5 Things You Should Never Do After Meals

I'll tell you 5 things you should absolutely avoid doing after meals. What post-meal habits do you have? Post-meal habits are just as important as eating habits. Incorrect post-meal habits can lead to illness. Please be sure to follow them.

Things to Avoid After Meals

The seemingly insignificant daily habits you engage in after eating can render the healthy food you meticulously prepared completely useless. Even worse, it can lead to a variety of ailments. I'll tell you about 5 things you absolutely shouldn't do after meals, so if you have any bad habits, please change them and develop healthy lifestyle habits.

1. Brushing Teeth

The first one is brushing your teeth. Many of you probably feel a need to scrub your teeth vigorously right after eating because your mouth feels unclean. Absolutely not! Brushing your teeth immediately after a meal can strip away the enamel layer that coats and protects your teeth. Without the enamel layer, your teeth are much more susceptible to decay, making them like soldiers going into battle without armor.

Especially if you brush your teeth immediately after consuming acidic foods or beverages, the enamel layer can dissolve. To remove leftover food particles from your mouth, rinse and spit with water right after eating. It's best to brush your teeth about an hour after a meal.

2. Coffee or Green Tea

Drinking coffee and green tea. Many of you likely enjoy a cup of coffee after a meal. However, drinking coffee or green tea after a meal can hinder the absorption of iron that you get from beans, leafy green vegetables, or nuts. This is because the tannin in coffee and green tea binds with iron and inhibits its absorption into the body.

One study showed that drinking green tea can reduce iron absorption by up to 60% per day, while coffee can reduce it by up to 50%. Therefore, those with iron-deficiency anemia should strictly avoid coffee and green tea immediately after meals. If you find yourself experiencing recurring anemia, consider checking if you have this post-meal habit.

Furthermore, the tannin in coffee and green tea not only affects iron absorption but also impacts the absorption of other minerals, such as zinc, which helps strengthen prostate function. Therefore, it's best to wait at least 30 minutes after meals before consuming coffee or green tea.

3. Lying Down Right After Eating

Lying down after eating isn't inherently bad. If you are full, lying down and slowly exhaling can help the stomach move and relieve fullness. However, the problem arises when you become lazy and prone to lying down after meals, which often leads to falling asleep.

Also, sometimes work gets late, pushing dinner time later, and you end up going to bed shortly after eating. This habit can cause health problems. When you lie down, the esophagus's position lowers, making it incredibly easy for food and stomach acid to reflux.

When you not only lie down but also fall asleep, the food stays in your stomach longer, increasing the likelihood of developing conditions like reflux esophagitis. Furthermore, the habit of eating and immediately sleeping can also increase the risk of developing diabetes, so it's a habit you should definitely avoid.

4. Post-Meal Desserts

The fourth habit is post-meal desserts. After finishing a meal, blood sugar levels that have surged begin to stabilize. However, if you consume sugary desserts at this time, blood sugar levels rise again, leading to hyperglycemia. This can put a strain on the pancreas.

Since most desserts are made with refined sugar like table sugar, they raise blood sugar much faster than regular carbohydrates and cause blood sugar spikes. Afterward, blood sugar levels drop as drastically as they rose, leading to feelings of fatigue and increased hunger. Therefore, instead of post-meal desserts, it's better to develop a habit of eating snacks between meals.

5. Strenuous Exercise

Finally, you should absolutely avoid strenuous exercise after eating. No matter how nutritious the food you eat, exercising right after can make your efforts futile. Our body redistributes blood to different parts of the body, and after eating, blood flow is directed to the gastrointestinal tract to aid digestion, while blood flow to the limbs decreases. If you continue to exercise, you'll inevitably need to divert blood to your muscles, hindering blood flow to the gastrointestinal tract.

So, if you run right after eating, you might experience stomach cramps. No matter how much nutrient-rich food you eat, if it's not properly absorbed, it's meaningless. Undigested food can act as toxins in the body. Instead of exercising, taking a walk is excellent. Moving gently with a relaxed mind promotes the secretion of digestive juices and enhances the peristaltic movements of the stomach.