Mid Autumn Festival - Digestive Aids for Mooncake Madness

Written by Rachel Erwin, Registered Nutritionist

Digestive Aids for Mooncake Madness

Mid-Autumn Festival is a special time in Hong Kong. It’s a time to eat mooncakes, light lanterns and most importantly, spend time with your loved ones under the bright full moon. As whimsical and romantic as it sounds, large dinners and an overindulgence of mooncakes can cause some not-so-pleasant symptoms including bloating, indigestion and stomach pains.

Here are 4 drinks to beat the bloat and promote healthy digestion.

Time for Tea: a remedy steeped in tradition

As legend has it, tea was first discovered over 5000 years ago in China by Emperor Shennong. While traveling on the road, wild leaves blew into his boiling water giving his water a pleasant taste. Since then it has become incredibly popular in China and the rest of the world.

But continuous research is showing us just how healthy a cuppa can be! Herbal teas have long been paired with meal times in Asian cultures so it’s no surprise that it works wonders for digestion. Most herbal teas can help (provided they’re certified organic!) but these are our top digestive teas to try:

Rooibos Lemon Ginger:

Rooibos is a caffeine-free mild tea that is packed with antioxidants and polyphenols. It can help balance blood sugar levels after a meal and when paired with lemon and ginger, it’s a great way to kick-start your digestive system and reduce symptoms of indigestion.

Baijao Digestion:

This patented tea features star anise and rosemary in a Pu-erh fermented tea base to ease digestive stress, relieve stomach aches, improve liver action and promote bile for digestion. It even has research to back its claims for digestion making this a perfect blend of tradition and science.

Herbal Help: our need for bitters

Bitter is one of the 5 Flavours in Traditional Chinese Medicine and is greatly neglected in modern day diets. Many TCM practitioners will encourage the use of bitter teas, tonics and foods as it helps nourish the Fire element, which in turn promotes healthy circulation, digestion and elimination.

Swedish Bitters:

This ancient herbal elixir has been used since the 15th century to promote digestion. Traditional Swedish Bitters contains 11 key herbal ingredients including angelica root, aloe, manna, rhubarb, senna leaf and saffron. The potent blend has been shown to improve several elements vital for proper digestion: it stimulates gastric secretions, soothes the digestive tract, encourages regular bowel movement, supports bile production, and relieves gas and heartburn.

Dissolve a teaspoon of Swedish Bitters into warm water or tea and sip before, during or immediately after a meal.

FlorEssence:

FlorEssence is a proprietary blend of 8 herbal extracts including burdock root, sheep sorrel and slippery elm bark. Slippery elm bark calms and lubricates the mucus membranes along the digestion tract; sheep sorrel improves intestinal movement and strengthens immunity; and burdock helps balance blood sugar and eliminate waste from the body. Mix 60ml with warm water and drink daily to keep your immune system strong, your cells protected from damage and removal of toxins regular.