Eat to 1/3 capacity of stomach,
Drink 1/3 and leave 1/3 for God(Air)
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Majority of people suffer from everyday digestion problems such as gas, bloating, stomach pain, constipation, heartburn, and fatigue after eating.
Ayurveda provides simple solutions to these common complaints by considering not only what we eat but how we consume our meals.
To ensure food is properly digested, assimilated and metabolised by the body it is important to follow these guidelines:
Preparation- Eating warm (cooked) foods cheer up the enzymes for easily and quickly digesting food, promoting Vata, and removing Kapha. However, when food is overcooked, its life force becomes depleted. Further, cooking with too much heavy oil can weaken the digestive fire.
Food is best eaten when cooked or steamed rather than uncooked; it is more nutritive and building.
It is true that raw foods have enzymes to remove toxins, but they do not adequately build the tissues. Fruit is better fresh and uncooked.
Microwaves damage the life-force. Restaurant food is generally over- or under spiced, and not as good as a home-cooked meal.
Quality -organic, fresh, home-grown, fresh picked, and raw dairy foods are advised. It is not advisable to eat foods that are rotten, under or over cooked, burnt, unripe, over ripe, stale, or junk food.
Other harmful foods include those that are canned, artificial, rancid, and prepared with additives, preservatives, or artificial colours. Finally, frozen foods that contain steroids and chemicals (milk and animal products usually have steroids, chemicals, and preservatives in them) should not be eaten.
Avoid caffeine, alcohol and carbonated soft drinks and switch to life-giving, vitality-boosting beverages.
Water, that most basic yet most overlooked elixir of life, helps to rehydrate the system and flushes toxins from the body. Adding herbs and spices suited to your physiology or designed to correct a specific imbalance can enhance the healing quality of the water you drink.
At bedtime, drink a cup of warm milk (boil and cool it for added digestibility) blended with a spoonful of ghee, a pinch of ginger, a pinch of cardamom and a pinch of nutmeg will aid sleep.
Food, when eaten, should fill one-third of the stomach size or capacity.
Liquid, when taken after meals, also should fill one-third the stomach size. The time to drink liquids at mealtime varies with the individual. Heavy or obese persons should drink before meals.
The remaining one-third of space in the stomach helps digestion. The key is moderation and regularity.
Vata Doshas need to eat every 3 - 4 hours.
Pitta persons generally have good digestive fire.
Kapha constitutions need to eat less.
Ultimately, the stronger the digestive fire, the more one can eat.
The digestive fire and enzymes have to act upon the food for some time in order to digest the food. Then, the body needs time to restore the digestive fire and enzymes for the future.
If a person takes food before digesting the previous meal completely, the food will not digest properly. The undigested food is pushed along the digestive tract by normal peristalsis, unbalancing and aggravating the Doshas.
It’s not advised to combine sour tastes with milk, eat cold items after ghee, eat equal amounts of ghee and honey, or eat fish products along with dairy (these unhealthy combinations create subtle toxins).
Other aggravating foods are too hot and too cold, or too light and too heavy. Stew and curry are more digestible than individual vegetables cooked and eaten separately.
Vata people— the fewer combinations the better (they like combining foods, though it is not good for them).
Pitta people— do best with combinations
Kapha people— are between Vata and Pitta.
Vata people —do well with rich and moderately strong spices.
Pitta people—needs only mild spices.
Kapha people—do best with light, strongly spiced foods.
Excessive talk or a noisy environment hinders the digestion and leads to undigested food remaining in the body causing wind and bloating. Watching television or reading during eating can also have similar effects.
Our bodies need an uplifting and settled environment in order to process and absorb the nutrients from our meals. If that is not available then we should at least be sitting down to eat - not standing, walking or driving.
The act of eating is life-giving. The process of eating, according to ayurveda, is something reverent and important for the development of consciousness as well as our physical health.
When we sit down to eat our stomach is in a relaxed posture and our awareness is on the taste, texture, and smell of the food. This will greatly improve the digestion.
Late night meals interfere with sleep and after 10:00 p.m. the body is working to burn off toxins and continue to digest food from the day. If you eat after 10:00 p.m., the food may cause toxins to accumulate in the system, and as a result the next day you wake up tired.
If you are not able to wake up fresh and clear, then it is important to analyse the quantity of food and the time of night you are eating dinner.
Vata people—dawn and dusk (smaller, more frequent meals—eat every 3 to 4 hours)
Pitta people—at noon, largest meal (three meals daily)
Kapha people—daylight hours, make lunch the large meal
Eat foods and herbs according to geography (do not eat hot and dry items in a hot dry desert or cold and oily items in cold and damp climates).
Drinking- Whilst it is important to drink between 1-2 litres of water per day, but liquid should not be consumed half an hour before or one hour after eating as this ensures that the digestive enzymes responsible for digesting food aren’t diluted by excessive water intake.
It is, however, useful to sip small amounts of hot water with a meal as this aids the digestive process.
Ayurveda recommends taking a small cup of ‘Post-digestive’ tea to help with the digestive process.
Hot water with fresh ginger, lemon, fennel seeds or mint leaves should be sipped throughout the day.
Drinking alcohol after meals causes hyperacidity unless it is medicated herbal wines for Vata and Kapha.
Astringent or herbal teas are all right after meals, but coffee promotes indigestion, hyperacidity, or ulcers.
Iced water, normally served at restaurants, extinguishes the digestive fire.
Juice should be taken at room temperature and water without ice.
Cold drinks and foods mixed with warm cooked foods can cause stomach cramps, bloating and general discomfort in the stomach area.
If you have a pitta imbalance you can take cool drinks in-between meals. Cold or frozen foods are not recommended for pitta either because even though they may temporarily cool down the heat, the agni/digestive fire is still being over stimulated or the imbalance will continue.
Other authorities say a little sweet after meals promotes digestion.
Do not break with eating habits (e.g., someone who generally eats cold and sweet things should not suddenly start eating hot and pungent items).
Intake of substances that aggravate the Dosha and state of one’s strength is ill advised. Eat after clearing the bowel and urinary bladder, and only when hungry.
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