6 Healthy Ways to Make Most of an Empty Stomach
This post was last updated on February 12th, 2024
Nowadays, no matter how busy we get, we all know two kinds of people – One, who always keep on binging on anything they get and two, who are masters in skipping meals. Both kinds of people are actually indulging in unhealthy practices. Constant eating loads your body with unnecessary calories while adversely affecting your digestive system and skipping meals often causes insufficiency of calories and the body become deficient of essential nutrients. In long run, people who belong to both of these kinds are highly prone to many of the lifestyle diseases.
Lately many researchers have come across interesting facts about being on an empty stomach. However, they don’t advocate skipping meals to maintain optimum health! There are many healthy activities that can be performed while on an empty stomach and you will be amazed to know the results they generate.
While most people avoid being on empty stomach at all times, here are 6 healthy ways to make most of an empty stomach that will help you in maintaining great health condition along with increasing your immunity:
1. Drink Water
It is said that drinking water on an empty stomach helps flushing out the toxins from the body. It also aids in weight loss effectively. In many Asian cultures, drinking water just after waking up helps in living a healthy and disease free lifestyle. It has been found that the essential minerals in water ensures to keep us active for the whole day. Drinking around 2 to 3 glasses of water in the morning helps in curing ailments such as heartaches, headaches, body pain, fast heart beat, constipation, menstrual disorders, gastritis, vomiting, diabetes, piles, diarrhoea, vision problems along with ear, nose and throat disorders. But ensure that you don’t eat or drink anything for one hour after drinking water on an empty stomach.
2. Try Exercising
It has always been a controversial issue whether to exercise on an empty stomach or not. Researchers even stated that different people under different circumstances respond positively to workouts. But they also suggested that the popular notion of eating several small meals through out the day to boost metabolism is not yet proven and when some people say that skipping meals actually makes you fat, just don’t believe it. In fact, there is term called intermittent fasting where skipping a meal or two is actually beneficial.
Exercising on an empty stomach stimulates a series of hormonal changes and is well suitable for people who want to build muscles or lose weight. Fitness training on an empty stomach ensures that carbohydrates, proteins and fats settle up at right places in the body while making you look toned. Also it has been noted that people who workout on a fast burn more calories at higher intensity in comparison to people who exercise with their tummy full. This is why exercising in the morning is said to deliver great results in comparison to working out in the evening.
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3. Have Garlic
Feeling irked by the very thought of putting garlic in your mouth after getting up in the morning? Only your grandmothers will tell you why you must have garlic on an empty stomach. Many scientific researchers have proven that eating garlic is actually a remedy and a prevention dose for various ailments. It works as a powerful antibiotic and the reason why it has to be consumed before eating your breakfast is that the bacteria in garlic reacts with the food that deteriorates its defending properties. Garlic is heart’s best friend as it helps in regulating the circulation of blood while optimising the working of liver and bladder. It helps in fighting internal infections and also aids in healing internal wounds. Moreover, it helps in strengthening the digestion system and controls stress levels by stopping the production of stomach acids that gets produced when you feel nervous. Garlic also cleanses toxins and worms from the intestines and is great for a flawless and radiant skin. Make sure that you don’t have it raw or else it may cause headaches or light fever. In many cultures, people prefer having it after soaking them in water overnight.
4. Take A Nap
If you had nothing for the dinner, then don’t regret sleeping on an empty stomach. Sleeping is an activity that requires very less energy and going to sleep while fasting will not affect the repair mechanism of the body. On the contrary, if your tummy is full, then going to sleep will make you add extra pounds of weight. This is because you have stored more calories than required and you won’t be physically straining yourself while sleeping. This added calories will in fact, make your digestion system slow and may cause gastric disorders too. Therefore, it is always recommended to have a light and healthy dinner to prevent yourself from adding more weight to your body.
5. Consume Fruits
Most people are confused whether to eat fruits on an empty stomach or with meals. People of many cultures advocate that eating fruit on an empty stomach provides the best concentration of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients and mixing it with food causes a mixture of fruit juices and food in the stomach which spoils the food and it loses its nutritive value. Although scientifically it has been observed that consuming fruits with meals does not have adverse effects on health but having fruits while fasting is beneficial for complete body detoxification, provides mighty energy, aids weight loss and gives a boost of antioxidants, fibre, minerals and vitamins.
6. Get Yourself To Read
If you haven’t eaten for hours or are not feeling like eating, then distract yourself by reading books. Studies have proven that when a person is on an empty stomach, his/ her higher brain functions of spatial learning and memory development gets triggered. This is turn, helps in better concentration. You will be able to learn more and diversify your knowledge streams on an empty stomach in comparison to any person with his/ her tummy full.
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Snehashree Bhat
A young writer who loves to pen words from creative perspective. Passionate internet surfer, a versatile homemaker and a person who finds pleasure in adopting healthier and positive changes in her persona. An enthusiastic feminist who wishes to make serious changes in the stereotypical thought process of the society via the voice of her words.