Written by John Immel, Asheville, NCDo you often experience a burning sensation in your gut? Do you have an ulcer?

Your digestive tract is sensitive and needs a moist environment to work effectively. Excess dryness, on the other hand, is a contributing factor to burning sensations in your stomach.

Over time, chronic dryness can also contribute to the development of an ulcer, or the worsening of an existing one.

Why is this? And what can you do about it?

Keep reading for Ayurvedic wisdom on how you can protect your digestion, keep it hydrated and juicy, and soothe any hot, gnawing sensations in your gut.

What Does Your Digestive Tract Look Like?

Take a moment to visualize the inside of your digestive tract. The tissues should be a healthy, flesh-colored pink. They should also look fresh, clean and moist, signs they are well hydrated and coated by a healthy layer of protective mucus.

Now, picture the inside of your digestive tract again. Only this time, instead of moist, fresh tissue, you notice that the lining of your GI tract is dry, depleted, rough and thin. It is shriveled up and the protective mucus coating is withered away.

Now there is nothing to protect your GI tract’s delicate lining from harmful digestive acids. And these stomach acids can penetrate into your tissues and literally start to dissolve them, causing a sensation of burning up from the inside out.

If the acids continue to penetrate the lining of your stomach, they will create an open wound or sore, an ulcer.

Intuitively, irritants like alcohol, coffee and spicy foods seem like the main offenders for the burning pain in your gut. While these foods may indeed aggravate burning sensations, dryness and dehydration are often hidden culprits as well.

And be sure you don't overlook the fact that h pylori is a factor in nearly 80 percent of ulcers! So get tested for h pylori if you haven't already.

How to Tell if Your Digestive Tract is Too Dry

Does your tongue feel dry?

This is the tell tale sign that the rest of your digestive tract is dry and parched too.

A rough, sandpapery tongue is the tell-tale sign that your GI is too dry to build a protective mucus coating.

What Causes Dryness of the GI?

Dehydration is a frequent cause of a dry digestive tract.

This dryness and dehydration may stem from not drinking enough water. However, it can also result from eating too many dry foods like muesli and popcorn, as these absorb all your fluids.

Gas and bloating lead to dryness because they create toxins your kidneys must flush out. This increases urine production, drying you out.

If you suspect dehydration, avoid foods with a diuretic effect such as celery, parsley and CCF tea as these increase urination.

Foods with astringent taste, such as beans, break up and destroy protective mucus. Those with bitter taste, such as dandelion greens, thin out the mucus, making it more like water.

A lack of dietary fats can also lead to fluids that are too thin to protect your stomach.

On the contrary, a diet high in fats thickens your mucus, making it more viscous.

Stress & Dryness in Digestive Tract

Stress and worry disrupt digestive function as well and create hyperacidity. Stress also reduces circulation to digestive organs, which dries them out and thins the mucus layer. Then gastric juices can begin to burn and inflame the lining of your digestive tract.

Individuals that are stressed and erratic often skip meals. They override sensations of hunger because they are too busy to eat. Imagine what can happen if your stomach is producing acid but there is no food to digest.

The acids will start gnawing away at your stomach lining. This puts your stomach in a very vulnerable state, particularly if your mucous membrane is already thin.

How to Combat Dryness & Prevent Burning Sensations

Lifestyle

The first step to reduce unwanted burning sensations is to ensure proper hydration. With proper hydration and nourishment, your body can produce a hearty protective layer of mucus.

When hydration is not adequate, the mucous membrane is likely to become thin, dry and depleted. To both nourish and hydrate yourself, sip warm almond chai throughout the day.

Next, establish a consistent routine. It is particularly important to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at roughly the same time each day (8am / 1pm / 6pm). This ensures the digestive acids don't start eroding the wall of your stomach.

Implement a Vata pacifying lifestyle, including measures to reduce stress and agitation. Belly breathing and daily self-massage with oil (abhyanga) are also perfect ways to whisk away tension and assist you to relax.

Diet

Foods with bitter, pungent and astringent tastes increase dryness. So avoid them.

Instead, favor foods that are naturally sweet and gooey with soluble fiber, such as tapioca, chia seeds, oatmeal and okra. These foods are also demulcent in nature, which means they have a coating quality and help build the protective mucus layer in your stomach. These gooey foods soothe burning sensations and are also anti-inflammatory.

At the same time, avoid foods high in insoluble fiber like celery and kale. The roughage in these foods will scrape and irritate your GI lining. If an ulcer or a burning inflammation are present, your gut can feel like someone is rubbing a wire brush over the wound.

Add healthy fats such as ghee and avocado to nourish and moisturize dry tissues. Fat also protectively coats tissues.

Focus on easy to digest meals to limit digestive strain like grandma's chicken soup, kitchari and applesauce. A cup of bone broth daily will also protect and hydrate your stomach lining.

Herbs

Certain herbs, such as licorice root and marshmallow root help moisturize a dry digestive tract.

Marshmallow is a strong demulcent, which coats and protects the digestive tissues. Licorice is antidiuretic, helping the body retain water. Shatavari is a moisturizing anti-inflammatory that will cool burning sensations.

Other ojas building herbs like vidari destroy dryness by nurturing a thick, protective mucus layer. Amalaki, an anti-inflammatory herb is a rejuvenative that assists in restoring the lining of your GI tract.

Prevention: Better Than a Cure

These diet and lifestyle suggestions will help protect your digestion from dryness. They have a long history of preventing burning sensations in the stomach.

When it comes to ulcers, prevention is always better than a cure. If you have an ulcer, it is essential to seek medical advice before making any changes to your diet and lifestyle.

For more detail about the Ayurvedic perspective on burning stomach sensations and ulcers, listen to this audio presentation.

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