Curing Digestion Issues from Local Taipei Food

Lets face it, we all know Taiwanese food is cheap and tastes good but we always seem to pay for it afterwards, don’t we? If you are an ongoing consumer of lunchboxes from one of the many self-serving buffets in Taiwan chances are you have seen your digestion changed. If so don’t worry, we understand. Many people have this issue including those who have lived on the island for a long time, and there are really only a few ways to change this if you feel like that every crap you take is coming out soft and in small chunks.

 

Cook your own food

 

Both my roommate and myself had digestion issues for a long time and we came to the conclusion it has to do with the amount/type of oil being used in all these buffet dishes. Whether it was in meat or vegetables, especially kungpao chicken and toufu, there is so much oil added for whatever reason that no individual can process it all in a healthy manner. The quality of the foods is just ok, but nothing to the extent that they would give you poor digestion. After taking a break from eating out at cheaper restaurants (still gong to nicer hot pot, sushi and Western restaurants though) I noticed that after about 2 weeks I took my first solid shit in years. It seemed like a miracle. I cooked at home what I normally ate outside and the results were drastically different as I used hardly any oil to cook the food aside from a little to grease the pan. The bottom line is cook at home as much as you can or if you eat out save the experience for a nicer restaurant.

 

Getting enough fruits and vegetables

 

When eating out in Taipei it is easy to neglect your vegetable or fruit intake especially if you are eating a lot of fried noodles and rice. If you stare clear from the buffet option then you are probably down to mostly rice and meat options coupled with sweet drinks from one of those many tea shop stores selling milk tea for NT$30. To help your diet out you need to make sure and get enough clean vegetables in your diet ranging from a variety of greens to sweet potatoes, carrots etc. Also, from a Chinese medical standpoint the body needs to make sure to get enough fruit for digestion. Often when people get constipated they have not gotten enough fruit and vegetables into their diet. The best fruit for digestion is said to be Papaya and Kiwi, so make sure to pick some of that up at one of the local markets in Taipei or even at a 7/11 where they come cut.

 

Water and Tea

 

Another thing to aid in your digestion is to get enough water. Aside from fruit and vegetables, not getting enough water is linked to irregular bowel movements. Getting too used to those sweet drinks in Taipei can cause you to avoid ample water intake, so make note of this. If you feel like drinking water by itself is boring or if you have enough but are still suffering from digestion issues, add tea into your mix. Good quality, Taiwan tea can be purchased all over Taipei at cheap prices and Chinese medicine believes that green tea and puer tea are particularly good for digestion due to the types of catechins found within the leaves. Drinking tea after each meal is considered a good way to digest food, and will also help cure a lot of stomach or digestion issues related to those greasy, oily foods eaten as tea also detoxifies and clears out the body.

 

Alternatives

 

Lastly, make sure to get enough exercise into the mix in order to avoid stiffness in the body. Stiffness and lagging use is also linked to digestion according to many doctors so by getting to the gym once in a while or going for a walk will highly help you improve this situation.