Stomach Heaviness: How to Identify It, What Causes It, and How to Relieve It

Digestion is a complex process that occurs from the mouth to your intestines. If you consume foods that are harmful or hard for you to digest, you might experience, among other symptoms, a feeling of stomach heaviness. When this happens, it may seem like your food stays in your stomach for too long, causing discomfort and a sensation of fullness in the upper abdomen—typical signs of poor digestion.

In this article, we’ll explain the causes of that heavy feeling in your stomach and how to treat it.

What is stomach heaviness?

Let’s first talk about how digestion happens
Your digestion begins with chewing in your mouth. Then, your esophagus moves the chewed food to your stomach, where it continues to be broken down by stomach acid before moving into your intestines. There, nutrients from food are digested and absorbed in their most basic form. After that, your colon absorbs water and minerals and excretes what your body doesn’t need.
Each organ in your digestive system has a specific function to help you digest and absorb the food you consume.

When does digestion become “heavy”?

If you’ve felt that heaviness in your stomach, especially in the upper abdomen, it’s likely because you haven’t digested your food properly and your stomach emptying has slowed down.
You might also experience symptoms like:

• Belching, flatulence
• Heartburn
• Abdominal pain or stomachache

Causes of stomach heaviness

Some of the most common causes, as described by Mayo Clinic, include:

• Overeating or eating too quickly, or consuming fatty, spicy, and hard-to-digest foods.
• Excess intake of caffeine, alcoholic beverages, chocolate, or carbonated drinks.

At NutriWhite, we’ve also seen contributing factors in our clients such as:

• Consumption of hard-to-digest "enemy" foods, including those derived from grains, dairy, soy, refined sugar, and processed items.
• Low stomach acid (Camilleri M, 2018) and digestive enzyme deficiency.
• Gut dysbiosis, for example, the presence of bacteria like H. pylori (Barbara Medić, 2021).

Tips for fighting stomach heaviness with healthy habits

First, keep in mind that... it’s not normal to feel stomach heaviness! To prevent this, we suggest the following tips:

• Activate your vagus nerve and eat slowly, especially when you feel an empty stomach.
• Eat without electronic distractions.
• Restore flavors and nutrients by consuming friendly foods like animal proteins, easily digestible healthy fats (in smaller amounts), and cooked vegetables.
• Eat fruits separately from main meals.
• In addition to what’s already been mentioned, reduce foods that are hard to digest, such as those high in FODMAPs, which are removed in cases of irritable bowel syndrome.
• Evaluate your tolerance to foods like broccoli, cauliflower, legumes, etc.
• Include healthy fats that you tolerate, like avocado and olive oil. Always control the portion size.
• Reduce spicy food, artificial seasonings, caffeine, alcohol, and chocolate.
• Completely eliminate carbonated drinks.
• A glass of warm water or a hot herbal tea after meals can help.

You may also consider specific supplements that support digestion:

• Digestive enzyme supplements
• Betaine HCl or supplements that stimulate hydrochloric acid production

Foods to ease stomach heaviness

There isn’t a specific list of foods to reduce stomach heaviness other than those you can digest and absorb well. Watch your portions and timing, and pay attention to your behavior while eating.

When should you see a doctor?

Mayo Clinic also highlights that indigestion may be caused by other conditions such as:

• Gastritis
• Ulcers
• Celiac disease
• Gallstones
• Constipation
• Inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis)
• Stomach cancer
• Intestinal obstruction
• Reduced blood flow to the intestines (intestinal ischemia)

These conditions require professional medical attention from specialists such as gastroenterologists, immunologists, or immuno-nutritionists.

At NutriWhite, we have a team of NutriWhite Ambassadors who can provide you with anti-inflammatory tools through the 3R Immunonutrition Protocol in your NutriWhite Consultation.

Get rid of your stomach heaviness and improve your quality of life with NutriWhite.

References:

•  Mayo Clinic: Ingestión - Síntomas y causas - Mayo Clinic 
• Camilleri M, Chedid V, Ford AC, Haruma K, Horowitz M, Jones KL, Low PA, Park SY, Parkman HP, Stanghellini V. Gastroparesis. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2018 Nov 1;4(1):41. doi: 10.1038/s41572-018-0038-z. PMID: 30385743.
• Medić B, Babić Ž, Banić M, Ljubičić L. MODERN APPROACH TO DYSPEPSIA. Acta Clin Croat. 2021 Dec;60(4):731-738. doi: 10.20471/acc.2021.60.04.21. PMID: 35734496; PMCID: PMC9196234.