In the blog ‘Food to Eat for a Healthy Gut – Part 3’, we walked through some simple rules to help take better care of our digestion. Building on that, I’d now like to take you a little deeper into a few more important practices and explain why following them can make a real difference in keeping our gut health on track.
Let’s start with a question you might not have thought about:
Why shouldn’t we stand while eating?
In Ayurveda, there are five types of vata, each responsible for different bodily functions. When it comes to digestion, ‘samana vata’ plays the key role. Now, when we stand and eat, the focus of the vata shifts. Instead of supporting digestion through ‘samana vata’, we overwork ‘apana vata’, the one responsible for movements below the hips. Simply put, more energy goes into keeping us upright than into digesting the food we eat. This imbalance can easily lead to gas, bloating, abdominal discomfort, indigestion, and haemorrhoids, or piles.
Sitting down while eating may seem like a small habit, but it’s deeply supportive for your gut.
Now, another thing we often overlook is the speed at which we eat.
Why shouldn’t we eat too fast?
The term used in Ayurveda for the stomach is Amashaya. Ama means toxins and ashaya means sack. Amashaya means the sack of toxins. If we inject food into our blood stream, we will die of poisoning. Food is Prana in a solidified form. It needs to be broken down. The body absorbs prana from the food through the upper palate. This is one reason why we have to chew the food we eat. Chewing releases salivary enzymes which act on the food and break it down, so it can be digested and absorbed by the body. When we eat rapidly, the food doesn’t get broken down. The improperly received foods cause a buildup of ‘ama’(undigested toxins) that can eventually cause toxicity, which is commonly seen as abdominal bloating. It can even cause food poisoning.
That hurried lunch can have bigger consequences than just a temporary discomfort!
At the same time, you might wonder, if eating fast is bad, is eating very slowly any better?
Well,
Why shouldn’t we eat too slowly?
‘Pachaka pitta’, the pitta that governs digestion, activates as soon as the first mouthful is chewed. This pitta stimulates acid secretion necessary to digest food. If we take too long to consume the meal, acid levels in the stomach will continue to build up without being effectively used. Over time, this excess acid can erode the intestinal walls, which can lead to weight loss. Then, when we finally swallow after a long period of chewing, that accumulated acid may cause acidic indigestion. So, balance is the key, not too fast, not too slow.
Temperature of the food we eat also plays a significant role.
Why shouldn’t we consume food that is too hot?
Extremely hot food spikes the ‘pitta’ in the body, making the food sticky (picchila) and harder to digest. This again leads to the buildup of ‘ama’. Also, when food is too hot, the ‘prana vata’ (that helps in chewing) gets depleted with very hot food. This causes ‘samana vata’ to be weakened. The result? Indigestion, gas, and bloating.
On the flip side, what about that chilled smoothie or ice-cold salad?
Why shouldn’t we consume food that is too cold?
Foods that are excessively cold can aggravate ‘vata’, leading to dryness inside the body. Coldness dulls ‘pachaka pitta’ and slows down acid secretion. Bloating occurs almost immediately. Now, if you eat the regular quantity of food, which is cold, and very little digestive acid to work with, it naturally leads to indigestion and a buildup of ‘ama’.
Our everyday habits, how we sit, chew, and even the temperature of our food can either nurture or disrupt our gut health. These seemingly simple practices, when understood simply, hold the key to a stronger and healthier digestion. Make your gut healthy and stay strong. Do you still have questions? We are here to help you.
