With temperature reaching a little less than 99 F, The Gulf has been witnessing unbearable heat waves. If you try to contact your physician, he or she can tell you they have been diagnosing a lot of patients with gastric distress. Could it be the heat? Well, it sure is.
Summer means outdoor activities, which can lead to heat-spoiled food, dehydration and over-exercise. All these can lead to stomach aches, nausea, heartburn, constipation or diarrhea. As a matter of fact, there is a term Summer Diarrhea that is defined by the Merriam-webster dictionary as “diarrhea especially of children that is prevalent in hot weather and is usually caused by ingestion of food contaminated by various microorganisms responsible for gastrointestinal infections”.
To avoid these summery disturbances, make sure to follow these rules:
- Don’t overeat at one meal. Try to eat SLOWLY several meals a day and small portions at each meal.
- Store food in a proper way: cold food are meant to remain cold and hot ones hot.
- Fried, fatty and acidic food are most probably going to trigger disturbances. So a big NO goes for: fried food, cheese, heavy creams, sodas, citrus, coffee, tea, tomatoes, beans…
- Drink enough fluids throughout the day
In case you overdid it and are suffering from the above mentioned symptoms, then here is what you need to do:
- Try stomach soothing food items such as pineapple, papaya, ginger tea, chamomile tea, fennel herb.
- Drink fluids, little quantities at a time and avoid solid food.
- No for coffee and alcohol
- Try to eat banana, yogurt, rice, applesauce and plain toast.
- Try some over the counter remedies such as Antacids and acid blockers for indigestion.
Please make sure to check with your physician in case the symptoms persist for couple of days and/or is accompanied by fever.
Good Luck!
