Burps are a normal part of the human condition, but excessive burping calls for action. A normal amount of air goes down into our stomach with food. One may end up swallowing extra air if you eat or drink too quickly, talk while you eat, chew gum or suck on hard candies, drink carbonated beverages, or smoke. On other instances, extra air comes from gases in your stomach.
What is a Burp?
A burp is the release of this air back from digestive tract through the mouth. Usually, the gas comes from the stomach. As the air passes from the stomach through the oesophagus to the mouth, it creates vibration of the upper oesophageal sphincter, producing the peculiar sound.
Finding Solutions to Embarrassing Burps.
Avoid Rich Foods:
If burps are frequent it is a sign of weak digestion, so, focus on eating easy to digest foods. Consuming too rich, heavy foods such as wheat and dairy results in sluggish digestion due to build-up of excess mucus in the stomach. Excess mucus blocks the action of acids and enzymes in the gut, causing the food to sit too long. Avoid overindulging on rich heavy foods to reduce stagnation and fermentation in the GI tract.
Pulverize Mucus:
A blend of pungent and aromatic herbs like mint, black pepper, cinnamon and cardamom help in drying and breaking up the thick mucus. These herbs dissolve excess mucus and helps propel food through the digestive tract, giving it less time to ferment and lead to unwanted gas.
Drinks to Avoid:
Avoid foods that irritate the stomach lining like coffee, tea, carbonated drinks, alcohol, vinegar, junk and spicy food.
Practice Mindful Eating:
Eat slowly with your hands, chew the food well, avoid heavy meals after sunset, avoid water just before and after meals, are long-term corrective measures which everybody must adopt to keep digestion healthy and to avoid over-eating. Intermittent fasting, based on your body type, season etc. can be a gift to your stomach as it will get the much-needed rest from the constant barrage of foods and experiences you consume into your body.
Enhance Your Digestive Strength:
An age-old remedy is Ayurveda is the usage of Asafoetida and cumin seeds while cooking meals, for boosting the digestive strength (agni) by encouraging circulation to digestive organs. Bhringraj is another ayurvedic herb that promotes healthy functioning of the liver, enabling a healthy digestive tract.
Boiling spices like ginger in a glass of water and sipping it on empty stomach in the morning, also is a very effective household cure.
Cleanse your digestive tract:
Bitter substances have a stimulating effect in the body, through the release of bile. Bitter orange peel is known as one of the best herbs to clear stomach stagnation as it is highly aromatic and bitter. Foods that are high in insoluble fiber, such as celery and beans, can be added to the diet. The roughage will help scrape out accumulated mucus.
Practice Internal cleansing through Kichdi (mixture of rice and yellow lentil called as moong dal) diet:
This helps in clearing stagnant food from the digestive tract.
Consumption of lukewarm water and lemon on an empty stomach every day in the morning is the simplest solution to clean the stomach.
Yogic Remedies:
Vajrasana is a powerful pose to practice right after meals to smoothen digestion. If you find it difficult to sit in Vajrasana, practice Pushan mudra to activate the Prana Vayu, Samana Vayu, and Apana Vayu – the energies of reception, digestion & assimilation, and elimination respectively.
Do away with the embarrassment with these remedies.