DIET
Diet is what specifically attracted me to Ayurveda from the beginning. I don’t want to speak for all women, but I do know that it is rare to find a woman who has had a positive relationship with food all her life or even ever at all. I have done everything from starving myself, to binge eating, to vegetarianism in its bad and good forms, controlled my diet to a crazy level, experienced “orthorexia,” ate whatever I wanted, and even microwaved cheese on a plate for meals in college.
I would love to say that I’ve figured it out 100 percent and I feel great. But the truth is that negotiation with diet and my body never ends because I am a Pitta-Kapha and a human. This means I have a strong appetite but can easily gain weight if I don’t exercise and eat in a balanced way. Don’t even get me started on how to renegotiate expectations for myself postpartum and while nursing and not sleeping.
I am as balanced as I can be right now and that means I stick to my meal routines, care for my agni (digestive fire) as best I can, take my herbs, but also eat the comfort foods that I may crave because life is so intense right now.
What I will say is that there is a massive positive difference in my relationship with food post-finding Ayurveda. Ayurveda has a beautiful structure around diet that is deeply rooted in the intrinsic knowledge of nature’s cycles. This is how Ayurveda classifies the important aspects of diet:
When you eat.
How you eat.
What you eat.
See how what you eat is the third most important thing rather than the first? To our Western brains that are obsessed with getting all of our vitamins and nutrients and making sure we have 10,000 servings of vegetables a day etc., this might sound crazy. Let me explain.
When you eat is the most important. Not only does this mean the time of day, but it also means if your body is ready to eat. We all have a digestive fire in our bellies called “Agni.” When our agni is healthy it is burning the perfect amount and you are hungry at regular intervals that are not too soon or too far apart, and you have a pleasant anticipation for your next meal.
When your agni is out of balance it may either be burning too hot and consume your food at a rapid pace that makes you exhausted, feel overly activated, and hungry all the time. Or it may be the opposite where it barely burns and you are sluggish, feel heavy, and you never feel hungry so you may keep eating because you want to consume but you just keep putting wet logs on your fire.
A healthy digestive system also does not present any digestive symptoms like gas, bloating, pain, indigestion, heartburn, migraines, constipation, or loose bowels. No matter what any doctor or article says, if you eat when you are not hungry then all your food does is turn into toxins for your body to remove because your digestive system is not ready to work. It could be a beautiful organic salad or a piece of pizza and it will still have the same effect.
This is probably the hardest concept to apply because we are inundated with so many theories about food – eat six meals a day, breakfast is king, intermittent fasting, eat nuts everyday, and so on. Take care of your digestion first and foremost.
The next step is eating at the right time. Ayurveda says to eat breakfast before 9:00 am, eat lunch from 11:00-1:00 pm and eat dinner before 7:30 pm. You should be able to eat enough so that your body has enough time to break down all your food, which should take between 4-6 hours.
If it is shorter than that then you are either not eating enough or your digestion is overactive (think of that too hot of a fire). If it is taking longer than that then you are on the other side of that agni scale. Don’t eat in between meals because you are bored or you feel like you should for an “energy boost.” Your digestive system has six steps to it and if you interrupt its process before it finishes then it has to start all over again to begin at the first step of the new food you are giving it.
If you eat too early in the day when you are not hungry then that starts your day off with a heavy feeling, if you eat too late in the day for lunch you will never feel satisfied the rest of the day, and if you eat too late in the evening before you go to bed your body won't finish its process and you will sleep poorly and wake up feeling full and bloated.
Eating and caring for your agni is truly an art form and a practice!
How you eat is next on the list. This looks at how your meals are prepared and how you eat them. Your meals should be made with ingredients that are as fresh as possible and for the most part warm, well-cooked, appropriately seasoned, and oiled.
This is the recipe for eating as easy-to-digest foods as possible. We want to do this so our bodies take the appropriate amount of energy to digest food – not too much so that we slow down and feel heavy because our bodies use all our energy to break our meal down, but not too little so that we don’t feel satiated or grounded.
The easier your meals are to digest the more nutrients your system can take from the ingredients, the more energy you have for life, and, the cleaner your body feels because it can get rid of excess waste.
You also want to look at how you eat your meals. Are you running around while eating? Driving? Eating at your desk nibbling away for over an hour? Meals should be eaten calmly, in a relaxing space, and where you can give as much of your attention as possible to what you are eating.
This increases satisfaction, gratefulness, and digestive health. Do your best, but next time you think about it see how you feel after eating in your car versus eating sitting down on your patio outside having a lovely conversation with your spouse. I bet you your digestion is going to feel completely different.
Finally onto what you eat!
Ayurveda focuses on the whole meal. Is it appropriate for the season? Are you eating ice cream in the wintertime and spicy food in the summertime? Or are you eating grounding warm soups in the wintertime and fresh cooling watermelon in the summertime?
The seasons hold a deep well of knowledge about what to eat and when, and all you have to do is look at the fresh harvest for that month. Do you have a good balance of protein, vegetables, and grain? Are you incorporating all the tastes? There are six tastes: salty, sour, pungent, sweet, astringent, and bitter. This is a uniquely Ayurveda understanding to eat meals that incorporate all these tastes and the reason is that we need all these tastes for their effects on the body and digestive system.
I like to look at it as a whole-day concept as well – I may start my morning with some warm lime water with a pinch of sea salt then eat toast with pomegranate jam. Since I am missing the pungent and bitter tastes, I will make sure to include some bitter greens in my lunch and maybe sautee them in garlic.
Whatever I feel I still need at dinner I will include as well. You also need to look at the state your body is in that day. You may need some cooling spices to add to your meals because it's summertime and your body produces more acid than others. You may need to eat a salad because it's springtime and your body needs to rid itself of the winter muck.
If you are eating true to the seasons, what you need that particular day, and incorporating fresh whole foods in 90% of your diet then you are right on track.
Herbs and spices should also play a big part in your diet. Each spice and herb just like each food ingredient has a set of qualities and those qualities are the basis for how you build your meals or help you navigate any digestive ailments. Even the absence of seasoning has its qualities.
Diet is a practice, an art form, a dance – a deep knowing and connection with self that requires intuition, patience, and creativity. This may seem overwhelming to learn, but this is a permanent understanding.
This is a true form of health and self-care that once you cultivate will never leave you and will support you through the ages. I believe in you!
MORE OF MY AYRUVEDIC VALUES
