Improving digestion

The single most important thing you can do for your health every day of the year is to eat wisely. Food is just as, or even more, powerful than medicine. If you do not eat the right foods, and do not follow good eating habits, medicine won't be of much use in recouping health.

On the other hand, if you eat the right foods for your physiology, and follow a good routine that enhances digestion, your body will not need medicine for the most part

To ensure food is properly digested, assimilated and metabolised by the body it is important to follow these guidelines:

1. Cultivate good eating habits

Our lifestyle these days is generally not conducive to good digestion. Eating on the go, eating while working, skipping meals and eating "junk" foods are all too common improper eating habits. You can add life to your years as well as years to your life by following a good eating routine.

Eat three regular meals at about the same times each day. Make lunch your main meal of the day. Eating a heavy meal at night taxes your digestion and disrupts sleep. Cook and eat fresh food-leftovers are "dead" foods from the perspective of ayurveda, offering only substance, not sustenance.

Practice deep breathing for a couple of minutes before you start a meal. Say thanks for the food you eat. Sit quietly for a few minutes after a meal. Small things, but they add up to good health and longevity.

Eat slowly and always chew your food well. Many digestive enzymes are added from the salivary glands and these are stimulated by the action of the jaw. Food that enters the stomach should be ‘soup like’ as the stomach has no teeth to do this for you.

2. Eat for your soul

Total health goes beyond physical wellness to well-being in mind, spirit, emotions and senses as well. According to ayurveda, the food you eat can nourish or vitiate all of these aspects of health, not just your physical health.

Cooking or eating when you are angry or stressed can turn the food into poison. Cooking and eating in a harmonious, atmosphere, on the other hand, turns the food into nectar.

Pleasant aromatherapy, soothing or uplifting music playing softly in the background, a tidy, cheerful dining table, and the nurturing company of friends or family can make mealtimes nourishing for your mind, emotions, senses and spirit.

Try eating in silence sometimes. The total focus on your food can turn the meal into a feast, no matter how simple the fare. You'll find yourself relishing colours, textures, aromas and flavours in an eating experience that is optimal for health.

3. Shun food fads

Every day the media report a new research study on a specific food or drink or a new diet that is guaranteed to work. Keeping up with the latest on what to eat or how or when can be a challenge.

After all that, what works for a million other people may still not be right for you. Listen to your own physiology, and include a sensible mix of various types of foods in your diet so that you are getting the nutrition your body needs.

The recommended midday ayurvedic meal includes whole grains, lentils, vegetables cooked with spices and a fresh yogurt drink called Lassie, a drink made by combining fresh yogurt with water, to drink either during or after the meal.

This drink consists of 1/4 cup fresh homemade yogurt, 1 cup room temperature water and sugar to taste. Blend it for one minute in the blender.
Lassie is light and contains lactobacilli, necessary bacteria that lubricate the intestines to help digestion go smoothly. Lassie drinks help to reduce gas and bloating. They also taste delicious and can make a meal more satisfying and nutritious.

Rotate your menus. Vary cooking methods-sauté, steam, boil, roast, bake. Eating should be an adventure, not a chore. Food fads and roller-coaster diets end up doing more harm than good, starving the body of balanced nutrition and nourishment needed.

Ideally, each main meal should provide the six tastes of bitter, sweet, pungent, astringent, sour and salty. This ensures the nutritional requirements of the body are met and reduces the need for snacking and over-eating.

Specific mixtures of herbs(according to one’s body constitution) may be added during cooking or sprinkled over food to ensure a balance of the six tastes in each meal .

Spices not only add flavour and aroma; they also bring therapeutic value to the meal. They help boost natural immunity, and most of them boost the digestion so that the body is better able to absorb and assimilate the nutrients from the foods you eat.

4. Give your digestive system a break

According to ayurveda, the build-up of digestive toxins (ama) in the physiology is the root cause of most disorders. That's why ayurveda recommends internal cleansing at every change of seasons for optimal health.

Detoxing is particularly recommended in the early spring, because that is the time nature starts the annual cycle of regeneration as well. During internal cleansing, eat light yet nourishing foods such as lentil soup or kitcheree and drink lots of warm water through the day. Sip detoxifying tea or lukewarm water. Fresh, sweet juicy fruits are excellent cleansers.

Periodic internal cleansing gets rid of accumulated junk from inside the body and revs up the digestion for another season.

Triphala herbal powder or capsule is an excellent aid to elimination and purification and will help strengthen and purify the digestive and immune system. It is best taken in the late evening. An herbal paste called Chywanaprash (full of antioxidents) is also excellent in this regard.

5. Drink to your health

Avoid caffeine, alcohol and carbonated soft drinks and switch to life-giving, vitality-boosting beverages this year. Start with water, that most basic yet most overlooked drink. Drinking lots of water through the day helps to rehydrate your system and flush toxins out of the body.

Water that has been boiled and cooled has the added healing element of fire in it. Don't drink ice-cold water.If you have a lot of Pitta to balance, drink it cool, otherwise room temperature or warm water is best.

Spiking your drinking water with herbs and spices suited to your physiology or a mix of herbs and whole spices designed to correct a specific imbalance can enhance the healing quality of the water you drink.

Therapeutic herbal teas offers comfort any time of day or night. At bedtime, drink a cup of warm milk, boiled and cooled for added digestibility, with a pinch of cardamom or nutmeg to aid sleep.

Water is essential for good, digestion, ridding the body of toxins, maintaining immunity and healthy skin. When the water is herbalised it has an even stronger, more beneficial action.

For kapha types: To a thermos of boiled water, add 2 thin slices of fresh ginger root, 2 basil leaves, 2 whole cloves, 1/2 teaspoon of whole cumin seeds and 2 pinches licorice powder. Sip hot, during and after meals.

For pitta types: 2 pinches of Indian sarsaparilla powder, 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds, 2 pinches of licorice powder, 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds and 1/2 teaspoon of coriander seeds. Drink at body temperature throughout the day, alternating with plain boiled water.

For vata types: 1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds, 1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seeds, 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, 3 pinches of ashwagandha root powder and 1 pinch whole root licorice powder. Drink warm.

6. Be spice-wise

There are two factors involved in proper nourishment. The first is to start with the proper food (organic, whole foods freshly prepared) and the second is to help Agni (the digestion, metabolism and tissue development processes) be maximally strong.

Spices are the key to the second factor- transforming food into healthy tissue. For this reason the heavier foods you eat the more necessary it is to have proper spicing.

Diets high in nutrition dense foods (fats, sweets, meat, and desserts) require spicing or they will quickly lead to excess heaviness and clogging of the physiology.

Why choose ketchup to tickle your palate at every meal when there is a world of aromatic spices to choose from? Spices not only add flavour and aroma; they also bring therapeutic value to your meal.

There are over a thousand research studies that have been done just on turmeric. Spices help boost natural immunity, and most of them rev up your digestion so that your body is better able to absorb and assimilate the nutrients from the foods you eat.

Cook your food correctly. The purpose of ayurvedic cooking is to combine the intelligence of the spices, the intelligence of vegetables and the intelligence of the fat, all the different enzymes and energetics in a way that is not confusing for your body's intelligence to break down and incorporate.

Ayurvedic cooking methods are easy on the digestive system. You can prepare ayurvedic vegetables in one of two ways. The first way is to steam the vegetables and then add the spices which have been sautéed in ghee, coconut oil or olive oil.

The second way is to sauté the spices in ghee, coconut oil or olive oil and to then add the vegetables and sauté for a few minutes. Cover and cook at low temperature. If you are making a curry (vegetables with sauce), add a small amount of water to finish cooking the vegetables

7. Experiment

If you find yourself eating the same dishes several times a week, or your food shopping list has the same items in it every time you shop, you need to break out of the rut you are in; and experiment with new foods.

Resolve to try at least one new recipe a week. Involving your spouse, significant other or family in meal-planning and preparing foods or cooking can often make cooking and eating more fun.

If you have a favourite vegetable or grain you like to eat often, try preparing it differently each time or combining it with other grains, vegetables or herbs for variety.

8. A balanced diet & the six tastes

The tongue has taste buds which register all the six tastes (sweet, sour, salt, pungent, bitter, astringent). If the body receives all these tastes in each meal it feels satisfied and will not overeat or feel hungry again soon after eating.

However, there are far more taste buds that register the sweet as opposed to astringent or sour taste. This is because we do not require equal amounts of each taste.

There are more ‘sweet’ taste buds because this is the taste we require the most of; sweet tasting foods, such as rice and milk, are nourishing and give us protein, energy and vitality. They are heavy and grounding and are required by Vata types much more than Kapha types.

Bitter tasting foods supply many vitamins, enzymes and minerals. They are also detoxifying, reduce water retention and are good as tonics for the liver and blood. Most are cleansing and help take away burning and itching sensations. In excess they can aggravate vata and dehydrate the body.

Astringent tasting foods are also diuretic and blood purifiers. They help balance pitta and kapha but in excess can create gas and constipation. Spices are certainly a quick, convenient and flavourful way of incorporating the more unusual bitter and astringent tastes.

Salt helps the body retain water and maintains substance and grounding, whilst pungent and sour tasting foods burn up toxins and stimulate the digestion.

As different body-types require different quantities of each taste we must allow our own innate intelligence to determine what combinations it requires in terms of optimum nutrition, especially since this may change on a daily and/or seasonal basis.

Our limited modern model of nutrition is continually being updated and adapted as we discover new groups of molecules (such as vitamins, minerals enzymes and proteins) that our body requires to function optimally.

It then struggles to determine the appropriate amount of each vitamin, mineral, enzyme or protein our bodies require and in what combinations they should be taken in.

The debate will probably go on forever as there are so many variables to consider. However, Ayurveda has a simple solution – simply accept that our own body knows intuitively and instinctively just what it needs at any particular moment.

It relays its message through our desire for particular taste combinations and we should follow those impulses for maximum health. Of course, to be sure that these signals are getting through we need to remain relaxed, balanced and fully aware.

To summarise: the only effective way to reduce the amount of food you eat and to cut down on unhealthy cravings is to include all six tastes in every meal. Furthermore, these six tastes are not required in equal amounts but should be combined in proportions to suit your particular body type.

Vata body-types: Generally require more sweet, sour and salty tastes especially in winter or if stressed. Meals should also be heavy, warm, oily and nourishing (soups and stews are good).

Pitta body-types: Generally require more sweet, bitter and astringent tastes especially in summer. Food should also be slightly heavy and oily and small cold dishes may be included.

Kapha body-types: Generally require more bitter, astringent and pungent tastes, especially in spring or if feeling heavy, lethargic or dull minded. Food should also be light, dry and warm to aid digestion and heavy, oily foods and dairy products should be excluded.

Examples of food according to 6 tastes-

SWEET Sugar, milk, butter, ghee, sweet fruit, bread, pasta, grains

SOUR Yoghurt, lemon, vinegar, wine, soy sauce, grapefruit, aged cheese

SALT Salt (also in vegetables; especially celery and seaweeds)

PUNGENT Hot, spicy foods such as pepper, ginger, garlic, cayenne, chilli

BITTER Leafy greens, olives, turmeric, horseradish, turmeric, fenugreek, nettle, lettuce, aloe

ASTRINGENT Beans, lentils, dhal, honey, rhubarb, apples, leafy greens, pomegranate, sprouts

8. Raw food

If raw foods are eaten these should be taken at the beginning of the meal and always in small quantities (less than one third of the total meal content).

Whilst raw food contains an abundance of vitamins and enzymes the body finds it harder to break these down than cooked food and this can lead to severe digestive problems, especially if the body is already under stress and the digestion is working less than optimally.

The best cooking method is to lightly steam vegetables as this ensures minimal loss of enzymes and maximum retention of nutrients.

9. No hunger, no food

It is important not to eat if there is no hunger or appetite present. Often the feeling of ‘needing something’ to eat is really a need for liquid intake – try and listen to the body’s signals.

Often the body needs smaller, easily digestible soups and fruit or vegetable juices rather than a ‘full-blown’ meal, to gain energy and vitality

10. Quantity

To properly digest a meal the stomach should be no more than a third full. A third should contain food, a third the liquid you have been consuming before the meal and a third air or space. This allows the digestive juices to fully break down the food contained there.

11. Essential fatty acids

Adequate intake of essential fatty acids (omega 3, 6, 9) will help reduce cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. These can be found is fresh deep-sea fish such as mackerel, sardines and salmon and in many freshly-ground nuts and seeds.

However, the best way to ensure an adequate intake is by adding oil to your food.

12. Dessert in the beginning

According to Ayurveda sweet, fruit desserts should be taken at the beginning of a meal rather than at the end. Sweet tastes satisfy hunger and reduce the appetite and therefore reduce the need for large amounts of food.

Fruit that is left sitting behind the main meal waiting to be digested (up to six hours) can ferment and produce large amounts of gas and bloating. This destroys the ‘good’ digestive flora and encourages the production of ‘bad’ digestive flora or bacteria.

13. Go for quality

Food consumed should always be of the highest quality. Fresh, organic food is best and all refined, processed food is best avoided. Colour, taste and presentation are as important as nutritional content as the pleasure we get from smelling, seeing and tasting food determines the abundance of enzymes necessary for proper digestion.

14. Eat naturally intelligent foods

Almost three-quarters of the products sold in supermarkets contain genetically modified ingredients and many of the chemicals and pesticides used in growing foods have been linked to numerous diseases.

Processed foods, genetically modified foods, and foods to which additives or artificial preservatives have been added are no longer alive with the intelligence of nature.
According to ayurveda, the human physiology is a reflection of the laws of the universe, and the more in tune our lives are with nature, the healthier we are likely to be.

Our digestive system is designed to process foods that are closest to nature - whole grains, pulses, fruits and vegetables. Help your digestion function optimally by choosing organic foods whenever possible - your health is worth the extra cost.

15. Fruits and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables contain lots of phyto-nutrients, and a variety of senses-pleasing colours, tastes and textures. Ayurveda has always recommended eating lots of fruits and vegetables, not only for their nutritional value, but also because they are natural internal cleansers.

Modern research concurs that fruits and vegetables are powerful disease prevention foods. In fact, it is now recommended that you eat nine servings of antioxidant rich fruits and vegetables a day to prevent cancer and other free radical induced diseases.

16. Exercise Daily

Exercise each day as your body craves routine. If you exercise at fifty percent capacity at the same time every day, eat at the same time and sleep at the same time, your body will respond with better digestion, better sleep and overall better immunity. Yoga, walking, cycling, dancing and swimming are all excellent in this regard.

The way to tell if you are exerting more than fifty precent capacity and starting to exceed your capacity is if sweat starts to form on your nose, forehead or under the arms. Another sign is if you can no longer breathe through the nose. Breathing through the nose is recommended for ayurvedic exercise.

If you start to need to gulp air through the mouth, it's time to slow down or stop. If you follow this one guideline, you will always feel energized by exercise instead of exhausted.

Each day, you will find that your capacity increases and that you can exercise more intensely or for a longer duration. Very naturally you will be able to handle more exercise without ever straining.

17. The practices of meditation, chanting and pranayama will also help balance the mind, subtly tone the body, improve digestion and massively reduce stress.

18. Retiring to bed early and waking early is necessary for the maintenance of hormone balance in the mind and body – this creates happiness and a stress free mind; the prerequisite of proper digestion.

Summary of healthy dietary principles

Eat only when you are hungry (sometimes only a drink is required to satisfy a craving).
Eat breakfast to help prevent a mid-morning energy slump (especially Vata types).
Drink a glass of fresh, organic fruit or vegetable juice each day (esp; carrot, apple and spinach).
Eat the largest meal at mid day -when the digestive fire is at its strongest.
Take ‘Ginger Pickle’ half an hour before each meal.
Sit down whilst eating and put your full attention on the food being eaten. Do not divide the mind and weaken the digestive juices by excessive talking, reading or watching television. Always be conscious of the taste of food and the act of eating and try and eat in a settled, peaceful environment.
Eat only food that is attractive, wholesome, aromatic and tasty - this ensures proper digestion.
Eat fresh, organic food whenever possible and always avoid processed and refined products.
Try to avoid lifeless, nutrient-poor food such as micro-waved, pre-cooked, left-over or canned.
Favour unprocessed, unrefined oils such as Udo’s, flax, pumpkin, ghee and olive oil.
Use honey, maple syrup, fructose, algarve and stevia extract for sweetening.
Reduce the use of refined sugar, salt, white flour, hard cheese and processed or micro-waved food.
Try to avoid tea, coffee, alcohol, pastries. If you do eat meat try to choose white meat or fish in preference to red meat as they are easier to digest.
Use soya, rice, almond, and hazelnut or oat milk as a substitute for pasteurised cow’s milk.
Sip hot water during a meal but refrain from taking any liquids for up to half an hour before and after food. This ensures that the stomach’s digestive enzymes do not become diluted.
Drink one to two litres of mineral/distilled water or herbal teas daily. Ginger, lemon, peppermint, fennel, coriander and the digestive teas are good.
Drink hot water with fresh lemon or fresh ginger to reduce weight and/or eliminate toxins.
Eat fruit separately from main meals to prevent fermentation in the gut.
Always chew your food thoroughly – this stimulates the salivary glands and also ensures food reaches the stomach in a pre-digested, liquid form that is easier to digest and assimilate.
Avoid over-eating – rest and relax for a few minutes before taking a second helping.
The amount of chewed food that will fit into your cupped hands is equal to the size of a third of your stomach. Your digestion system works at its best when your stomach contains one third food, one third liquid and one third space at the end of a main meal.
Leave the table feeling sated but not heavy and bloated – energy levels should feel replenished.
Take a short stroll after a large meal, and then a short rest afterwards if desired
If you are a Vata type and experience flagging energy during late afternoon, stop and have a small snack or fruit juice.
Eat at least three hours before bed and only have a light meal of cereal, toast or soup.
Vata types benefit from milky bedtime drink with added ghee, cinnamon, nutmeg and raisins.
Aloe Vera juice is good for everyone but it is especially beneficial for those suffering from pitta imbalances. It is good for digestion, cleansing and elimination. Take about 30mls of the juice each day.
Turmeric is both bitter and astringent and is a blood purifier and antioxidant. One teaspoon cooked with your meals is an excellent way to increase antioxidant intake. Vata people should use half this amount as it is can sometimes be too drying and depleting for them.