Eight Ways to Fight Food Hangovers

6. Tea Up. Drink peppermint tea if you'd welcome a nice gas-releasing burp. Peppermint reduces the pressure of the esophageal muscle, which separates the esophagus from the stomach. Avoid it if you suffer from heartburn or acid reflux.

7. Be Proactive. Probiotics are combinations of friendly bacteria that help promote a helpful balance of good and bad bacteria in the GI tract. (It's estimated that more than a thousand species of bacteria live in humans, and some are better for us than others.) You can get different types of probiotics in yogurt, miso and tempeh (a soy product), as well as in supplements available in health-food stores and pharmacies. However, the latter have generally not been independently tested, so you don't really know whether you're getting live bacteria or the right ones. Cox recommends VSL-3, a powder doctors prescribe to patients with serious intestinal conditions, or Activia yogurt, available in grocery stores.

8. Watch for Warning Signs. If your indigestion is accompanied by a fever, nausea, or rapid weight loss--or if it lasts longer than five days, see your doctor. You may be suffering from an infection. And if your indigestion gets more uncomfortable or chronic, it may be a condition that needs medical attention. A condition called acid reflux, or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), is caused by the same kind of acid backup that causes heartburn, but people with GERD can suffer from coughing, wheezing, a sour aftertaste or chest pain without any heartburn. GERD is most likely to interfere with sleep. If you get stomach cramps and frequently suffer from diarrhea or constipation (or both), you may have irritable bowel syndrome, which means your gastrointestinal tract works either more slowly or quickly than norm.

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