Recovering From the Thanksgiving Foodpocalypse

Photo by Tanja Nikolic: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-with-hands-on-his-abdomen-suffering-after-eating-too-much-15335236/

It’s the day after Thanksgiving – or “Black Friday,” if you’re a shopper on the search for deals. Thanksgiving meals are (or at least can be) great, but the aftermath of overindulging in food and drink can be less great.

Hopefully by now, the majority of the discomfort from eating way too much is fading quickly, but it’s not unusual for it to last a few days, especially if you keep the excess eating going with the leftovers.

Not only does Thanksgiving tend to leave people with digestive discomfort, there’s also a tendency to be tired, listless, and grumpy thanks to the biochemical effects of suddenly eating more and different food than your body is used to.

So to help you get back to feeling like yourself, I present my top post-Thanksgiving recovery tips:

First, if you’re still popping antacids, my suggestion is to stop. Yes, they ease the symptoms of overindulgence, but they also inhibit stomach acid. That might seem like a good thing if you have “acid indigestion,” but the thing is you need a good amount of stomach acid to properly digest your food. Using antacids will reduce the intensity of indigestion, but it ultimately prolongs the problem – even potentially resulting in digestive issues long after you’ve returned to your normal eating habits.

You can do what you like, but to me, it’s better to ride out the storm of discomfort for several hours rather than set myself up for a long-term cycle of eat – take antacids – eat – take antacids – and on and on.

Next, take it easy on the leftovers. Despite how many of us had “don’t waste food” drilled into us as kids, it’s really better to risk wasting some of the leftovers than repeatedly overeating to use them up.

Another tip for helping get your digestive system back on track is to take some probiotics. This could be in the form of pills or probiotic-rich foods/drinks such as kefir, sauerkraut, kombucha, or kimchi.

If you’re feeling sluggish, one of the best things you can do is probably one of the last things you want to do, but it’s worth pushing yourself a bit to do it – getting some exercise. You don’t necessarily need to do a hard workout, and in fact, that might not be a good idea if your stomach is still a bit iffy! But going for a walk, maybe a bike ride, or doing any activity that gets you moving around a bit will typically help your energy and mood, and often helps settle an angry digestive tract as well.

On the other hand, if you feel completely wiped out, it’s not a bad thing to take it a bit easy and maybe even take a nap. Naps can sometimes mess up your sleep cycle a bit, but if you limit it to an hour or so, and kind of “re-set” by following the nap up with a bit of physical activity, it minimizes any impact on your sleep at night.

Finally, unless it’s part of your holiday tradition and/or you simply can’t pass up the deals, consider sitting out the Black Friday shopping madness – at least on Black Friday itself. Many retailers now extend Black Friday for a few days to a week and there’s also “Cyber Monday” for online shopping. Unless you actually enjoy dealing with the crowds, parking difficulty, etc., I suggest you do yourself a favor and avoid the stress. Adding that kind of stress is not going to help your digestive symptoms, fatigue, and mood, so I suggest you delay your shopping excursions and/or shop online.

I’ll close by saying that I hope you had a good Thanksgiving and that you find these tips helpful.

Until next time…

George F. Best, D.C.