You can drink water after eating. The whole truth about water. Can I drink it after eating? Water taken on an empty stomach

The daily water requirement of an adult is 2-2.5 liters. Everyone knows about this, but half of the world's population does not consume the amount of water the body needs. The reason for this is not a lack of drinking water, but a frivolous attitude towards one’s health.

You need to understand that water plays an important role in the human body:

Water dissolves minerals in tissues, takes part in heat transfer, and in the release of metabolic products.

Water is needed for the formation of new blood cells and bone tissue. With a lack of fluids, a person experiences anemia and indigestion.

Water is essential for joints - it acts as a lubricant, reduces joint pain and protects them from wear and tear.

Lack of water leads to a decrease in thinking abilities; the blood becomes thick, so that the heart does not cope well with pumping it.

A person can only live for a few days without water.

But you should also know that drinking too much overloads the work of the heart and kidneys, washes out the salts and vitamins they need from the tissues, and leads to edema.

Increased fluid secretion (diarrhea, vomiting) leads to dehydration.

It is harmful to drink large amounts of very cold water - it quickly and strongly cools the stomach and has a negative effect on it. It is also harmful for rheumatism, gout, diseases of the nervous system, various tumors, paralysis, and blockage of blood vessels.

The benefits and harms of boiled water: boiling water warms, improves digestion, removes mucus, suppresses hiccups, bloating and shortness of breath. Cooled boiled water removes bile, but on the second day after boiling it is harmful to drink it, especially if it is boiled again.

Water in food. How to quench your thirst?

Most often, a person’s consumption of water is regulated by the feeling of thirst. But thirst can be true or false. False thirst is a feeling of dryness in the mouth that goes away after 1-2 sips of water. Before drinking, you first need to rinse your mouth with water, and then drink it in small portions, 100 g every half hour.

You can quench your thirst not only with water, but also with some food products. Vegetables, fruits, and berries contain a lot of water; for example, apples are equal in weight to water - 0.5 kg of apples equals 0.5 liters of water. Cucumbers contain 96% water, celery - 94%, tomatoes - 93%, spinach - 92%, melon - 91%, strawberries - 90%, papaya - 89%, grapefruit - 88%, orange - 86% water. These vegetables and fruits not only quench thirst, but also replenish vitamins and minerals in the body.

Green tea quenches thirst well - both hot and cold.

Water acidified with lemon or cranberry quenches thirst.

In summer it is good to quench your thirst with sour juices: tomato, cherry, plum, grapefruit. The acid causes profuse salivation, which relieves dry mouth in the heat.

Heat is much easier to bear when the body has enough potassium and sodium salts - it is these minerals that are intensively lost along with sweat in the summer. With their deficiency, lethargy and fatigue occur. lack of appetite. It is easy to compensate for sodium losses - regular drinking water should be slightly salted with table salt. To compensate for potassium deficiency, include in your diet foods containing this mineral: cottage cheese, cheese, potatoes, beets, corn, spinach, apricots, seaweed, soy.

Fermented milk products quench your thirst well. They can be eaten with vegetables, fruits and berries.

Bread kvass helps quench your thirst. And also honey kvass, apple, pear, cranberry.

To quench your thirst, tea made from medicinal herbs is good: rose hips (fruits), mint, raspberries (leaves), hawthorn (fruits, flowers and leaves), oregano, St. John's wort, wild strawberries (berries and leaves). Tea can be consumed both hot and cold.

Water in food. Drinking regime:

What is drinking regime? This is a routine for drinking water or other liquids, which takes into account the person’s age, type of activity, and living conditions. It is especially important to maintain a drinking regime in conditions where the body loses a large amount of water. This happens during heavy physical activity (during physical education, during competitions), when working at an enterprise in a hot shop, in the summer in hot weather, etc.

· During physical education, the drinking regime has a number of features. During classes you should not drink water, but only rinse your mouth and throat with water. After competitions and training, the body loses a lot of water. Therefore, the loss of water must be replaced gradually, over 2-3 days. If you take a large amount of water at one time, it overwhelms the bloodstream and disrupts the water-salt balance. Therefore, it is harmful to drink a lot of water immediately after exercise. It is useful to drink in small sips, slowly, trying to hold it in your mouth for a while. Together with sweat, a large amount of sodium chloride is released, which is able to retain water in the tissues. In this regard, athletes use special drinks containing various salts, ascorbic and citric acids, glucose, and sugar.

· When working in a hot shop, it is best to drink sparkling water and dried fruit compote.

· What to drink in summer? In summer, when the weather is hot, the body loses fluid faster, and a person is constantly thirsty. Therefore, it is important to maintain a drinking regime. If the air temperature is above 20 degrees, then a healthy person needs to drink 100-200 ml of liquid every hour, the total amount is 2.5 liters, at a temperature of 30 degrees and above - 3.5 liters. It is better to drink still water, freshly squeezed juices without sugar, mineral water, herbal teas - all liquids at room temperature. For diseases of the cardiovascular system, kidneys, obesity, drinking a lot of liquid is contraindicated. In hot weather, alcohol is contraindicated, especially heavy alcoholic drinks.

· What to drink in the sauna? During bath procedures, drinks are used that increase sweating, remove waste products, and have a stimulating or relaxing effect. A traditional refreshing drink that quenches thirst and maintains tone is aromatic tea. A common tea is diaphoretic tea, which can be purchased at a pharmacy or prepared from dried raspberry fruits and roots. You need to use young rhizomes, collected in the fall and dried in the shade. Herbal tea is also prepared from various mixtures of herbs: string, St. John's wort, chamomile, oregano, and others. It is harmful to drink a lot of water after a bath, especially on an empty stomach.

· Drink water on an empty stomach. Gastroenterologists advise drinking hot water in the morning on an empty stomach. You can add a few drops of lemon juice. Hot water activates the gastrointestinal tract and flushes out waste and toxins that accumulate on the walls of the gastrointestinal tract overnight. After this procedure there is often a laxative effect. After a few days, the skin noticeably clears up and digestive problems disappear. How to drink? Every day, 30 minutes before breakfast, drink 1 glass of hot water (30-40 degrees) in small sips. What kind of water is suitable? It is better to drink raw hot water, but not boiled water. Tap water is not suitable for this; it must be passed through a filter. Tea, coffee, juices and other drinks are also not suitable for this procedure.

· Drinking regime of older people. Elderly people should not wait for thirst to appear, but drink water often. You need to especially carefully monitor the drinking regime of bedridden patients who do not care for themselves.

By observing the drinking regime, the body will not be overloaded with fluid and will not be dehydrated, then you can maintain physical and mental performance for a long time.

Water in food. What kind of water is healthy?

Melt water.

The benefits of melt water. In its structure, melt water is similar to the water found in the cells of the body and blood, therefore, the body does not spend energy on its structuring. Melt water is useful for atherosclerosis, for cleansing the body of toxins, for increasing its defenses, for stimulating reproductive mechanisms, and for rejuvenating the body. During the day, you need to drink 1 glass of melt water in the morning an hour before breakfast and 1 glass in the afternoon an hour before meals. With daily consumption of 1-2 glasses of melt water, the functioning of the heart, blood vessels, muscles is normalized, and blood improves. It is useful to drink melt water on fasting days.

You can prepare melt water at home. To do this, heat tap water to a boil (do not boil) in an open container, remove from heat, and tightly close the lid to cool under running cold water. Then put it in the freezer. The water can not be heated, but immediately frozen (on the balcony in winter). First, water freezes, which contains mechanical impurities: particles of clay, sand, etc. After 4-5 hours, you need to remove this ice from the dish and put it back in the freezer for 10-12 hours. After this, hold the bowl with ice at room temperature for a while, remove the ice from it and rinse off harmful substances from the center of the piece under running water. The fact is that when frozen, harmful impurities are forced out of the water. Next, you defrost this ice and consume the water. Water is stored in the refrigerator or other place at a temperature of 10 degrees for 2-10 days.

Mineral water.

Mineral water has a positive effect on all organs of the gastrointestinal tract and other body functions. The effect of drinking mineral water depends on its chemical composition, quantity, frequency of intake, etc. Therefore, it is better to drink mineral water as prescribed by a doctor. When drinking mineral water, you should take into account the acidity of gastric juice. If the acidity of the gastric juice is normal, you need to drink mineral water 45 minutes before meals, with low acidity - 15 minutes before meals, with high acidity - 1.5 hours before meals.

Regular drinking water should not be replaced with mineral water. Although mineral water contains various substances that have a healing effect, its overdose has a negative effect on the body.

Water in food. Improving water quality:

Tap water. The water entering the water supply system is subjected to chlorination to purify it of harmful microbes. And although the chlorine content in water is not high, when drinking 2 liters of such water daily, chlorine irritates the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines and suppresses beneficial microflora. To remove chlorine from water, you need to leave it in an open vessel for at least an hour (preferably for 24 hours) or boil it. Also, chlorine is removed when water freezes.

Tap water is most often hard. Such water is unsuitable for internal use and external use. Hard water contains magnesium and calcium salts, is poorly absorbed, is deposited in joints and blood vessels, and impairs their functions. The degree of water hardness can be determined by the deposits in the kettle and by the weak action of the soap. You can reduce the hardness of water at home by boiling it before each use.

You can improve the quality of tap water by adding apple cider vinegar: for 1 liter of water, 1-2 teaspoons of vinegar, or a few drops of lemon juice.

You can improve the quality of tap water using filters. Today, almost every family has household filters for water purification. Filters reduce water hardness, remove harmful impurities, microbes, unpleasant taste and smell. Filters are convenient to use at home, in the country, in the office. You just need to pour water from the tap into the jug or through the faucet nozzle; The water itself passes through the filter into a special container. The result is crystal clear water of excellent quality.

Water in food. Is it possible to drink water after eating?

Many people ask this question: is it possible to drink water or other drinks (tea, compote) immediately after a meal or during a meal. There is an opinion that after eating you can drink water only 2 hours later. This is explained by the fact that water washes away or dilutes gastric juice, and food is poorly digested. In fact, this is a myth.

You can drink water during meals and immediately after it - it does not liquefy anything and does not wash away. After all, the stomach is not just a bag in which food is mixed and passed on. Everything is much more complicated - the water in the stomach passes along the longitudinal folds and quickly leaves the stomach into the duodenum without mixing with gastric juice. If water interfered with digestion, then soups would also cause serious harm to the body. But it’s the other way around: those who constantly eat soups have normal digestion and do not suffer from gastritis or obesity. Therefore, it does not matter when to drink water: before meals, during meals or immediately after meals. When you want, then drink.

But, nevertheless, the temperature of the water and other drinks received deserves attention. Soviet radiologists conducted experiments that showed that food washed down with cold liquid remains in the stomach not for 4-5 hours, but only for 20 minutes. During this time, proteins do not have time to be broken down into amino acids and are not absorbed by the body. As a result, undigested protein food enters the intestines and the process of rotting begins. And this leads to inflammatory bowel diseases: colitis, enteritis, dysbacteriosis. In addition, a person quickly becomes hungry, he eats and eats again, which leads to obesity.

From all of the above, we can draw the following conclusion: you can and should drink water or other drinks, if you want, before meals, during meals, immediately after meals, but not cold ones. The temperature of liquids should not be lower than room temperature.

Remember that water plays an important role in human nutrition!

A person can only survive without water for a few days. The resource is the main component for the normal functioning of the body. It is important not only to drink drinks regularly, but also to do it correctly. Recently, there has been active debate among those who say that you should not drink while eating, and those who are sure of the opposite. In this article we will try to understand this issue and tell you what drinks and in what quantities should be consumed during the day.

After reading the article you will learn:

Is it harmful to drink while eating?

Many people drink liquid with their meals during meals. The habit of the older generation appeared at a time when scientists argued that a certain amount of food should account for the required amount of drinks.

Misconceptions have long been refuted. Modern scientists say that you should not wash down your food. Why you shouldn’t drink water during or after meals is a burning question. Experts explain the reasons for the ban simply.

Dry food causes a person to spend more effort chewing. During the chewing process, the required amount of saliva will be released. It contains an enzyme that kills harmful microorganisms and promotes better digestion. Foods that have been chewed well are better broken down in the stomach and do not clog the intestines in the future.

When drinking liquid with food or after eating, a person may encounter certain problems:

The concentration of gastric juice decreases, which negatively affects the digestion process. The pieces may not be completely absorbed, but will immediately go to the intestines;
when washing down food, a person swallows large pieces that cannot be digested normally;
the time required for digestion increases. This can put a strain on other internal organs;
cold or sweet drinks cause the pieces to move faster into the intestines, without the necessary breakdown;
poorly digested food begins to rot and ferment, which is fraught with gas formation and other unpleasant symptoms. The body will not absorb useful substances, but at the same time it will face weight gain and the deposition of toxins;
when food passes quickly through the stomach, a person begins to feel hungry earlier;

Cases when you can and should drink water during meals

In some situations, you can drink water during and after meals, but it is important to follow the recommendations developed by nutritionists. If you cannot cope with the desire to wash down the dish, then you should not torture yourself. This happens when you eat foods that are too salty, spicy or dry. If, moreover, you do not like to bother yourself with long chewing, then large pieces will end up in your stomach, which are unlikely to be digested.

In this case, it would be wise to drink a little at lunch. However, remember the following rules:

drink only liquids that are at room temperature, not hot or cold;
drink drinks in small sips and slowly;
try to mix water with saliva and food so that it does not enter the stomach directly.

It is best to take a small sip when you have already started chewing the food. This way the pieces will soften better before entering the digestive tract. However, you should not drink too much. For lunch or dinner, 100 - 150 ml is enough for you. It is better to drink a glass of clean liquid in advance to prevent dehydration and not be thirsty after eating. Remember that if you drink during lunch, it should be plain water, not juice, tea or other sugary drinks.

Why you shouldn't drink water with a large lunch or small snack

If we formulate general theses of harm to health, they will sound like this:

Digestion worsens. This is fraught with both the usual increased gas formation and the occurrence of serious pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract;
the slow digestion process puts stress on other internal organs;
A large amount of water stretches the stomach, which increases the number of portions eaten, and, therefore, weight.

When can you drink water after eating?

The main question for people looking after their health is how long after eating they can drink. Nutritionists do not recommend doing this in the first 20–30 minutes, even if you drink warm rather than chilled drinks. A certain amount of time must pass for the digestive processes to begin. The time when you can drink water after eating depends on what foods were eaten. Certain recommendations apply:

when snacking on fruits or berries, wait half an hour;
a lunch consisting of vegetables should be digested within an hour;
the heaviest dishes (meat, fish, fatty, bakery products) require digestion for at least 2 hours.

Therefore, nutritionists recommend drinking drinks not during or after lunch, but before it. This will help launch the digestive processes, clear the stomach for a new meal, allow you to be satisfied with fewer dishes, and, therefore, help reduce excess weight.

Drink clear liquid 15 to 20 minutes before your meal. It is better to drink juices and other sweets earlier. Try to drink cool, but not too cold water.

What drinks can you drink after meals?

Scientists have long proven that drinking warm liquid has a positive effect on the digestion process. Cold quickly “slips” through the stomach, going directly into the intestines. As a result, it is not absorbed itself and interferes with the digestion of foods.

When you eat cold food during lunch, the pieces do not have time to break down and are immediately pushed into the intestines. Warm liquid, on the other hand, leads to the opposite result. When you drink it, you stimulate digestion. It reduces hunger and helps you eat less at lunch. It also promotes better intestinal motility and helps prevent constipation.

Proper consumption of drinks (tea or coffee) means that 20 to 30 minutes should pass after lunch or dinner. Drinking immediately after eating, they will not bring much benefit, although they will do less harm than cold water.

Chilled drinks should be consumed at least an hour and a half after dinner. In this case, they will be beneficial and will help improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.

How to get rid of the desire to drink food

This will not be easy if you are used to always drinking during lunch or dinner. To reduce this urge, try drinking a glass of liquid shortly before meals. Also, do not forget to chew food thoroughly to release the required amount of saliva. It is useful to eat slowly, without being distracted by conversations. Dinner should be dinner, so give it some of your time.

If you are tormented by an unbearable desire to wash down what you have eaten, rinse your mouth to get rid of food particles.

Does it have an effect on weight and weight loss?

Drinking drinks at lunch or dinner can affect a person's weight. Since the digestion process worsens, foods are not completely absorbed. In essence, a person receives empty calories, but no nutrients. As a result, weight gain occurs, but the feeling of hunger remains.

This forces you to snack more and more often, washing down your food again. It turns out to be a vicious circle from which it is difficult to break out. Experts say that to lose weight you need to drink fluids correctly.

First, try to drink shortly before meals - about half an hour. This is enough to start the digestive mechanisms. You'll eat less and feel full longer.

Secondly, watch how many drinks you drink. Drink about 2 liters per day. It should not be soda or tea, but clean water.

If you are used to drinking heavily when eating meals, it is worth reconsidering your habits. In some cases, they can aggravate existing health problems and add new diseases. Drink before meals if you want to improve digestion and eat less.

If you are unable to give up a bad habit, limit your liquid intake at lunch and drink according to the rules. You should not wash down your meals with several glasses. Cut down on the portion and drink in small sips. Follow these simple recommendations and your body will thank you.

Many of us experience a strong feeling of thirst while eating or immediately after a meal. However, most are sure that you should not drink while eating. More and more information is emerging: you can drink only an hour or two after eating. But is this really so? Does it make sense to endure thirst if you really want to take a few sips of life-giving moisture after eating?

Is it possible to drink water after eating: yes or no?

There are different answers to the question whether you can drink water immediately after eating. This does not mean that there is no exact statement, and the facts contradict each other, just that each statement has a number of reservations.

Reasons against drinking immediately after eating

There is an opinion: you can drink water 2 hours after eating. This statement is based on the fact that supposedly water entering the stomach immediately after eating dilutes the gastric juice, which prevents food from being digested. However, such an explanation will be meaningless if we remember the structure of the stomach.

It consists of two sections: upper (proximal) and lower (distal). Food entering the stomach is initially stored in the proximal section, gradually moving to the lower. Water entering the stomach is not stored in the upper section, it is immediately sent to the lower section. By the time the food reaches the distal compartment, the water has already traveled further. For example, one glass of water will leave the stomach in a maximum of 15 minutes.

The stomach is permeated with a certain kind of “pockets” in which water can be stored for a certain time. The pure liquid that a person takes after a meal does not send food ahead of time to the small intestine, and has almost no contact with gastric juice. It flows along the outer wall of the stomach, along the longitudinal folds, directly entering the lower section of the organ. By the way, water drunk on an empty stomach moves to the lower part of the stomach in a couple of minutes.

Therefore, if you want to drink after eating, you can safely take a few sips. But before that, it is important to understand which liquids you can drink and which ones are extremely undesirable.

What and how can you drink after eating?

Soviet doctors conducted a series of experiments and found out that if you wash down dishes with cold water, the food in the stomach is 4 times less than it should be. Typically, food enters the stomach for an average of 4 hours. But if you wash down your food with cold drinks, the food stays in the stomach for less than half an hour. As a result, the low temperature inside the stomach forces undigested food to move faster through the gastrointestinal tract. This does not speed up the digestion process, as you might think, but causes serious digestive disorders. Food that enters the intestines in an incompletely digested form causes putrefactive processes in the intestines. This leads to bloating, gas formation, diarrhea and dysbacteriosis.

The second reason not to drink cold water after meals follows from the first. We get a feeling of hunger, although we seem to have eaten food recently. , read in a separate article. So what kind of water can you drink after eating? If the temperature is above 20 °C, it is better that the water is even warmer, not colder than room temperature.

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Can you drink any liquid after eating?

It is not in vain that we focus attention on this issue, because liquid and water are not always the same substance. Most often, people like to wash down their food not with plain unsweetened water, but with something “tasty.” They use compotes, fruit drinks, juices, sweet carbonated drinks, tea, coffee, etc. Any liquid that contains calories is not water, it is food. And it is perceived by the stomach as food, i.e., along with solid food, it is retained in the proximal (upper) section of the digestive organ. He must take it apart into its components and digest it.

Now remember, do you often drink plain water during or after meals? Surely most meals are washed down with something sweet. And then we wonder where the unpleasant sensations came from after what seemed like a small meal.

How to drink water?

We found out that you can drink non-cold water after meals, but how and how much should you drink it so as not to harm your body?

It is very important to drink water when eating in small quantities: no more than 100-200 milliliters at a time. Otherwise, you can stretch your stomach, especially if this water is taken after a heavy meal. It is important to drink in small sips, as if chewing the life-giving moisture, and not absorbing it in one gulp. Before drinking, it is advisable to rinse your mouth with water, this way you can get rid of the unpleasant dry mouth, which sometimes causes false thirst.

Experts advise drinking a glass of water half an hour before meals. Thanks to this, the stomach will already be partially filled, and appetite will decrease.

In addition, we often think that the brain is signaling hunger, but in fact it is signaling thirst. If you feel like eating at an inopportune time, drink water; perhaps you are just thirsty.

How to get rid of the desire to drink food?

This can be achieved if, as said earlier, you drink a glass of water on an empty stomach. This will release enough stomach acid and saliva to soften solid foods. Dishes must be chewed well, then the food will be abundantly moistened with saliva, and you will not want to drink, or only slightly want to. For this reason, it is harmful to eat quickly, being distracted by various activities and conversations.

In early childhood, many people were almost forced by caring mothers to drink their food. Having matured and familiarized themselves with the opinions of doctors, they are now wholeheartedly perplexed: why can’t they drink after eating? Especially if the menu contains only “solid” dishes. However, the ban on drinking is put forward not only by nutritionists, but also by gastroenterologists, who are in charge of the health of human stomachs and intestines.

Water is a helper for the stomach

Do not think that any liquid necessarily harms digestion. Yes, there are drinks that are definitely not healthy. This list is headed by various kinds of sweet “fizzy drinks”. And first of all, because they are not able to quench their thirst, that is, they do not fulfill their assigned role. They can only be considered as treats. However, clean, and even still, water does not belong to this category. In this case, why can’t you even drink water after eating? Because you need to drink it BEFORE! Water washes the walls of the stomach, removing mucus from it with the remnants of the previous meal and removing “old” gastric juice. At the same time, the production of fresh, more effective one is stimulated. However, in order for these processes to be successful and for the juice to form, you must start eating no earlier than a quarter of an hour after drinking. In addition, some filling of the stomach causes the illusion of satiety, so you will eat less at lunch, which will have a positive effect on your figure.

Several reasons why you should not drink 2 hours after eating

Some of them may be familiar to you (maybe some doctor told you about them), others may be news to you. But they are all true.

Any liquid dilutes the gastric juice and makes it less effective. As a result, food takes longer to digest, which is not good for your body.
Everything eaten is not completely digested, as a result of which rotting begins in the organs.
A decrease in the concentration of necessary enzymes forces the body to produce additional enzymes. Excessive (and absolutely unnecessary) load prematurely “sits” the organs - after all, they are not made of iron.
The most unpleasant external manifestation is flatulence. Moreover, in addition to unpleasant aromas, it threatens a person with further, even sadder, consequences: gastritis, diarrhea, pancreatitis and liver diseases.

It is worth mentioning a few more reasons why you should not drink, but only during meals. First of all, food processing begins in the mouth. And if you chew and drink, you wash away the saliva necessary for the initial breakdown of foods. As a result, “unprepared” food enters the stomach, and its processing becomes difficult. The second factor: the feeling of a liquid substance in the mouth reduces the intensity of chewing - and too large pieces enter the digestive organs. They do not have time to be processed, which, in turn, again makes absorption difficult and provokes rotting processes.

Drink temperature is important

There are additional explanations why you should not drink anything cold after eating. If the drink is cooler, the food simply “flies” through the stomach, almost without stopping. That is, instead of the required two (minimum) hours, food is sent by express to the intestines in a quarter of an hour. As a result, the body simply does not have time to understand that it has already received fuel, and requires supplements, experiencing hunger. This is also the reason why you should not drink after eating; excess does not help in any way, because such “drinks” are a direct path to gaining excess weight. In addition, cold liquid reduces the activity of enzymes responsible for processing food, which again threatens gastritis, and in the long term - ulcers.

Now let's try to explain why you shouldn't drink something hot (tea or coffee) right after a meal. Too high temperatures have a similar negative effect on the functioning of enzymes (albeit for the opposite reason), but hot temperatures also reduce the activity of the stomach muscles. As a result, the mechanical effect on what is eaten worsens.

Regarding tea

This drink is very popular, especially green and especially among ladies trying to lose weight. And they are very often surprised and even indignant: why can’t you drink tea after eating? Women even agree to wait until it cools down a little, if drinking it hot is so harmful. However, it’s not only (or even so much) a matter of temperature. The astringent compounds that make up the tea dull the sensitivity of the mucous membranes, as a result of which the absorption of food is almost instantly weakened. Bile is released abruptly and in a larger volume than necessary. Frequent consequences: pacreatitis and cholelithiasis. Tannin, moreover, also “cements” proteins, which are practically not digestible. So, before consuming your favorite drink, you need to wait at least half an hour after lunch.

What to do if you really want to

Even knowing why you shouldn’t drink after a meal, sometimes people simply cannot resist drinking liquid. There may be several reasons, but the most common are the excessive sweetness of the dishes or their spiciness. When you can’t stand it, you can do the following: take water into your mouth, rinse and spit it out. And do this two or three times. In the most extreme case (for example, if the dish was seasoned with wasabi), you can take a couple of sips, but no more!

It's a question of time

Finally, we note that not drinking for two hours after eating is a very conditional recommendation. It all depends on what your meal consisted of. If you limit yourself to vegetable or fruit salads, an hour and a half will be enough. And if you have eaten kebabs, you will have to wait three hours, no less.

Health

Today, debates continue as to whether it is possible to drink during and after meals. The opinions of doctors and nutritionists are divided: some talk about the dangers of drinking any liquid while eating food, while others argue that there is nothing dangerous in this, focusing on the fact that it is worse to eat dry food.

Let's try to unbiasedly understand this and other issues related to drinking liquid during and after meals.

But first, let’s figure out how our stomach works, which many associate with a vat filled with hydrochloric acid, in which food “seethes,” “boils,” and gradually dissolves.

In fact, the grinding of food in the stomach is ensured not only by hydrochloric acid and gastric enzymes, but also directly by the mucous membranes of this mobile organ, which contracts. Thus, upon entering the stomach, food swells for several hours, grinds mechanically against each other and against the mucous membranes of the stomach, resulting in the formation of a digested food mass (or semi-liquid chyme).

In this case, the stomach is designed in such a way that digested food does not interfere with the movement of fluid along the gastric walls. In addition, water leaves the stomach a maximum of 25 minutes after drinking it (provided that you did not wash down a portion of mashed potatoes with a cutlet with a liter of water).

Therefore, it is a mistake to believe that water accelerates the movement of food through the gastrointestinal tract, thereby preventing its digestion and promoting putrefactive processes in the intestines. You should not blame the water you drink during a meal for the fact that your stool is upset, your stomach is sick or swollen. All these symptoms can be triggered by the foods you consumed or by disruptions in the gastrointestinal tract.

Water dilutes gastric juice

Another argument against drinking water with food is that liquid dilutes digestive juices and reduces the amount of gastric enzymes needed to fully digest food.

It has been proven that water does not have a significant effect on either the pH level in the stomach or the work and quantity of enzymes.

Firstly, hydrochloric acid is constantly released, and therefore if water reduces its concentration in the stomach, it does so for a short time. In addition, it is extremely difficult to dilute gastric juice.

Secondly, if you adhere to this point of view, then for good digestion it is necessary to reduce the consumption of foods containing large quantities of water. For example, oranges and pineapples are more than 80% water.

Read also: 6 situations when you absolutely CAN’T drink water

Disruption of the gastrointestinal tract

Doctors say that the parallel consumption of food and water leads to the fact that a person swallows more air than he should. And this is fraught with bloating and flatulence.

In addition, if we wash down food, we chew it less thoroughly and swallow faster, which is why large pieces of poorly digested and crushed food enter the intestines, which can cause constipation and inflammation.

It's hard to argue with that. BUT! If you chew your food thoroughly, if you drink it in small sips and with a small amount of water, then all these troubles can be avoided!

Dry food

Human organs constantly secrete and absorb water. And the stomach is no exception. If we eat dry food, the stomach secretes more fluid in the mouth, stomach and intestines to pass and process food.

If you do not drink liquid during meals, the body will provide the digestive process through the circulatory system. Simply put, the blood will give up some of the fluid so that the stomach can function fully.

Question: Why strain our organs to secrete fluid when we can easily solve this problem by simply drinking water?

Therefore, the answer is simple: dry food is not only possible, but must be washed down!

Read also: Cold or warm water: which one is harmful to drink?

Benefits of water after meals

We figured out that food washed down with water will not deal a crushing blow to the body, especially if this very body is healthy. Will this combination be beneficial?

Water softens solid food, which makes it easier to grind and digest.

A small amount of water drunk during or after meals improves the passage of food through the esophagus.

Water prevents constipation because it softens the stool.

Water helps absorb nutrients, vitamins and minerals that come into the body with food.

In addition, drinking water during meals cleanses the taste buds, thereby allowing you to experience the rich taste of each dish.

BUT! You should always remember to have a sense of proportion! Drinking large amounts of liquid with meals will increase the volume of gastric contents and increase pressure on the stomach walls, which can trigger the development of gastroesophageal reflux disease (or GERD), especially if there is a history of gastrointestinal diseases.

How much water can you drink during meals? We answer: no more than 200 ml.

Read also: 12 myths and facts about water that will surprise you

What can and cannot be taken with food?

If you wash down your food with water, it should be at room temperature. Cold drinks irritate the gastric mucosa, increasing its secretion. This is especially true for fatty foods, because cold drinks contribute to the solidification of fat, which will accumulate on the walls of the stomach, disrupting its functioning, which can cause nausea, heartburn, belching, bloating and heaviness in the stomach.

It is best to drink water with regular purified water. But sweet carbonated drinks, alcohol (especially strong), sour juices and lemonade are not suitable for these purposes.

Is it possible to drink tea with food?

Black tea contains tannins, which prevent not only the absorption of food, but also proteins in the body. In addition, tea reduces the concentration of gastric juice, which leads to slower digestion. But if you cannot resist a cup of aromatic tea after a meal, give preference to green tea.

Is it possible to drink kefir with food?

It’s possible, say doctors and nutritionists. Kefir improves digestion, saturates the stomach with beneficial bacteria and enters into a slightly acidic reaction, without diluting the gastric juice.

Always listen to your body! If, when drinking kefir, you do not experience any discomfort, then you can safely consume this product while eating.