Your constitution, or dosha, is affected by not just your food intake, but also by how you eat. how you feel when you eat and how long you take to have a meal, even when you snack. follow the simple principles below to ensure optimal digestion.
- Maintain a state of calm while eating. Eating under stressful; circumstances turns your body into a pressure cooker, causing fermentation of the food in your digestive tract. This causes toxins to be absorbed into the bloodstream and even creates gas. Stress includes anything that takes away enjoyment from eating-from watching violent TV shows discussing difficult situations.
- Conditions yourself to drinking water that is slightly warm or at room temperature, rather than ice-cold water, as this dampens agni, or the 'digestive fire' responsible for digesting food efficiently for maximum ojas. Avoid water right before your meal; it is better to have water between meals. If possible, have 2 glasses of warm water upon rising and a glass of warm water or herbal tea following meals.
- Chew your food completely, without rushing. Foods that are not completely chewed and broken down in the moth make for harder work for the stomach. This often leads to pain and discomfort during or right after your meal.
- Make lunch the largest meal of the day. Digestive power is strongest when the sun shines directly overhead, so lunch should be your main meal, as the food has the best chance of being most efficiently digested. This is also the best meal to involve more complex food. In the mornings and evenings, the system tends to be more sluggish. Therefore, breakfast and dinner should be smaller and comprised of easily digestible foods, such as fruit for breakfast and lightly cooked vegetables, stews and soups for dinner.
- Eat nutritious, whole foods, canned or over-processed foods that have lost their color and flavor will have also lost their nutritional value. also, be careful how much you cook your fresh foods, especially vegetables. Indian chefs will tell you that when it comes to food, what you see is what you get- the more the colors in your thali, the more nutritious your meal. Select foods that are whole and organic. These have raw vitality and can best balance your doshs in the way that nature intended them to.
- Adjust food quantities according to your dosha. Vata types have a smaller food-intake capacity but a more rapid metabolism. They often need 4-5 smaller meals in a day to give them the vital energy that keeps them functioning optimally. Pitta types have a strong metabolism and do well with 3 regular meals a day. Kapha types have a slow metabolism and should eat 2-3 meals a day and avoid snacking.
- Do not eat until after you have digested your previous meal. Eating too soon after your last meal causes bloating, acidity and gas. While we all have different rates of digestion, rule of thumb tells us that we have completely digested a meal when we feel a sensation of lightness both physically and emotionally. This could be anywhere from 2-4 hours after a meal, but be sure to think about how you feel rather than look at the clock.
- Eat sensible portions. It is easy to be lured by the appeal of gourmet foods and eat more than is appropriate. Starving yourself to follow a trendy diet is just as bad. At each meal, the volume of your food should equal1 anjali, or about 2 handfuls. This fills most of the stomach, the rest being left empty tp allow food to mix freely with the digestive juices and vata energy to push it down through the digestive tract. Fasting is not prescribed in Ayurveda- it weakens ojas, compromising strength and complexion.
- Follow your meal with digestive munchies or mukhwas. These are eaten at the end of a meal to help encourage digestion. Eating a teaspoon of mukhwas is a great after-meal ritual. Make your own from equal parts sesame seeds, whole cumin seeds, and fennel seeds and keep the mix in a jar in a cool, dry place.
