Pregnancy tip #31 – Eat an ice cream to curb acidity

A little indulgence is good during pregnancy.

Acidity and heartburn are way too common during pregnancy. This is a reason why antacids are prescribed during pregnancy routinely. There is a host of diet rules you need to follow to keep acidity in check like eating small meals, cutting down on fats or foods that are hard to digest, having early dinner, taking a stroll after a meal to aid digestion, etc. However, at times we feel too lazy to follow diet guidelines or even pop an antacid. And pregnancy with its own ups and downs can make you too moody to do the right thing at times. Here are 10 simple things you can do to prevent acidity.

This often happened with me and I had to face bouts of acidity during my second trimester almost after every meal. My doctor advised me to take antacid pills whenever I had GERD, but it was increasingly annoying to pop an antacid after every meal. Well, there was this special way in which I treated my acidity, of course after consulting with my doctor. But first, let me put it straight that I didn t indulge in it too often. A cup of vanilla ice-cream after dinner did well for me to treat my bouts of acidity. My doctor told me it works well to treat acidity, but to be careful not to overdo it. So, the ice-cream was my indulgence and my acidity medication too.

It acts on the same logic as drinking cold milk to treat acidity. Having a cup of ice-cream cools down your digestive system, aids in digestion and lowers the chances of suffering from acidity post dinner. However, pick vanilla ice-cream that is made of low-fat milk and is less on calories, as bingeing during pregnancy is not advisable. Also, vanilla ice-cream is low in calories as compared to other flavours.

When food reaches the stomach, the digestive juices secreted help in breaking down the foods for nutrient absorption. The food that is broken down is supposed to stay in the stomach without going back to the throat or mouth. But in some cases, this can happen when the sphincter in your stomach opens due to excess acid as digestive juices are acidic in nature. This is when you need an antacid to counter acidity. However, a scoop of ice-cream can do the same.

So, an occasional intake of ice-cream is perfectly fine and if you are looking for an equally yummy daily indulgence settle for a cup of yoghurt after dinner.

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