It has long been the custom that a meal should certainly end with a drink. In Soviet times, the classic menu of all public catering outlets ended with the line “drinks”. People got used to the food-drink tandem, and this was considered correct. But over the past few years, the question of whether a drink at the end of a meal is beneficial or harmful has become the subject of many scientific articles. The discussion on the topic “is it possible to drink water immediately after eating” in the context of a quantitative increase in gastrointestinal diseases has acquired particular significance.
Why shouldn't you drink immediately after eating?
Official medicine insists on the dangers of drinking. Doctors explain their point of view with the following arguments:
- Water, penetrating into the stomach, interferes with the work of gastric juice, slowing down digestion. As a result, beneficial enzymes do not have time to completely process the incoming volume, transferring incompletely digested material to the intestines.
- The digestion time increases and it becomes difficult for the stomach to cope with the work alone. The liver and heart are forced to become involved in the process, which increases the load on the body.
- Undigested food causes increased gas formation. Products begin to decompose and rot, leaking through the walls of the stomach into the bloodstream. Spreading intoxication affects the body. That's why you shouldn't drink water after eating - it can contribute to the development of diseases.
Arguments for"
Proponents of drinking after eating object to this explanation. They refer to the principle of the gastrointestinal tract after food enters.
- Solid food passes through two sections of the stomach: first, in the upper section, it is stored, accumulating, then descends to the lower section, where it is mixed and processed.
Sections of the stomach.
- Liquid, when ingested, enters the lower section, bypassing the accumulated food in the upper part. Studies have shown that 1.5 cups of moisture leaves the stomach in a quarter of an hour, in some cases even faster.
Thus, it turns out that drinking does not have any effect on the digestion process and a cup of life-giving moisture will not harm your health.
General information about antibiotics
Treatment with antibiotics usually lasts from several days to months, depending on the complexity of the disease. Drinking alcohol is not permitted during this time. Regulate the consumption of other foods that are difficult for the body. When using alcohol after antibiotics, the doctor does not guarantee you the maximum effectiveness of the course; in addition, complications often arise.
It may take some time to start drinking alcohol after taking antibiotics. You should not drink during treatment. The number of days you need to wait before drinking alcohol varies depending on the drug.
Why are alcohol and antibiotics incompatible things? The fact is that the antibiotic you take automatically reduces the activity of your internal organs, which not only fight infection, but also cleanse the body after drinking alcohol.
Drinking alcohol while being treated with antibiotics means ruining your liver, kidneys and heart. After antibiotics, there is a serious disruption in the natural intestinal microflora. If you drink in this state, you will end up in a hospital bed.
It is worth mentioning the reduced effectiveness of the course combined with alcohol. In addition, alcohol can increase the resistance (drug resistance) of some microorganisms, which means that treatment of the infection will be delayed.
If you drink alcohol immediately after taking a pill without waiting, you will experience side effects such as:
- liver failure,
- nausea and vomiting,
- headache,
- dizziness,
- clouding of mind.
These are the main reasons why alcohol after taking antibiotics is allowed only a couple of days after the end of the course.
How long after eating can you drink
There is an opinion that you can drink water after eating only a couple of hours later. However, how long after a meal you can drink water depends on the type of food:
- Heavy, filling food can be washed down with a few sips, but it is better to drink a full glass after 2 or 3 hours;
- after a light vegetable salad, a glass of water will not hurt after 1 hour;
- consumption of fruits and berries partially covers the need for moisture, so the missing volume is replenished within 0.5 hours.
Which drink after a meal is healthier - cold or hot?
Doctors say that the state of the gastrointestinal tract is affected by the temperature of drinking. Heavily chilled or, conversely, hot drinks after food are equally unhealthy for the body. It is very harmful to drink food with very chilled water, especially ice water from the refrigerator.
The reason why you should not drink cold water after eating is that a portion of moisture quickly displaces solid food that has not been fully processed. Studies have shown that effective digestion requires approximately 4 hours: gastric juice has time to process the incoming mass, the food is successfully absorbed and goes on its further journey.
The cycle involving cold drinks ends in record time and hunger is felt again. As a result, the volume of food increases, which leads to the inevitable accumulation of extra pounds.
If it is impossible to resist the desire to drink lemonade or juice from the refrigerator, especially in the heat, it is recommended to wait 2 hours so as not to disturb natural digestion. Therefore, to the specific question “is it possible to drink cold water after eating” there is a clear answer - no.
The optimal liquid temperature for the stomach is approximately +20oC.
Warm liquid does not irritate the intestines, helps activate digestion, and prevents constipation.
What can you drink after eating?
So, the meal is over. What is the healthiest way to finish it and when can you drink water after eating so as not to harm your body? If the body urgently requires liquid, you can drink lemon or cranberry water as a “snack” - this will give the drink a little healthy “sourness”.
However, it is healthier to replace this with juicy fruits or vegetables, and in the summer with fresh berries. 9/10 moisture consists of celery, tomatoes, melon, and almost 100% cucumbers. In winter, the water balance is replenished with citrus fruits - orange, grapefruit.
Popular tea and coffee are also best drunk either before or after meals, about 0.5 hours before.
Coffee fans should be reminded that caffeine, especially with systematic consumption of instant coffee, can lead to gastritis or heartburn.
Tea contains tannins - their presence inhibits the process of assimilation of what is eaten. This will directly affect the absorption of food, so it is much healthier to drink a cup of tea before eating. This method will help eliminate extra pounds.
What to do if you want to drink food
If a person is used to having lunch, “sipping” each piece with some kind of drink, getting rid of an unhealthy desire is difficult, but achievable. You will have to cheat the body a little by drinking water on an empty stomach, before meals. As a result, gastric juice will be released to process it, and the flow of saliva will increase. Provocation will moisten solid food with sufficient moisture, as a result, additional irrigation will not be required.
That is why gastroenterologists strongly recommend eating slowly, chewing each piece for a long time, without being distracted by conversations, movies or the computer. This method will allow the food eaten to be completely processed, protecting the gastrointestinal tract from serious diseases.
What are the dangers of drinking alcohol before surgery?
Alcohol should not be taken either before or after surgery. This should not be done even if it was performed by laparoscopy. This is the name of a modern method of surgery, when a much smaller incision is made on the internal organs in the abdominal or pelvic cavity than during standard operations . Ethanol negatively affects all cells of the body, significantly weakens the immune system, which affects the course and results of surgery.
In addition, laparoscopy and other types of surgery are performed mainly under anesthesia, which in combination with ethanol can cause very unpleasant consequences. For example, cause disruptions in the functioning of the cardiovascular system (heart failure or, conversely, an increase in the load on the heart and blood vessels), which can lead to death. Drinking beer or other carbonated alcoholic beverages increases the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. This is caused by the fact that carbon dioxide irritates the gastric mucosa, and the combination of ethanol, anesthesia, and surgery aggravates the situation.
It is very difficult for a doctor to perform an operation if a person drank alcohol a few days before the laparoscopy, since all the results of the blood test will be unreliable. Therefore, there is a high probability of making a mistake in choosing a medicine, which could cost the patient his life.
Patients who have taken even a small dose of alcohol before laparoscopy or other types of surgery have a very difficult recovery from general anesthesia. The process is often accompanied by symptoms of severe hangover, anaphylactic shock, impaired consciousness, and delirium tremens.
There are also situations when the duration of anesthesia due to alcohol turned out to be short-lived, and the person came to consciousness on the operating table. Because of this, it is often impossible to completely dull the pain using general anesthesia.
Therefore, in order to avoid critical consequences, the doctor always warns before a planned operation that any alcoholic drink, including beer, should not be consumed for twenty-four hours. Unfortunately, there are situations when surgery must be performed immediately, despite the fact that the person is drunk (for example, appendectomy or after an accident). In such situations, the doctor takes into account the state of intoxication, the individual characteristics of the body, and decides which anesthesia is best to use.
When and how is it healthier to drink liquid?
If everything is clear about drinking during meals, you need to figure out how long after eating you can’t drink water or other drinks.
Most nutrition experts advise delaying drinks for 1 hour after finishing lunch or dinner. This may seem strange - in the traditional sense, lunch should certainly end with a glass of liquid - juice, compote, fruit drink, lemonade.
It is important to know that such a “delicious” ending to a meal is not at all healthy. These drinks, unlike plain water, contain calories. The body takes them as an additional portion of food and digests them along with the main food in the upper digestive tract, but after solid food. “Overtime” work causes a feeling of overload, which is accompanied by unpleasant sensations even after a small snack.
The greatest harm is caused by drinking water after dinner - nutritionists consider late drinking to be the main cause of weight gain.
Based on the above arguments, it can be determined that it is not prohibited to accompany food with water; the main thing is to know when and how to use it so as not to create health problems.
Diet and rehabilitation after surgery
As mentioned above, there are many contraindications for drinking alcohol after surgery. Of course, the requirements regarding rehabilitation and the prohibition of alcohol are conditional and depend on the surgical intervention performed, or rather the organ on which it was performed. Here are the most general recommendations regarding diet and alcohol consumption after surgical interventions:
- Alcohol after abdominal surgery is allowed to be consumed on a limited basis and only after a month. In addition, the body needs a lot of time to recover. Experts recommend starting to get up within a day after such an intervention, and after a couple of days you need to start walking more so that the body quickly returns to its usual environment. It is not recommended to eat for the first few days due to anesthesia. It is necessary to gradually introduce water, fruit drinks, and chicken broth into the diet. If your doctor allows it, you can eat citrus fruits.
- If a patient has had an endoscopy to remove the gallbladder, then he should not drink alcohol-containing drinks for the rest of his life, since drinking alcohol is dangerous for a person without a gallbladder! If endoscopy was performed for appendicitis, the recovery period usually takes about 3 weeks, during which alcohol is on the list of prohibited products. It is also recommended to adhere to the principles of proper nutrition to help the body quickly normalize its activity.
- Alcohol after eye surgery is strictly contraindicated, and for a longer period. Thus, alcohol after cataract surgery is prohibited for at least three months. Typically, after such surgical procedures, when the anesthetic effect wears off, patients experience pain in the eyes. During the rehabilitation period, patients are prescribed NSAIDs in tablet form, and then in the form of eye drops. If the picture is favorable, they are taken for about a month. Such medications are incompatible with alcohol, so alcohol is prohibited while taking them.
- plastic surgery and various cosmetic corrective measures are full-fledged operations, and therefore also exclude the use of alcohol before and after the intervention.
How long the ban on drinking strong drinks will last is determined only by a specialist, because such a restriction depends on many factors. A universal recommendation is to avoid alcohol for a month after any surgical interventions, and in the case of eye surgeries, the restriction lasts 3 months. It is better to give up dubious pleasures like alcohol than to experience all the “delights” of postoperative complications, which are often provoked by the use of alcoholic beverages.
