Digestive Health with Ayurveda Siva Mohan, MD MPH www.svasthahealth.com
Session 3: Digestive capacity agenda Quick Session 1/2 review Assessing your eating habits Healthy eating habits in ayurveda Food combining Effect of food on consciousness Q&A 2
Ayurvedic review Everything in the universe is energy • This energy can be categorized, or witnessed in • patterned ways Ayurveda presents the universe and its patterns in the • form of 3 primal energies (doshas): vata, pitta, kapha Doshas are flowing through everything in the universe • including ourselves and our food We are unique manifestations of the doshas • How we interface with the universe is in part • determined by our energetic make-up, and in part by our current state of affairs There are patterned ways we experience this • interaction with the universe, and we can see this in our digestive systems & health FREE INTRO VIDEO • 3
Session 1 review • Food is energy • We can assess what the state of our digestive system is based on our stool and symptoms • We can then choose foods that are appropriate energetically to help balance us (the doshas) • Foods themselves can be modified; what is important is the energetics of the end product or prepared dish • Tastes can give us insight into the energetics (doshas) of food 4
Session 2 review We have a digestive capacity (agni) that is changing • We can assess what the state of our digestive capacity • is based on our tongue, appetite and digestive symptoms We can then choose/modify foods so that they are • appropriate for our digestive capacity There are ways to improve your digestive capacity • 5
Learning Objectives To begin to be aware of your eating habits To understand that ayurveda is applied dynamically, not a rigid system of rules To begin to understand how to bring in your food energy in a way that supports optimal digestion 6
Assessing your eating habits Rate on a scale of 1(least)-5(most) 1. Prepare my body to receive food 2. Eat in a calm environment 3. Chew my food well 4. Eat at a moderate pace 5. Stop eating after I first feel satiated 6. Allow the body time to digest 7. Limit my liquid intake with meals 8. Drink liquids at room temperature or warmer 9. Have my largest meal in the middle of the day 10. Allow 2-3 hours between meals 11. Eat food prepared with love Score of 11-55 possible; If you are under 30, there is a great opportunity to improve your digestion based on how you eat. 7
Eating habits to avoid Drinking when hungry Racing Iced drinks Cooking with honey Overeating Not enough water Eating when constipated Too early or too late Too heavy or too light Fruit with meal Snacking or grazing 8
Eating habits to cultivate Constitution and Current State Season Fresh Hunger Sitting Focus Chewing Thirds Two handfuls Proper food combining Cooking 9
Food combining Food Incompatible with Milk Fish, Melons & Sour Fruits* (esp. bananas), Yogurt, Kitchari, Yeasted Breads Yogurt Milk, Melon & Sour fruits* (esp. bananas), Hot drinks, Fish, Starches, Cheese Fruits (esp. Everything! (esp. grains, starches, fried foods, cheese) melons) Eggs Milk, Yogurt, Fruits, Cheese, Potatoes Starches Eggs, Milk, Fruits (esp. dates and bananas) Honey Ghee (in equal weight), Grains Corn Fruits (esp. dates, raisins, bananas) Lemons Yogurt, Milk, Cucumber, Tomato Nightshades Yogurt, Milk, Fruit, Cucumber 10
How your digestive system is communicating with you Excess Vata Pitta Kapha Appetite Low; variable;full Strong; excessive; hungry Low in am; most active quickly soon after eating late night Symptoms Gas; bloating; cramping; Heartburn; heat; pungent Sluggish digestion; food pain gas; inflammation coma; heaviness; bloating long term; weight gain Stool Constipation; hard; dry; Loose to diarrhea; yellow- Easy movement; mucous; nuggets; lots of gas at red-green; feels hot postprandial; smell of night; darker color; least coming out; ribbony; decay smelly pungent odor; urgency Tongue Ama coating, especially No ama; If any coating, Thick ama coating on in back; gray, or yellow or greenish color; whole tongue; white brownish coating color; color; pale tongue, or Hyper-red tongue tip tongue with discoloration swollen looking and indentations Agni Variable-low Too strong Too low 11
Recommend
More recommend
