You may suffer from slight indigestion problems that cause discomfort at times, or you may suffer from severe indigestion that keeps you awake at night. Either way, there are remedies to do from home that is a whole lot safer and better for your health in the long run than taking something like the “purple pill”.
What Causes Indigestion?
The overall cause of indigestion is an unhealthy lifestyle and/or eating habits, and can include:
- Too many spicy foods
- Eating too quickly
- Eating too much
- Fatty foods
- Smoking
- Inadequate rest
- Stress
- Consuming alcohol
- Carbonated drinks
- Eating processed foods
- Eating too many foods without living enzymes
What are the Symptoms of Indigestion?
Common Symptoms
- Feeling too full after a normal size meal, or feeling full for too long
- Burping
- Burning in the abdomen
- Abdominal pain
Serious Symptoms
- Chest pain, pressure or tightness
- Breathing is difficult
- Pain running down shoulder and arm
- Burning in your chest
Home Remedies for Indigestion
- Sip hot water
- Mix 1 tsp. of lemon juice in a glass of hot water and drink before you eat
- Boil peppermint in a cup of water and drink 4 times a day. I would make this tea strong by steeping it longer than the normal time. Click here to read how to make tea from loose herbs. You can also use peppermint essential oil in water.
Buy organic peppermint leaf here.
Buy peppermint essential oil here.
- Eat an orange after you have a meal
- Slowly chew pineapple when you experience indigestion
- Apple Cider Vinegar is very good for digestion. Raw, organic apple cider vinegar is the best! I use it on my salads and for herbal vinegars.
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water has helped many with instant relief
A good way to avoid digestion problems is to eat healthy! Fast food, carbonated drinks, “boxed” food, unhealthy lifestyle habits, will only contribute to digestive problems.
Drink lots of water, get plenty of rest, exercise, choose healthy, homemade foods (and chew slowly when you eat). These all go a long ways in keeping those digestive troubles at bay. These healthy lifestyle practices will help with many other problems also!
I highly recommend these remedies to pregnant ladies too! Most women expecting babies only experience indigestion during their pregnancies. Hopefully, one of these suggestions will help you get a good night’s sleep, instead of sitting upright in a chair – if you’ve ever been there, you know what I mean!
How do you naturally deal with indigestion? I would love to hear about it! Let me know in the comments below!
This post was originally published August 3, 2011.
I had severe indigestion for years. A nutritionist explained to me that it w as because food was rotting in my intestines. What cured it for me was eating a lot of kefir because it has a lot of Probiotics and taking HCL with every meal so my food would digest. Finally, I have a healthy gut after 20 years!
What is HCL?
Veronica, it’s a supplement that increases the hydrochloric acid in the stomach. It’s supposed to really help heal the gut.
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Thanks for sharing! I make kefir myself, and my family enjoys the benefits of it. I’ll have to add this to the list! 🙂
Soda is the worst thing for me! If I drink just a half a can I feel terrible! Thanks for the post! BTW…I shared your site on my page. =)
Soda can really mess my stomach up too! Thanks for sharing, Angela! 🙂
hello Jill!
I am fifteen and have stomach issues to where no matter what I eat (even if it’s totally healthy), I’m bloated. Seriously. I’m fine as soon as I wake up in the mornings, but as soon as I drink (plain) water or eat some fruit, my stomach extends. Can you help me? Recently I’ve been taking a storebought magnesium-potassium liquid which seems to help a lot, but someone told me it’s not good for you. I’ve been taking that AND Florify from Melaleuca AND drinking raw goat’s milk, which also help. Should I stop taking the magnesium even though it’s helping? Do you think it’s bad for you? It’s from Walgreens, and its called “Maximum Strength Comfort Gel”. Sorry for such a complicated question, but I’ve been doing almost everything I can, even eliminating certain foods like soda or apples or beans and such. Even my parents are perplexed. Can you give me some tips?
Thank you for your time to read this 😀
~Rae
With magnesium, you need to make sure you’re taking sufficient calcium along with it. I completely lost my bloated gut by doing a colon cleanse and getting rid of a lot of waste. If you’ve never done a colon cleanse – it’s a must! 🙂 I would also suggest a good digestive enzyme before each meal. I would also take an apple cider vinegar tonic (2 tsp. vinegar in 8 oz. of water, can add 2 tsp. of honey if desired)times a day. Make sure you get raw, organic ACV – this does wonders for digestion and balancing the body – has many, many great benefits!
Let me know if you still have problems after trying these things, and thank you for the question! 🙂
Blessings,
Jill
*that is supposed to say “3” times a day for the apple cider vinegar – my “3” button didn’t work for some reason! :)*
Thank you SO much! I will DEFINITELY start doing these things. (I’m researching colon cleanse right now :D)That way I don’t have to take some liquid full of artificial flavors and aluminum. I cannot thank you enough for your help!
I’m so glad I can be of help – keep me updated and let me know if I can be of further help. 🙂
Jill, how exactly do you do a colon cleanse? I’ve read about the benefits of them but don’t know how to go about it. Thanks!
Hey, Carla! Here’s a 4-week herbal colon cleanse. This cleanse will do a thoroughly cleaning: http://tinyurl.com/htaod4c
Here’s a 1-day colon cleanse for occasion maintenance: http://tinyurl.com/hupcf37
Thanks for the question!
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Hi Jill! Great article thanks so much for sharing. We love using Peppermint tea, as you suggest, for indigestion. We also like using Roobios tea! Thanks again for sharing!
I didn’t know that eating an orange or pineapple could actually help alleviate indigestion. I’ll sometimes feel abdominal pain after a meal, so I’ve been on the lookout for natural alternatives to medication. I’ll have to try eating citrus or drinking hot water when I’m feeling post-meal pain. Thanks for the tips!
I agree! All of those enzymes are great for digestion!
Hi Jill : I have a question and I am not sure I should ask. A colon cleanse , does that mean that you go to the toilet three times a day instead of one? I go every morning, and is that not good enough ? Do yo need more than one time to get your colon clean? Maybe you can explain a little further. Thank you ¡¡¡
Hi, Julieta! Great question! Having 3 bowel movements a day is ideal. If you think about it, if we eat at least 3 times a day then we should get rid of waste from those meals the same amount of times. I recommend that if a person is not going at least twice a day that they include more fiber in their diet and eat less dairy. But concerning a colon cleanse, in my opinion, EVERYONE should do a colon cleanse at least once a year, even if they have 3 bowel movements a day. You would be so shocked to know how much waste is not passed from your colon. You can search online and see some pretty shocking (and disgusting!) videos of the waste we carry around if we don’t properly cleanse. I can attest from personal experience that it is valid! Our diets today just do not allow our body to get rid of waste as it should. Thanks for the question and let me know if I can be of further help!
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Thank you Jill.
Do you think you can send me the link of the videos you are talking about?
Nice post Jill. An important way to reduce issues with indigestion is drinking copious quantity of water. That really works for me.
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