Stimulating Our Digestive Fire

We’ve all heard the expression ‘You are what you eat’ in Ayurveda it is believed that it’s not just what you eat that has an impact on your health but also where you eat and how you eat.

We’re always taught to rely on our ‘gut’ to tell us when things feel right or wrong and our gut is just as important when it comes to our health and well being.

In Ayurveda, it is believed that our gut is where any illness begins so Digestion is key to our overall health. In order to digest our food we need to ignite our Digestive Fire (Agni) as this aids the digestive process. When our food is not digested efficiently it causes toxins (Ama) and these toxins need to be eliminated or cleared regularly or they could cause us problems.

Signs of healthy Agni include easy passing stools, feelings of hunger and thirst and glowing and radiant skin. When Agni is in balance we’re happy and lucid and healthy Agni gives us good energy.

The tell tale signs of Ama (toxins) in our body include, gas, constipation, loss of appetite, indigestion, bad breath and a coated tongue. Ama makes us feel lethargic, heavy and irritable and it also affects our immune system.

In order to increase our Digestive Fire we need to eat food that stimulates all of our senses. Eating pungent, bitter and astringent foods keeps our digestive fires burning and has a balancing effect on Ama but we also need to include sweet, sour and salty foods in our diet.

Establishing healthy eating patterns is key to our digestion. In the world we live in it’s often hard to take your time with food, more often than not we eat on the go, at our desk, on the train, in front of the TV but this isn’t good for our digestion.

To help aid digestion we should aim to:

• Eat in a calm and relaxed environment
• Eat at a sensible pace and chew our food properly
• Eat regularly
• Eat when we are hungry and not to over eat
• Eat warm, cooked foods as raw foods are harder to digest
• Avoid snacking between meals
• Try to eat early. Before 6.30pm is advisable but not always possible.
• Eat ginger or rock salt before a meal to stimulate Agni or sip on ginger tea during the day
• Eat for your body type, Vata, Pitta, Kapha.

Exercise daily. Whether it’s a short walk or some gentle yoga, it all helps.