YOU Are What You DIGEST – The Key to Better Health

Generally people think that by just eating healthy, eating on time, eating in right quantity, eating the right quality will keep their health good, but sadly none of these things matter if what they eat isn’t digested well, unless the food we eat isn’t absorbed in our body not a single cell in our body can be made.

So let’s understand how this process actually takes place…

When you’re about to have meal, make sure that the previous meal you have had has digested properly and your body is feeling light and it’s feeling hungry, most of the people make the mistake of eating meals because it’s time to eat rather that eating when their body is actually hungry, so making sure you are mindful about your hunger signals is important.

Step 1: Choosing the Right Food

Choosing what suits our body, what satiates our palate, if it suits the season we are eating it in(for example: eating very spicy food during summers will do more harm to the body, while eating cooling foods like coconut, ragi, jowar during summers will help the body cool down the heat), is the food we are eating grown locally (as the food that grown in Kashmir is suitable for their body and climate where as if we eat apple living in south India it won’t help us), eating specific foods in specific health conditions if one has any, eating traditional food that our genes and body are used to.

Step 2: Cooking the Right Way

Cooking it in right kind of utensils like brass, iron, earthenware (as aluminium utensils, non stick ware are hazardous to health and can lead to cancer aswell), cooking it with good quality oil like cold pressed oils that are local to them instead of refined oils, using saindhav salt or pink salt while cooking instead of white table salt, cooking the food well and not undercooking or over cooking anything, giving ghee Tadkas or oil tadkas depending on the dish as the jeera and curry leaves in it improves the digestion.

Step 3: Eating with Awareness

Eating it fresh, eating it in silence, eating it sitting in right way (in our country people have always sat down on the floor cross legged to have their meals so that there’s a pressure created on our stomach to not overeat and be able to digest it well), eating in a clean place, eating it with peace of mind, eating it involving all your senses and focusing just on the food.

Step 4: Chewing and Drinking Water the Right Way

Now finally eating it, and the step starts with chewing the food well, we must chew one bite of food enough that it becomes liquid in your mouth itself and the mixing of saliva with the food ensures that the food is digested easily and quickly as it contains enzymes that help in the digestion process. Also if we breakdown the food in the mouth itself the stomach has to go through less work.

Also we must drink a sip of water after 2 bites to just make the food into a paste, Ayurveda recommends to drink water between meals rather than immediately before or after meals, drinking water before will decrease the digestive fire leading to indigestion, and drinking after the food will not ensure the mixing of water with food well, disturbing the digestion.

Step 5: Resting After Meals

Let your stomach do the work, as soon as your have your meal just rest for at-least 15-20 minutes so that your body can work on digesting the food that’s been consumed.

Common Mistakes That Hamper Digestion

1. Not eating when hungry

2. Over eating

3. Under eating

4. Not passing bowels even once a day

5. Irregular eating times

6. Consumption is f incompatible foods (milk + salt)

7. Eating cold foods or beverages

8. Eating very dry, very oily, very

9. Lack of exercise or over exercise

10. A sedentary lifestyle

11. Stress, anxiety, emotional distress

12. Irregular sleep patterns

13. Travelling, change in climate

14. Suppression of natural urges like stool, urine, passing gas, sneezing,

15. Prolonged screen time

What Happens When Your Food Isn’t Digested?

The undigested material in the body will stay there and rot, which due to the rotting will convert into toxin in the body known as “ama” in Ayurveda, and ama is said to be the cause of all the diseases in the body as the body starts absorbing the toxins and manifesting the diseases as a result…

So eliminating the causes and making sure you digest whatever you have eaten is important, as your body will make new cells and keep your body functioning well when your food is digested and then is absorbed in the body.