281895 Tue Dec 20 17:28:14 -0800 2005 14 31 Home Cooking 0 1500931 After many holiday parties in the last few days, I'm feeling bloated with all the tasty temptations. Any suggestions on how to beat this (besides not eating as much)? Generally, a strong cup of coffee works but there are too many work goodies for me to use self-control. Tue Dec 20 17:28:14 -0800 2005 0 Chi-girl 1 1500933 Lots of strong Asian tea. Oolong, black, pu-er,green, whatever you like. It really helps ease that horrible "ate too much" feeling. Kind of like your coffee trick, but even more refreshing IMO. Some suggest pineapple or pineapple juice right after a large meal to help digestion, but I usually can't handle anything even slightly sweet when I'm very full. Tue Dec 20 17:45:18 -0800 2005 1500931 0 nooodles 2 1500980 Too bad you aren't in France; when my wife and I were first together, she had a tin of a French OTC remedy for The Dreaded Liver called Jecopeptol, emphatically not available here, which her parents religiously stocked up on when they made their biennial trek there. It tasted like a jigger of someone's ashes swirling around in the water, but it bleeding WORKED, the only thing I've ever taken that helped my kicked-in-the-kidneys hangovers (along with the bloat and malaise). But the parents haven't gone to France in about fifteen years, and for all I know the EU took the same dim regard of the compound's ingredients that our FDA did and it's not available there either... Tue Dec 20 20:38:13 -0800 2005 1500933 0 Will Owen 1 1500936 you need a little shot of unicum... the only thing I've tasted that is remotely similar is something of a combination of vicks 44 and jaegermeister. some people like it, but I'll tell you I'm not one of them... but a little shot glass full is just perfect to settle your stomach. http://www.crillonimporters.com/UnicumZ/unicumz-prods.html Tue Dec 20 17:56:35 -0800 2005 1500931 0 withalonge 1 1500938 Ginger is great for when your tummy is out of sorts. I like ginger tea, 'cause you get the nice warmth of the temp along with the mild spice. If it is bloating of the (ahem) air variety, I've seen charcoal tablets recommended as a natural remedy. Tue Dec 20 18:04:27 -0800 2005 1500931 0 Aimee 2 1500951 I'm not sure that ginger tea is a cleansing drink but I love it, too. I used to work at a health food store part time and the manager (who was raised in Barbados) would bring all of us a cup of tea at 4:00 each afternoon and most often, it was ginger tea. Tue Dec 20 19:04:42 -0800 2005 1500938 0 Val 1 1500949 Hot green tea always helps. Everytime I eat too much greasy dim sum, green tea always seems to wash that greasy feeling out of my mouth. Tue Dec 20 19:03:27 -0800 2005 1500931 0 theSauce 1 1500960 Use an all-natural food, agar-agar, which is rich in dietary fiber and cleans out the system. See the following link from Time (Asia version) magazine. Link: http://www.time.com/time/asia/tga/article/0,13673,501051219-1139868,00.html Tue Dec 20 19:24:07 -0800 2005 1500931 0 Yukari 2 1500962 This second article gives ideas on how to cook with agar-agar (aka "kanten" in Japanese). Link: http://metropolis.japantoday.com/tokyo/602/localflavors.asp Tue Dec 20 19:26:04 -0800 2005 1500960 0 Yukari 1 1501025 If you can find some chufa nuts (Whole foods here in CA carries them, called "Tiger Nuts") -- well my last experience with them was quite..."cleansing." My naturopath's high-fiber oatmeal recipe: 1/2 cup old fashioned oats mixed with 1/4 cup wheat bran. Good for what ails you. To my particular digestive system, a meal full of chiles is usually a good purgative, too. Unfortunately, I love them too much so this is a fairly frequent occurrence. Wed Dec 21 00:27:12 -0800 2005 1500931 0 Snackish 1 1501046 As others have suggested, I've been drinking alot of plain tea lately to keep warm but also soothe the system. I've also been craving healthier, clean food for non-holiday meals. I think this helps to balance the other rich foods and keep the weight in check. Sometimes I forego full meals and just have a salad or steamed veggies to get some good, er, roughage. Nuts and dried fruit too. I made a simple fish (sablefish) in parchment the other night w/ brussels sprouts and carrots (photo below). Seasoned w/ some S&P, EVOO, and lemon. As I ate it, I revelled in the simple fresh flavors and lack of grease/fat. Other cleansing dishes: miso soup; pho ga; steamed veggies like romanesco and cauliflower. Basically avoid too much oil, butter, cream, sugar. Of course, that won't be the case on Christmas Day! Image: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/btdoan/IMG_3650.jpg Wed Dec 21 02:51:09 -0800 2005 1500931 0 Carb Lover 2 1501223 Your fish looks delish! I imagine it with butter and tarragon. Wed Dec 21 18:44:00 -0800 2005 1501046 0 Niki Rothman 1 1501073 Make sure you still eat lotsa fruits & veg. and drink plenty of water into the mix and everything should come out OK, if you know what I mean... I guess I'm visualizing you standing in front of a buffet table with your plate and making sure that you don't pass on the salads and fruit and vegetable choices. Wed Dec 21 09:28:12 -0800 2005 1500931 0 Niki Rothman 1 1501154 Since I work at home now--giving me the luxury of eating a breakfast that takes time to prepare--and because the weather has turned cold and dreary, I've been eating a lot of oatmeal for breakfast. Not the rolled or quick oats, but the old fashioned steel cut oats that take 30 minutes to cook. They are really, really flavorful and don't need anything added to them to make an enjoyable breakfast, just boiling water and oats. While I hadn't thought about it before I bought them, I gotta say I love the fringe benefit of having real oatmeal every morning. It greatly accelerates the recovery from holiday gluttony and keeps me light on my feet, so to speak. -Nick Link: http://www.mccanns.ie/pages/products1.html Wed Dec 21 14:32:28 -0800 2005 1500931 0 nja 1 1501209 I second the oatmeal recommendation and add some flax seeds to it too for double cleansing power. Also, there's a trendy new fermeted drink sold in natural food stores and a lot of corner stores in my area. It's called Kombucha. It's really tasty if you like that sort of fermemted taste and it really works. It makes the digestive and the circulatory system feel cleaner. It's actually an ancient thing (Chinese?) that health food enthusiasts have made themselves for years, but now it's sold bottled. I drink half a large bottle most days and find it really helpful. The ginger is my favorite. Wed Dec 21 17:37:31 -0800 2005 1500931 0 veebee