Reprinted from Sunshine Sharing
When the Turkey Stuffs You

Dinner was wonderful. You couldn’t resist those second and third helpings. Now, your turkey dinner has stuffed you. Overeating is a typical American past time, especially during the holiday season. This recreation for the tongue often has an uncomfortable side effect—indigestion. Whether it’s heartburn, gas, intestinal distress, acid stomach or belching, the problem is essentially the same.

Indigestion means that our digestive system has been unable to properly process the food we have consumed. In other words indigestion is the inability to digest. Unfortunately, most people reach for antacids when they have indigestion and there isn’t a single antacid product on the market that will help the body digest anything. On the contrary, antacids contribute to indigestion because they interfere with the process of digestion.

Here’s what happens...
Inside the stomach, the food we eat mixes with pepsin and hydrochloric acid (HCl). HCl is a very powerful acid and it is essential to the digestion of proteins. Since the lining of the stomach is composed largely of protein, the body has to protect the stomach lining from being digested by its own acids. It does this by secreting a thick layer of mucus.

The so-called “over-acid stomach” is often not caused by too much acid. Rather, it is caused by an inadequate layer of mucus to protect the delicate stomach lining. If the mucus wears to thin, then the acid may burn the lining of the stomach and produce ulcerations. “Heartburn” occurs when the valve at the top of the stomach permits acid from the stomach to move back up into the esophagus which does not have a thick coating of mucus. This may be caused by overeating, tension in the stomach or by belching produced by gas in the intestinal tract. However, it is not caused by too much acid either.

Antacids ease some of the symptoms of indigestion because they neutralize the stomach acid. However, they do not solve the problem, because the hydrochloric acid is necessary for digesting the food. Hence, it can make the problem worse in the long run because the undigested food will sit in the stomach while the body tries vainly to fight the antacid and digest the food at the same time. Without sufficient HCl in the stomach, the food may putrefy and produce further irritation, intestinal gas and distress.
Thus, over time, antacids can make digestive problems worse instead of better.

Doesn’t it make sense to treat indigestion with something that promotes digestion rather than interferes with it?

There are supplements that do exactly that. Many of them are described in thisarticle such as:
** Protein Digestive Aid (PDA)
** Food Enzyme Digestive Aid
** Papaya Mint Tablets.
You can also make a tea with this excellent product "Digestive Bitters Tonic", good for the liver AND the gallbladder! So read on and learn how to take the “stuffing” out of you the next time you’ve overloaded your digestive tract and it starts complaining.

 

On behalf of Béatrice Duplantier-Rhea ...

Thanksgiving Cooking The French Way

LET’S REMEMBER TO USE organic, fresh produces!
STUFFING to be used inside a turkey.

1 lb. cooked CHESTNUT
1 VIDALIA ONION, chopped
2 GARLIC cloves, minced 
2 CELERY stalks, chopped
2 small GRANNY SMITH APPLES, chopped with skin on
1 cup fresh vegetable broth
2 Tbsp. COGNAC or RED WINE
3 sprigs fresh THYME
3 sprigs fresh PARSLEY
2 cups pre-soaked BLACK WALNUTS
2 organic eggs
chopped up giblets

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stuff the free range turkey before putting in oven.  Sew the skin to close.

Cook at low heat in a little water, 1 lb. fresh CRANBERRIES with 1 GRANNY SMITH APPLE peeled and cut in small pieces.
Keep the top on the pan and cook until obtaining a mashed consistency.

Steam YUCA, Butternut SQUASH and ACORN SQUASH.  Spoon out the squashes and mash with ALMOND MILK.  Add NUTMEG, TURMERIC and RAW SEA SALT.
Prepare different dishes for each
In the YUCA, use CURRY to season.
Sprinkle chopped parsley on each dish.

Bon Appétit!