 3% or less for fat.  Although metabolic rate inevitably slows during weight loss and continues to be slower during weight maintenance, evidence suggests that higher protein intake can minimize this effect.

• Not getting enough high-quality sleep

Sleep is extremely important for good health. Sleeping fewer hours than you need may increase your risk of a number of illnesses, including heart disease, diabetes, and depression. Several studies note that inadequate sleep may also lower your metabolic rate and increase your likelihood of weight gain. Lack of sleep is made worse by sleeping during the day instead of at night. This sleep pattern disrupts your body’s circadian rhythms or internal clock.

• A lack of strength training

Working out with weights is a great strategy to keep your metabolism from slowing. Strength training has been shown to increase metabolic rate in healthy people, as well as those who have heart disease or are overweight or obese. It increases muscle mass, which makes up much of the fat-free mass in your body. Having a higher amount of fat-free mass significantly increases the number of calories you burn at rest Even minimal amounts of strength training appear to boost energy expenditure.

• Skipping breakfast

We all know this is the most important meal of the day but with traffic, meetings, and getting kids to school, this meal can suffer. We might not think of it as a big deal but it greatly affects our bodies, thus our metabolism. “Our metabolism slows down during sleep. You need to break the metabolic fast to give your body an energy boost

• Drinking too often

One glass of wine at night won’t kill you. However, if you’re drinking every night of the week, it can kill your metabolism. Once alcohol is in your system, it hinders your body’s fat-burning speed and thus burning less fat and slowing down your metabolism. If you are trying to boost your metabolism, stick to water and if you do have a drink, try to have heart-healthy red wine instead.

• Eating too many refined carbohydrates

Refined carbohydrates are very different from carbohydrates found in whole grains, fruit, and vegetables. Don’t reach for refined carbs like white flour and sugar. “Those are quick to digest, meaning your body uses less energy to break them down. The higher-in-fiber whole grains slow down digestion and make your body work harder to break down nutrients,

• Strict Diets

How you lose weight matters. If you don’t eat enough, your metabolism switches to slow-mo. Severe diets, especially when you also exercise, teach your body to make do with fewer calories. That can backfire because your body clings to those calories, which makes it harder to take the weight off.

• Less water intake

Without enough H2O, your metabolism can stall. How about a tall, cool glass of water? Some studies show that it helps the body burn energy and fuels weight loss. At any temperature, water also helps you fill up, so you eat less.
Sip it throughout the day. You also can eat more foods that are naturally rich in water, such as watermelon or cucumbers.

• Chronic Stress

When you are in a stressful situation, your body makes a hormone called cortisol. It’s meant to give you a quick boost of energy. But if you’re stuck in a stressed-out zone, the body thinks you still need to fight, so it keeps making cortisol. High levels of this hormone make it harder for your body to use insulin. That puts the brakes on your metabolism and fuels weight gain.

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement