Wouldn’t you love to have more energy, no more bloating, gas, diarrhea or constipation? It all ties into the foods that you consume. Your body is trying to tell you that it does not like what you are feeding it. I hope to provide you with some tips so you can relearn the signals your body is sending to you.

The food that you consume can be nourishing and healing or a toxin that will slowly poison you.

Time is needed to digest our thoughts and emotions. We should refrain from eating when angry, upset, preoccupied or rushed.

The typical western lifestyle does not really allow for people to be able to take a proper lunch break. We grab something quick, eat it mindlessly or while trying to respond to emails, catch up on work, run errands or participate in conference calls. No time to pause, to eat something nourishing or even get a breath of fresh air. We have been trained to live in a world of being on a schedule that does not necessarily connect to what our bodies need. We eat because it is time to eat, not because we have hunger. We find making decisions about our food is all about what hits those pleasure sensors within our mouth – sweet, salty, greasy, processed foods with little to no nutritional value.

Simple carbohydrates give you a quick boost of energy and then you crash and need an afternoon sugar / caffeine fix to get you through the rest of your work day. You leave work exhausted with no energy to go home and make a balanced dinner – again grabbing take out that hits those pleasure zones. By bedtime, you may be taking some OTC (over the counter) or prescription remedy to deal with the indigestion, heartburn, bloaty feeling that you have and maybe taking something to knock you out from being overly stimulated and caffeinated during your day.

Importance of Agni, the body’s digestive fire

Agni = Digestive Fire. According to Ayurveda, our digestive fire is the strongest between 10am – 2pm. Just as the sun is strongest during this time, so is the body’s capacity to digest and absorb nutrients. Hence, the largest meal of the day should be consumed during this time. Digestive fire diminishes as the sun goes down and it is harder for the body to break down and digest foods.

Ideally, we should eat at the same time every day. This helps the body to reset its hunger signals. Dinner should be light and something easy for the body to break down – for example a simple clear vegetable soup without any dairy, grains or pasta. I enjoy making miso soup with vegetables for dinner. For me, it is satisfying without taxing my body’s digestive energy.

The size of our meal is also important to help us build and maintain digestive fire. Look at the size of your fist, which is the size of your stomach. What you eat for a meal should be no larger than two handfuls of food.

Not hungry for breakfast? You probably ate too much for dinner or ate too late and your food has not completely digested. Try making your evening meal lighter so that you feel hungry in the morning.

The best thing is start the day with a cup of hot water after brushing your teeth and scraping your tongue. This will re-hydrate your cells and help flush out the remaining toxins from your system. Do remember to eat before you have your morning tea or coffee. Having tea or coffee first thing on an empty stomach is setting yourself up for adrenal fatigue.

The weather and seasons play an important role when making choices for meals. On a cold snowy day, eating a cold salad is not as satisfying as a nice stew or hearty soup. Same thing on a hot summer day you would not want to eat a bowl of chili. A cool crisp salad would be more welcomed.

There should be mindfulness when eating. Start a ritual of lighting a candle, setting the table, giving thanks, turn off the TV and put away your phone. This sets the space for you to begin to reconnect to your food. Chew slowly, savor the flavors and textures on your tongue. Notice how you feel.

If you really do not have any hunger at mealtime there could be several causes. Your last meal has not been digested by your body. Your last meal was too large or you have low digestive fire within your body.

Signs and Symptoms of Indigestion: constipation, diarrhea, tiredness, blocked vata, abdominal distention, heaviness, dizziness. These are signals from your body that it does not want the food that you eaten or you have not provided yourself with a calm space to eat your meal.

Remedies to rebuild your digestive fire and aid with digestion:

• Eating a ginger pickle before your meal.
• Sipping CCF tea throughout the day.
• Adding digestive spices to suit your constitution to the foods that you cook

As you start to pay attention to what you eat and how you feel you will instinctively be able to make changes to your diet. It really is not all that complicated. Stiff and achy – maybe too much processed foods and sodium; congested – maybe you cannot process sugar, flour or dairy; hot and sweaty – maybe too spicy for your constitution or your body is struggling to breakdown what you have eaten and your digestion is not strong enough to do a proper job.

I hope that these suggestions help you feel more comfortable in your body. Until next time, I wish you peace and much love.