Consumption of a balanced diet is the key to health. Besides this, drinking adequate water, taking shower, getting proper sleep, doing regular work outs are essential to keep your body sound, functional, and healthy. However, sometimes these actions can defer your body to get the best out of your food and make your sick. Yes! We are talking about some usual post-meal habits that can harm your body instead of doing well. Read this article, to know which things you should never do right after eating a full meal.

Post Meal Harmful Habits You Need to Avoid

Drinking Water

Drinking water one glass of water 30 minutes after a meal aids in digesting the food properly. But drinking excess water right after eating food can hamper your digestion process. Because presence of too much water in your stomach tends to dilute the essential gastric juices and creates an upsurge in your insulin levels.

Besides this, if you drink chilled water immediately after having a full meal, it can result in food-clumping inside your stomach and hamper your digestion process.

Doing Exercise

Your body requires some times for digesting food before you can start a work out. If you start working out right after having a full meal, it can disrupt your digestive process. Furthermore, a post-meal quick workout session can cause vomiting, stomach inflammation, loose motions, etc.

Going for High intensity workout immediately after eating food might be more harmful. To participate in any high intensity training, you must wait for at least 45 minutes after heavy meal to avoid stomach cramps and feeling sick.

Walking, Jumping or Running

Though health experts always recommend walking as a healthy habit, post-meal walking habit can cause acid reflux leading to indigestion. It would be better, if you can wait for at least 30-minute post meals before you go for a brisk walk.

Though jumping is not high-intensity workout, it runs the risk of increasing your heart rate and jostling your body including stomach. It can also interrupt the process of digestion.

Running right away after a meal is not recommended either. If you start running with a full tummy, you can experience lethargy, stomach cramping followed by digestive disorders.

Swimming

Swimming gives relief in hot humid days. But never think of swimming right after having a full meal. If you jump into the water on a full stomach, you could feel cramps. It can also create the risk of drowning.

Going to Sleep

After having a full meal, it is quite tempting to take a short nap. But this simple habit can harm your health. Falling into sleep soon after eating can lead towards heartburns, snoring, sleep apnea, etc. Therefore, you have to fight against the habit of post-meal nap to maintain health.

Eating Fruits

Fruits are rich sources of vitamins, nutrients and minerals. But your body can hardly extract these benefits from fruits, if consumed right after eating a full meal. When you eat fruits after a heavy meal, it tends to clump with the food. Instead of being processed, the ingested fruit particles may start to decompose in your stomach and produce gas. The best time of eating fruit is one hour before having meal or two hours after.

Taking Tea or Coffee

Tea carries phenolic compounds which can inhibit the process of iron absorption in the body. Therefore, habit of drinking tea immediately after meal can lead towards iron deficiency in your body causing low hemoglobin level in blood.

Having coffee immediately after eating is also not a good idea, as Coffee can slow down your the absorb process of minerals and iron in your body.

However, you can opt for green tea, ginger tea or other herbal teas after your meals to improve your digestion process.

Loosening Belt

Many of people do this secretly! In fact, it is a sign of overeating. The habit of loosening the belt creates room for the intestines to bend which can hamper the digestion process. Moreover, this habit can loosen your abdominal muscles which may result into a fat bulky belly. Therefore, you should eat moderately so that you don't feel the urge of loosening belt.

Taking Shower

When you take a shower immediately after having your meal, the blood flow tends to rush to your skin in order to regulate the temperature of your body. It can hamper the process of digestion. However, if you are feeling the urge of taking shower, wait for least 30 minutes after eating a full meal.

Smoking

Many people are fond of smoking cigarette after having a full meal. Smoking is detrimental to your health, regardless of the time. The damage could be more intense, if done immediately after eating. Post-meal smoking habit can worsen the irritable bowel syndrome, cause ulcerative colitis and many more illnesses.

Brushing Teeth

It is a good habit to brush your teeth before going to bed. But teeth can get damaged, if you start brushing right after consuming highly acidic foods. The act of teeth-brushing after meal can pose threat to the enamel layer of your teeth. It would be a good idea, to wait for minimum 30 minutes for post meal teeth-brushing.

Driving

When you eat food, it naturally increases the blood supply to your digestive tract. Consequently, the supply of blood to your brain gets affected, which may influence your ability to concentrate. Thereby, it is not a good idea to hit the wheel immediately after eating a full meal. You should wait for at least 30 minutes for better focus and concentration which can ensure safe driving.