Ten Foods Rated Tough to Digest, How To Avoid Heartburn

Why is it if it tastes good and you like it, it adds calories or is tough to digest? The real tough part is the shrinking pants, it's the hot water, when you use hot water it makes them shrink, doesn't it? On the serious side, these ten foods aren't rated calorie crazy so much as, they are rated tough to handle from the digestive system end of things. So as we chew this stuff together, let's examine these ten foods keeping in mind that this is a guide, not a final note, a working paper for people who are taunted by bad bread baskets; properly handled, it will save you late night heartburn.

First on the list is Fried chicken nuggets, Sally Wadyka writing on behalf of MSN food services notes that combining batter with deep fat frying increases both calorie count and digestion problems. Continuing on the list includes spicy food, Cayenne and Jalapeno' add spice, but they can be tough to digest. Chocolate made the list, not for being hard to digest but for being over eaten, too much content, chocolate tastes like we love, so we consume too much of it- told you, if it tastes good...

What's the answer on something like this? It has to be difficult doesn't it, it has to be hard, it would seem, and yet, having a guide such as this makes it easy to get used to the concept of avoiding certain food situations. The person who doesn't want to deal with heartburn, can begin to monitor where their eating habits are at, and can correct them if they want to. The power of such information is only good when put to use, so the question of its usefulness will have to be answered by you.

Citrus juice can inflame the oesophagus, making a sensation like acid reflux but really it is just irritation. Mashed Potatoes made the list for those who are lactose intolerant - raw onions are tough to digest; garlic is also, they can upset the stomach, but they have other health enhancing components that make eating them worthwhile, the suggestion is that cooking them may make them easier to digest.

Ice cream made the list, it's tough to digest for some, but Wadyka also notes that if you eat an entire gallon of the fine tasting stuff, well, it won't matter if it's tough to digest or not. Broccoli - known for high fiber, good, offshoot of high fiber, undigested methane gas, not good. Beans made the list, again, good fiber, bad digestion if you don't eat them regularly your stomach may lack the enzymes which help break them down. Now comes the shocker - fat free gum, made with Sorbitol, can cause an uncomfortable build-up of gas in the stomach.

So there we have it, we can't even chew sugar free gum, without running the risk of upset stomach, or worse. My sense is that this guidance put together by the crew at MSNBC food studies, is fine advice, and we can use it- but the truth is some of us know that Friday food is ok for heartburn, that's just the way it is, list or not.