You should watch what you eat and drink when your stomach is upset to prevent making the condition worse. Teas' gentle action and ease of digestion make them a popular choice for treating troubled stomachs.
Teas are a useful way to improve fluid intake and prevent dehydration, in addition to providing minerals and antioxidants that can help your body respond to the condition at hand.
The best teas for an upset stomach
The use of teas for an upset stomach is a common strategy to soothe the symptoms and help the body build-up its resistance once again to the intake of solid foods. Nevertheless, not all teas are beneficial when it comes to a weak stomach. Some can effectively help, while other can worsen the symptoms and make matters worse.
Check out below what are the best teas for an upset stomach.
Ginger Tea
If taken in moderation, ginger can be an important ally against nausea and vomiting.It is even effective to control and fix motion sickness and pregnancy nausea. Early research also indicates that it might work to control an upset stomach as a side-effect of chemotherapy, albeit the reason for its efficiency has yet to be explained.
The maximum dosage recommended per day is of 3 to 4g, and of 1g for pregnant women. Nevertheless, you should use less when preparing a tea as the heat enhances its nutrients.
Chamomile Tea
Chamomile tea is famous for its soothing and calming properties that can help you relax, reduce stress and even get you a better night of sleep.
However, this is also one of the best teas for an upset stomach as this effect is also felt on your digestive system. Chamomile is a gentle herb, without caffeine or any stimulant component, that will soothe the intestine and relax the tense muscles on your stomach and gut.
According to a systematic review regarding the effects of chamomile, this plant also shows promising results treating gastrointestinal disorders, ulcerative colitis and diarrhea.
Fennel Tea
Fennel tea has been used for a long time as a natural medicine to treat stomach problems and with good reason.
The available research at present shows that this plant with a taste similar to licorice can help treat several digestive ailments like stomachache, constipation, flatulence, gastritis and irritable colon.
There is no recommended daily intake for this tea, but it’s not advised for children and pregnant women.
Green Tea?
A long-term consumption of green tea has been linked to a reduced risk of chronic gastritis and stomach cancer.However, there is no indication that it might help soothe an upset stomach in the short-term. You also need to consider its caffeine content that can worsen the symptoms in some cases, depending on the cause that is debilitating the stomach.
Peppermint tea?
Peppermint tea is often recommended as one of the best teas for an upset stomach. However, to date, there are no studies regarding the effect of its leaves for this effect.Several studies have analyzed the possible use of peppermint oil as a supplement and as an essential oil to treat nausea and gastrointestinal problems, but these were also inconclusive.
They do not exclude, however, the possibility of a placebo effect due to the soothing properties of this plant.
Licorice tea?
Again, this is one of the most recommended teas for an upset stomach and yet, there is no indication that it can help.Early research speculates that licorice might possibly help to treat gastric ulcers because it shows promising results and it’s cheaper than the currently available medication. However, the results were not conclusive. Besides, the focus was on its effect over ulcers and not to treat nausea or other causes that might upset the stomach.
Furthermore, licorice can present hazards to health, and even the FDA warns about its excessive consumption.
Common causes of an upset stomach
An upset stomach can be caused by several factors or be a symptom of a different health condition. In this last case, it is normally accompanied by other signs that indicate that the problem is not restricted to your stomach.
As for the most common causes they are:
Indigestion: caused by eating too much or too fast; or by specific foods that you’re not used to or you’re body has troubles digesting.
Food poisoning: you ate something that was contaminated or had gone bad.
Food allergy: an upset stomach can be the symptom of a mild allergy. Other symptoms might accompany it or not.
Flatulence: if you’re not farting enough, the gases can come up your gut and trigger nausea, bloating and cramps.
Constipation: similar to flatulence. If you can’t poop, the gases created by the waste inside your gut can ascend your digestive system.
Menstruation: can leave your stomach oversensitive and can trigger other causes such as constipation and indigestion. Cramps are also common.
Lactose intolerance: you lack enough lactase enzymes in your gut to process lactose. Diarrhea and vomits are also common symptoms.
Virus: symptoms and treatment will depend on the bacteria affecting the digestive system.
Other common causes of an upset stomach include stress, motion sickness, emotional imbalance, excessive consumption of alcohol and smoking. Some medication can also be too aggressive for the stomach and debilitate it.
What to eat with an upset stomach
Since your stomach is weak, you need to pay extra attention to what you eat. The plainer the food, the better so it doesn’t strain your digestive system trying to break down the nutrients. Take a break from spices, fats or any other flavor enhancers.Avoid whole wheat foods until you feel better again as they are fiber-rich and prefer plain white rice or a toast of white bread. They are easier to digest and will help coat your stomach and even prevent heartburn.
Instead of using ginger to make a tea, you can also nibble on a fresh, peeled root to benefit from its properties. Apples and applesauce are also good options as they are very nutritive but easy on the stomach.
Despite being very healthy and great for your body, put your consumption of veggies on hold too. Most contain a complex sugar that is hard to digest and can produce flatulence.
What’s a myth and what’s real?
Many drinks and teas have been hailed for years as natural remedies to treat an upset stomach, but how many of those are true? Green, licorice and peppermint teas are good examples of unquestioned helpers that turn out not having any scientific support behind their claims, for instance.
Get to know other myth and real treatments in the video below.
