Boost your digestion the Ayurvedic way

Ayurveda strongly recommends that one should always keep his/ her digestion strong as this is a prime requisite to stay healthy. Digestion is regarded as the basis of Ayurvedic holistic healthcare. This is important because if stomach discomforts persist, it results in the evolution of several ailments. Symptoms of a weak digestion include poor appetite, belching, excessive formation of wind, gastric pain, bloating and abdominal distress. Such maladies arise due to weakened gastric fire which causes improper digestion & absorption of the ingested food.

In Ayurveda, diseases concerning improper digestion are caused when there’s an imbalance or distortion in either of the three doshas – Vata, Pitta and Kapha.

Apparent symptoms of the Vata dosha imbalance is abdominal pain along with excessive wind formation. Distortion of the Pitta dosha, leads to a burning sensation accompanied with sour belching. An increase in the Kapha dosha gives rise to symptoms like nausea & vomiting.

Boost your Digestion

Ayurveda suggests certain regulations related to food consumption. Mentioned below are a few tips that can help you can effectively improve your digestion:

• Do not overeat. It can cause numerous lifestyle-related illnesses.
• Follow a simple rule for judging your capacity: Hypothetically divide your stomach into four parts. Of these, two parts need to be filled with solid foods; third part with liquids and the fourth needs to be kept empty for proper movement of gases.
• “Do not eat the food, but always drink it,” which means every morsel of the food must be chewed well to make it semi-liquid in the mouth before swallowing. This greatly aids the digestion process.
• Food should be cooked in peaceful & happy conditions.
• Consuming food during unstable mental states (anger, stress etc) causes more harm than good. It should be taken in amicable ambience.
• It’s even important to take food only when you’re hungry because that hunger is an indication of previous meal’s proper digestion.
• Routinely consumed food items should be nutritious as well as easy to digest. It is for this reason, vegetarian food is given preference over non-vegetarian.
• Prefer seasonal veggies & fruits with lots of fibre and condiments such as unpolished cereals, whole foods, rock salt, cow’s milk, clarified butter and honey in cooking.
• Avoid exercising right after meals. Make sure to finish eating your dinner two to three hours before going to bed.