Ayurveda Festive Digestive Tips
Enjoy festive treats and meals without heartburn or sinus congestion grinching holidays.
Thanksgiving launched the holiday travel and parties season. Traditional meals and comforting foods make for festive times. However, they can also cause digestive issues. Tempted by delicious treats, folks tend to overindulge in foods, libations, and sweets.
Are you feeling indigestion, heartburn, bloating, and acid reflux rolling into town like the Grinch who stole Christmas? From a nationwide survey by the National Heartburn Alliance, two out of three people experience stress in G.I. tract between Thanksgiving and New Years.
According to Ayurveda, health begins in digestive system. About 80% of your immune system resides there. A few upper respiratory viruses are circulating, so it’s important to know how to modify food choices, and, use Ayurvedic festive digestive tips to support immunity, digestion, and sinuses.
How to enjoy holiday foods and treats AND support optimal digestion and immunity?
Stoke your digestive fire. Healthy digestion, just like a well-made campfire, burns steady and efficiently. If you’ve ever built a campfire, you know adding one log at a time, versus a big bunch all at once, is best tactic for efficient and complete burning of fuel. Same strategy works with digestive system (campfire) and eating holiday foods (fuel).
The two most important lifestyle strategies for healthy digestion are: 1. Eat slower and pay attention to the smells and taste of food. One bite at a time, versus chowing down, decreases an overeating habit. 2. Eat largest meal around noon, when digestion is strongest and burns more efficiently.
Note: Next week’s article addresses food guidelines, spices, and digestive tips for each dosha.
Balanced Digestion is Main Course to Health
A healthy digestive system (stomach, liver, colon) naturally creates optimal vitality and immunity. When digestive system is stressed due to over-eating or poor food combining, your metabolism, energy levels, mental functions, and sleep patterns get disrupted and stressed.
Signs of healthy digestion:
steady energy levels, regular elimination, glowing complexion, fresh breath, toned muscles, strong bones, mental clarity, steady moods, and positive, relaxed attitude
When digestion is stressed, the body can’t properly process and assimilate nutrients from food. Waste products become clogged in body, causing build-up of toxins in G.I. tract, and, eventually in bodily tissues.
Signs of poor digestion:
lethargy after meals, chronic constipation or diarrhea, skin rashes, dull complexion, foul breath, body odor, mental fog, and negative or anxious demeanor
Three Ayurvedic Digestive Tips
These easy, effective, enjoyable tips support digestion and sinuses. You may be surprised how common herbs and spices, already in your pantry, can help you enjoy a festive digestive holiday season.
1. After meals, brew a cup of FestiviTEA. Put ¼ tsp fennel seed and 2 clove buds in favorite mug. Steep in 8 oz of hot water for 5 minutes. Fennel is cooling and helps with nausea and indigestion. Clove reduces congestion in sinuses. Both aid digestion of heavy, sweet foods. A ½ tsp of honey helps deliver spice benefits into body. This is a wonderful tea to enjoy with/after heavy appetizers or frosted gingerbread cookies.
2. A holistic, effective remedy to aid optimal, regular digestion and support lungs is the Triphala. Link to order this quintessential Ayurvedic herb from Banyan Botanicals. This quintessential Ayurvedic blend of three fruits can be taken before or after meals, or at bedtime. Banyan is a certified B company whose products are organic, fair trade, and sustainably sourced.
3. Tis the season…for seasoning! Common herbs and spices are wonderful digestive aids from Mother Nature’s kitchen. For savory dishes like stuffing, mashed potatoes, or those crazy green bean casseroles, use generous amounts of black pepper, cumin, thyme, and rosemary. These dishes have a heavy quality, and spices (light and heating quality) help ignite digestive fire to take on that extra work.
For sweet dishes and desserts, favor cinnamon, cardamom, clove, dried ginger, and nutmeg. This decreases the phlegmatic quality of sweets, helping sinuses and stomach be calm and bright.
Click here for more easy, effective and enjoyable digestive assets.
All Is Calm, All Is Right
As you celebrate the season of lights, remember to kindle digestive fire. When lighting Christmas tree, advent wreath, menorah, kwanza candle, or Yule log, give thanks to your digestive fire. Keep it stoked with healthy lifestyle and home remedies, and enjoy a lifetime guarantee of good health and cheer. Reach out if you have questions or need extra tips.