Heavy digestion

'A heavy meal' is met by the tradition with two moves: a bitter taste before eating, meant to open the appetite, and an aromatic infusion afterwards. The ten species the catalogue lists here cover both roles — dandelion as the bitter, fennel, peppermint, common thyme and wild thyme as the aromatic part.

It is a description of a habit, not of a mechanism. The phrase 'slow digestion', incidentally, names nothing measurable.

Most complaints of this kind fall under functional dyspepsia — examinations find nothing, and yet the complaints are there. The documented factors are very concrete: portion size, fat content, eating pace, alcohol and smoking.

For herbs the evidence differs by species and by preparation, and it is given separately on each card. A summary line about 'herbs for digestion' would hide that difference.

Pressure or burning behind the breastbone that spreads to the jaw, back or arm can be a heart attack — do not mistake it for a heavy meal; call for help.

Trouble swallowing, vomiting blood, black stool, unintended weight loss, pain that wakes you at night and complaints newly arising after fifty also need an examination.