08 Sep SAY Goodbye to Embarrassing Burps!
Burping is a sign of digestion. Everyone burps from time to time. A single burp at the end of a meal is considered normal in Ayurveda, a sign that your stomach is full and you should stop eating. But what about abnormal burps? Apart from embarrassment, have you ever stopped to think what your burps might be trying to tell you?
Common Causes of a Burp
In most instances, the air pocket in your stomach comes from swallowing air while eating. As you chew, you swallow the air down. A burp is the release of this air back from digestive tract through the mouth. Usually, the gas comes from the stomach. As the air passes from the stomach through the esophagus to the mouth, it creates vibration of the upper esophageal sphincter, producing the peculiar sound.
Consumption of carbonated beverages also releases the air in your stomach.
Sometimes bacteria generate air bubbles in your stomach by fermenting undigested food in your gut.
When you have stomach pain, you may have an urge to burp. Acid reflux, gastritis, and ulcers increase the tendency to burp, to get rid of the painful feeling.
Burping may seem trivial, but if it’s frequent, it might be a sign of a more serious disorder.
Let’s look at some ways to wave goodbye to embarrassing burps.
1. Avoid Rich Foods: If burping is due to weak digestion, prominent in Vata body types, focus on eating easy to digest foods. Consuming too rich, heavy Kapha aggravating foods such as wheat and dairy also results in sluggish digestion in Kapha body types due to build-up of excess mucus in the stomach. Excess mucus blocks the action of acids and enzymes in the gut, causing the food to sit too long. Avoid overindulging on rich heavy foods to reduce stagnation and fermentation in the GI tract.
2. Pulverize Mucus: A blend of pungent and aromatic herbs like mint, black pepper, cinnamon and cardamom help in drying and breaking up the thick mucus in Kapha aggravated bodies. These herbs dissolve excess mucus and helps propel food through the digestive tract, giving it less time to ferment and lead to unwanted gas.
3. Cleanse your digestive tract: While traditional Ayurveda offers various detoxification programs, there are some basic home remedies worth a try.
For example, Bitter substances have a stimulating effect in the body, through the release of bile. Bitter orange peel is known as one of the best herbs to clear stomach stagnation as it is highly aromatic and bitter. Foods that are high in insoluble fiber, such as celery and beans, can be added to the diet. The roughage will help scrape out accumulated mucus. Internal cleansing through Kichdi (mixture of rice and yellow lentil called as moong dal) diet, helps in clearing stagnant food from the digestive tract. Consumption of lukewarm water and lemon on an empty stomach everyday in the morning is the simplest solution to clean the stomach.
4. Inflammation, Pain & Nausea: Sometimes inflammation in any of the digestive organs can cause pain and nausea, resulting in frequent burping. Avoid foods that irritate the stomach lining like coffee, tea, carbonated drinks, alcohol, vinegar, junk and spicy food.
5. Kindle your digestive fire: An age-old remedy is Ayurveda is the usage of Asafoetida and cumin seeds while cooking meals, for boosting the digestive strength (agni) by encouraging circulation to digestive organs. Bhringraj is another ayurvedic herb that promotes healthy functioning of the liver, enabling a healthy digestive tract. Boiling spices like ginger in a glass of water and sipping it on empty stomach in the morning, also is a very effective household cure.
6. Lifestyle changes like practicing mindful eating, eating slowly with your hands, chewing the food well, avoiding heavy meals after sunset, avoiding water just before and after meals, are long-term corrective measures which everybody must adopt to keep digestion healthy and to avoid over-eating. Intermittent fasting, based on your body type, season etc. can be a gift to your stomach as it will get the much-needed rest from the constant barrage of foods and experiences you consume into your body.
7. Reduce emotional stress by opting for simple yoga or meditation techniques. Specific Yoga asanas can help in the practice of intuitive eating. Vajrasana is a powerful pose to practice right after meals to smoothen digestion. If you find it difficult to sit in Vajrasana, just practicing Pushan mudra will activate the Prana Vayu, Samana Vayu, and Apana Vayu – the energies of reception, digestion & assimilation, and elimination respectively. One more reason to invest and experience the innumerable benefits of Yoga!
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