What You Do in the First 30 Minutes After Eating Can Change Your Body | Dr. Mandell

You just finished eating but what you do next may be almost as important as the meal itself. Sit down, lay on the couch or stay completely still and your body handles that meal differently than if you were doing one very easy thing the next 10 to 30 minutes. It can affect your digestion, your blood sugar response, how heavy or sluggish you feel after eating and even what happens when you go to bed tonight. And here's the good news, it doesn't cost you anything. Most people spend tremendous amount of time thinking about what they should eat but almost no one thinks about what they should do immediately after they eat. The moment you finish a meal your digestive system is already working, food is being broken down, carbohydrates are being converted into glucose. Glucose begins entering your bloodstream and your pancreas responds by releasing insulin. Insulin helps move that glucose out of the bloodstream and into your cells where it could be used for energy or stored for later. But here's where something very interesting happens. Your muscles are one of the largest places in your body where glucose can be used and when those muscles start contracting they increase their demand for energy. So rather than immediately sitting down and becoming completely inactive after eating, get up, move around, move your body no matter what you're doing. You don't need to work out, you don't need a treadmill, you don't need a gym, supplements or some complicated exercise program. Just walk comfortably for 10 minutes. Walk around your neighborhood, around your house, around the office, clean up the kitchen, put the dishes away or simply keep yourself moving. Research has shown over and over again that physical activity such as walking after eating can reduce the rise of glucose that normally occurs after a meal and doing that movement relatively soon after eating can be particularly useful when it comes to your healthier body. And you don't need to walk fast and this isn't about trying to burn off your dinner. When the large muscles of your legs contract they begin using energy and muscle contraction can increase glucose uptake through pathways that are not entirely dependent on insulin at all. Think about that for a second. Something as ordinary as moving your legs can help your body handle some of the glucose coming from your meal you just ate and there's another reason movement after eating can make you feel better. Digestion. Gentle walking after a meal can help your food move through your stomach. It may help some people who experience excessive fullness, bloating or discomfort after eating. You've probably experienced that heavy feeling after those large meals where all you wanted to do is sink into your couch but that may be exactly when a few minutes of gentle movement can be useful. Now let's talk about something else millions and millions of people do particularly after dinner. They eat, sit down, watch tv, recline on the couch and many times they go to bed shortly afterwards. If you struggle with heartburn or acid reflux lying down with the full stomach can make those symptoms worse because you've lost the assistance of gravity. It helps keep your stomach those contents where they belong. Staying upright after eating is especially important for people prone to reflux and if nighttime reflux is a problem it's generally recommended to avoid lying down for several hours after a meal. So you're getting several benefits from one incredibly easy habit. You're contracting your muscles, helping your body manage the glucose from the meal, remaining upright while your stomach is full and potentially helping your digestive system move things along preventing that constipation. But I want to make something very clear. This does not mean that walking for 10 minutes gives you permission to eat anything you want. You cannot consistently eat poorly and expect a short walk to erase it. This is about improving what you do with the meal you've already eaten and here's what makes this so powerful. Think about how many meals you eat every year. Hundreds and hundreds of opportunities to make a better choice during those first few minutes after eating. One five to ten minute walk isn't going to transform your health overnight but when you repeat a healthy behavioral day after day, a pattern like this week after week and month after month, those minutes add up tremendously. And even if you exercise regularly, don't dismiss this because it sounds too easy. You can exercise for an hour in the morning and still spend much of the rest of your day sitting. Your body responds to movement. Whenever you give it movement, great things happen. So I want you to try something beginning with your very next meal. When you put your fork down, don't automatically make your next destination to the couch. Give me 10 minutes. Stay upright. Walk comfortably. If 10 minutes feel good, then work your way up a little bit. The 12, 13, 15 minutes. If you physically cannot do a traditional walk, do whatever's safe. What you're able to do. Stand, move around the house, put things away. Use whatever comfortable movement is appropriate for you. And don't make this an intense workout on a full stomach. Gentle, comfortable movement is all we're looking for here. I want you to turn this into a seven day experiment. After one of your largest meals each day, preferably dinner, because that's when so many people become sedentary, give yourself about 10 minutes of movement. Pay attention to how you feel afterward. You'll be amazed. Do you feel less heavy, less sluggish? Does digestion feel different? Are you less tempted to immediately lie down? You may begin noticing that such a small change can make the period after eating feel so completely different. You see, we spend so much time searching for complicated ways to improve our health, special diets, supplements, equipment, programs. Sometimes one of the most useful changes is just sitting right in front of us. And please share this video with a friend or a loved one, because they will benefit tremendously. Please leave your comments below. And most important, make it a great day. I'm Dr. Alan Mandel.