Tips to improve digestive health during monsoons

Monsoon time is the most awaited and bring pleasure of fresh drizzles after the sultry heat of summer. Along with this goodness, it also accompanies reduced immunity and make us susceptible to various health problems, especially digestive problems.


So the key is to build strong immunity and maintain good health in monsoon by eating nutritional diet and following healthy lifestyle:


• Water: Even during monsoon, it is important to drink plenty of pure (boiled & cooled) water to keep the body hydrated and also to flush out toxins from the body.


• Well balanced diet: Eat a well-balanced, fresh, warm and hygienic meal to improve already slow digestion process during monsoon.


• Spices: Enrich your meals with spices like coriander, turmeric, pepper, garlic, cumin, basil, and asafetida. These spices are rich in antioxidants and improve digestive power as well as immunity.


• Fruits: Well washed fruits like apple, pear, banana, chikoo, litchi, strawberry and pomegranate are best suited for monsoon, while watery fruits like watermelon, and musk melon should be avoided.


• Vegetables: Thoroughly cleaned and roasted vegetables like lady finger, brinjal, bottle gourd, pointed gourd, and bitter gourd are good for monsoon as they are light and easily digestible.


• Herbal tea: Tea made with flavors like ginger, lemon or green tea is not only rich in antioxidants, but also build disease resistance and aid digestion.


• Cooking Oil: During monsoon, lighter and easily digestible oils like olive oil or sunflower oil should be used for cooking instead of heavier oils like mustard, sesame, butter or peanut oil.


More than the things to do in monsoon, there are important things to avoid as they can lead to air and water borne diseases:


• Fried foods: Oily foods generally take more time and effort for digestion. And in monsoon, the digestive system slows down due to drop in basal metabolic rate. So digestion of fried food becomes a lot more difficult and can cause indigestion, heaviness and other problems.


• Un/under cooked foods, salads and green leafy vegetables: These all are common carriers of bacteria and infection that can cause gastrointestinal diseases. So well washed and thoroughly cooked food should be consumed during monsoon.


• Pre-cut fruits/vegetables and juices/eatables from vendors: Anything that is exposed to environment may have disease causing bacteria sticking to them. So all these yummy eatables from roadside vendors should not be consumed to avoid entry of pathogens in the body.


• Rich curries: Curries made of coconut, cashews and ground nuts are heavy and take more time to digest. Non-vegetarians should take soups and broths and avoid sea food and red meat during monsoon.


• Fermented foods: To make food more interesting, add naturally sour foods like lemon, tamarind, tomato, lime or even thin buttermilk and avoid fermented food items.


• Carbonated drinks: Fizzy drinks like colas should be strictly avoided as they reduce body’s mineral levels and inhibit normal functioning of enzymes, causing various digestive problems.


So despite the goodness of monsoon in terms of weather, its health risks are unavoidable and need special care. Follow these special rules of health and enjoy monsoons safely.